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The Vox Challenge: Obamacare v. The CBO

February 7, 2014

Get used to this ad, America. You’ll be seeing a lot more like it between now and November.

Obamacare was jammed through Congress with the help of political lubricants such as "incorrect promises," "Lies of the Year," and flowery projections from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office [emphasis Obama].

Years later, Americans are just now discovering that they can’t keep the health insurance policies they like and can’t keep their doctors, despite Obama having repeatedly promised otherwise. Now the CBO tells us that Obamacare creates a "disincentive for people to work" that will have a negative impact on economic growth.

Obamacare opponents will inevitably spend of lot of money to remind voters of the disconnect between what they were promised and what they were given. At least some of these voters will be the sort people who don’t still subscribe to the MoveOn.org mailing list, or who don’t read moving articles about wounded veterans and war heroes, and immediately think: "That story could also apply to Obama." Some of these voters might have missed the Great Debate regarding privileged professionals using fake babies to get a five percent "mom discount" on Amazon.com.

Also inevitable is the tireless zeal with which Obama’s fawning Truth Squads will labor to convince us that we didn’t really like our cancelled health plans or quack doctors, and shouldn’t have been allowed to keep them anyway. And while we’re at it, maybe we should stop taking the CBO so seriously. As White House economic adviser Jason Furman explained, its most recent report on Obamacare is "subject to misinterpretation, doesn’t take into account every factor, and there’s uncertainty and debate around it."

The Truth Squads and Wonk Warriors will bombard us with "crucial contextual information" as they condemn the law’s critics for an insufficient devotion to nuance. Because what better time to have a nuanced debate about a controversial piece of legislation—the inevitable tradeoffs, the winners and losers—than almost four years after it was signed into law?

Economic growth? Overrated. That CBO report? Good news. A couple million people leaving the workforce? It’s really a net gain when you think about it. Obamacare is merely "liberating" them from the tyranny of work. This new generation of "liberated" workers will spawn a Renaissance of home brewers, artisanal craftsmen, and 30-year-old memoirists. And all they’ll ask of us is to pay for their health insurance.

We wish Team Juicebox the best of luck in their crusade to promote nuance and pedantry in defense of a law that never would have passed if its proponents had been held to the same standards they now demand from its critics. This ad would be a good place to start.

Godspeed.

Published under: Obamacare