Undiscussed consequences of Obamacare:

[hedgehog]

- lots of people with insurance now will have lower premiums, meaning they will have money to spend elsewhere

- some people will have low cost, good insurance and will take the leap into starting a new business

- lots of people now working just to keep their health insurance will be able to retire now instead of waiting until they are eligible for Medicare.

I haven't seen these mentioned anywhere, but the sum total is an increase in available jobs!

[zipplewrath]

1. Quantify

- lots of people with insurance now will have lower premiums, meaning they will have money to spend elsewhere

Define "lots". There's an estimate 12 million? people that are going to be involved here. How many of those do you think will have "extra" money to spend? How many do you think had insurance in the first place? I agree that there will be people with lower premiums and lower health care costs. But just how many do you think there are?

- some people will have low cost, good insurance and will take the leap into starting a new business

That's an interesting thought, but again you may be overstating the number of people you are discussing. It will still cost money, and actual healthcare will cost more. If there is a plus here, it is those very small employers who may now be willing to subsidize the health insurance costs of their employees, since the cost will be both small, and controlled.

- lots of people now working just to keep their health insurance will be able to retire now instead of waiting until they are eligible for Medicare.

I'm one of those folks and the cost of my employer based health insurance is VASTLY lower than the cheapest plan on the exchange. I don't see me doing any such thing real soon. MAYBE one might "bite the bullet" a couple of years early for such a thing, or medical retirement might become easier for some people, but again I don't think you are talking any real significant numbers of people here (in a statistical sense, not in a "even just one" sense).

[hedgehog]

2. I can't quantify, but -

- I do know people who struggle to make payment on insurance premiums now who will get help under the ACA - lower premiums and subsidies - and people with little cash to spare tend to spend their money

- I do know people who closed small businesses and took a job elsewhere to get health insurance, so it makes sense to me that the availability of health insurance will allow some people to start their small business

- I know couples where the husband is retired but the wife is still working in order to keep her health insurance; I know people who have maxed out on their pensions or who could retire on their current pension who would be retired if they could buy health insurance.

So, how many jobs? I have no idea, but every job counts!

[zipplewrath]

4. Not really

I mean, I understand, it's always nice when someone gets a job, even better, the job they want. But if by "counts" you mean "has a noticeable impact on the larger economy" not so much. And the really sad but true part is that the people who are most likely to "take advantage" of these opportunities tend to be the kinds of people who find ways to create opportunities one way or another.

The single largest "impact" will be for folks with pre-existing conditions. They're gonna have a windfall. I'd imagine for many, if not most, of them what that means is they'll be able to finally start paying down some debt. It's too bad that their policies won't be able to pay off the costs of those health care expenses "retroactively". It would be real nice if the insurance companies could find someway to help them reduce the magnitude of those debts by converting them to insurance company rates or something. I don't see that happening.

[Nay]

3. I certainly agree with your last point -- my employer-based health insurance was

one-fifth of the Obamacare cost, and even as a retiree who is not yet 65, my retiree insurance is one-fourth the cost. Plus is is basically a '"gold-plated" plan, unlike the choices offered on the exchanges.

I don't see people starting businesses unless they already have quite a bit saved up already to make the switch. Esp if they have families. I hope I'm wrong about that, because I think a lot of people would be so much happier working for themselves.

[gopiscrap]

5. This is why the GOP hates it so much

[hedgehog]

6. It looks like I was grossly underestimating the effect of the ACA:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023739285