Now that I have my work slate behind me for the day, I can look at the SCOTUS ruling of the morning. The saving grace of the ruling is that Roberts opted to find the power for the individual mandate in Uncle Sam's taxing power rather than the fit-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink interstate commerce clause. SCOTUS has had some kitchen-sink rulings on that, like pointing out that having a gun near a school isn't effecting interstate commerce.
Had the court backed up the mandate on IC grounds, the kitchen sink would now fit and all bets would be off on future regulation.
Mitt Romney's mug was on Fox while I was getting my allergy shot, calling this a "job killer." It will tend to lead to slower job growth, since the cost of hiring folks, especially in lower-end or temp jobs that generally don't come with health care coverage, just went up. It won't hurt higher-end jobs as much, since most of those generally come with coverage.
Thus, the plan will help those folks get health care if they have a job once the dust settles, since the job might get priced out of the market if health care is tacked on to the employer's tab. Those that do stay on the payroll might see decreased raises or even pay cuts to cover the added costs.
The upside is that those folks in that working-poor bucket who aren't poor enough for Medicaid but not commanding enough of a wage to afford health insurance might well get helped here in getting health care. However, it will come with a non-trivial drag on GDP and a bit of inflation as costs get passed on to consumers.
As one of those people in that bucket at present, I can see some of the merit of the plan.
However, as a once-and-future economics teacher, I can see the number that the plan will do on the economy, especially on the lower-end payrolls that will have to adjust to health insurance being required. I think there are better ways to get to where the left wants to go that are less toxic to job growth; however, they would most likely require a tax increase to offset the added benefits, which goes over like a lead balloon.
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