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Bachmann's Health Care Whopper

One pseudo-fact from last night that's worth pointing out, as it's sure to recur many times, is Michelle Bachmann's claim that the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Affordable Care Act would destroy 800,000 jobs. I wrote about this in February. The short answer is that CBO found nothing of the sort.

CBO estimated that 800,000 people would leave the workforce because they no longer would need to work in order to get health insurance. Under the status quo, it's very hard for people who aren't elderly or poor enough to qualify for Medicaid to obtain health insurance. Some of those people would like to retire, or work part time, but cannot due to the need to get employer-provided insurance. The Affordable Care Act would liberate them. The Republican budget would force those 800,000 people who otherwise have the means to retire or work on their own to work for their health insurance. Freedom!