John Stephen: Obamacare will blow a giant hole in NH's budget

Former NH HHS Commissioner John Stephen writes in the Union Leader that ObamaCare will have severe longterm costs for the nation and the state.

Enclosed in the legislation are several ticking fiscal time bombs that threaten to blow major holes in our budgets over the next few years. Each of these provisions would put stress on any state's budget, but the cumulative effect of all could sink individuals and businesses with higher state taxes at a time when we will need strong growth coming out of the recession.

A cursory estimate shows how great the financial implications would be. The Granite State could easily be looking at a $1 billion impact over the next decade in increased state spending and lost revenues. That already sounds bad, but the real danger is back-loaded, with roughly $700 million of the damage being done in the last four years.