Weakness of consumption not due to new health care rules

The introduction of Obamacare doesn't appear to have had any lasting downward impact on medical care consumption. Spending did decline in the first few months of last year, but it has rebounded strongly since then. Furthermore, it doesn't appear that, by reducing either employment or hours worked, Obamacare is having an indirect downward impact on spending on other goods and services. To the extent that lower medical care price inflation has allowed the Fed to delay tightening monetary policy, Obamacare might even have provided a boost to the real economy.