Sebelius: ‘Absolutely no evidence’ of job losses under Obamacare

Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. (Jeff Martin for The Washington Post)

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius said Monday that there is zero evidence of job losses occurring as a result of the new federal health-care law.

"There is absolutely no evidence -- and every economist will tell you this -- that there is any job loss related to the Affordable Care Act," Sebelius said in Orlando, according to video from WESH-TV.

Sebelius added: "I know that's a popular myth that continues to be repeated, but it just is not accurate."

Sebelius noted that the number of jobs in the aggregate continues to rise.

A recent Congressional Budget Office report stated that the new health-care law would cause some 2 million people to stop working, reduce their hours or stop looking for employment by 2021, in large part because they no longer have to work in order to get health-care benefits.

Republicans have seized on that figure to say that Obamacare will kill jobs. They have also argued that employers will reduce their number of full-time employees or move full-time employees to part-time status in order to avoid having to provide health insurance to them.

The CBO says in its report that "there is no compelling evidence that part-time employment has increased as a result of the ACA."

(h/t Politico)