Obamacare is already causing massive damage to American productivity.

jail

As many economists predicted, the passage of Obamacare is significantly limiting American productivity and prosperity. “Because of Obamacare,” writes Larry Kudlow, “there’s an additional 0.9 percent Medicare tax on salaries and self-employment income, a 3.8 percent tax increase on capital gains and dividends, a cap on health care flexible spending accounts, a higher threshold for itemized medical expense deductions, and a stiff penalty on employer reimbursements for individual employee health policy premiums.”

According to Kudlow, each of these tax hikes is already producing lower rates of productivity and prosperity in the American economy. Part time workers now account for some 7 million jobs, compared to 4 million part-time jobs during the prior recovery. “Obamacare is a tax on full-time work.”

Kudlow continues, “Obamacare enrollment is coming up short, and the program is unable to sustain an adequate risk pool. Expert health insurance analyst Robert Laszewski and the consulting firm Avalere find that exchanges are succeeding in enrolling low-income individuals but are struggling to attract middle- and higher-income enrollees.”

Laszewski reports that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas wants a 20 percent rate hike; in Maryland, it’s 34 percent; Oregon’s biggest insurer, Moda Health, wants a 26 percent hike; and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee wants a 36 percent hike.