Michael Cannon argues that all of our major health care programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, etc.) came into existence primarily to solve problems created by previous government interventions. And, the reason why there is a continuing push for further reform is because all the programs that are supposed to be solving problems are creating new ones. More.
The vast bulk of people who are writing and evaluating health care programs reveal a bias based on which party designed the program, not on how well it works relative to other programs. The biggest problem with tribalism is this: It is in the self-interest of politicians to come up with new solutions to persistent problems; but once an idea is proposed, the knee-jerk reaction is for everyone in the other party to dismiss it– no matter how good the idea is. More
Although news articles often call Donald Trump a “liar,” I don’t think I have ever seen that term used when discussing Joe Biden. Following the first presidential debate, fact-checkers at the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal accused Trump of numerous falsehoods. But they couldn’t find a single Biden falsehood. With respect to Trump, they can’t see the forest for the trees. With respect to Biden, they can’t see the trees. More.
America is thought to have a market economy. Yet it is striking to consider all of the ways our health-care system prevents the market from solving our health-care problems.
Since most of the restrictions were created by Democratic legislation, it is tempting to view the liberation of health care as a Republican project. But there is no reason that it couldn’t be bipartisan. Here are several principles to guide reform.
Why do employers (including government employers) and insurers mistreat enrollees with costly health care problems? When the New York Times describes the abuses, you are encouraged to believe that the blame rests with private insurance. In fact, the source of the problem is perverse incentives created by bad government policies. More.
Bad as the Trustees Report is, the reality is likely to be ever worse.
Source: James Capretta, AEI
Racism is the lowest form of collectivism. Ayn Rand once called it “barnyard collectivism.” Throughout history, it has usually been the handmaiden of every other form of collectivism. In the modern world, collectivists are no longer able to make a serious argument for economic collectivism (socialism, fascism, communism, etc.) So, they have resorted to identity politics instead. More.
Au pairs represent a potential solution to two huge problems: the high cost of child care and the high cost of elder care. Young European women get free room and board, some spending money and a chance to experience America. So why does the Biden administration want to price them out of the market? More.
Although he rarely talks about it, the most significant gift Donald Trump bequeathed to economic prosperity was deregulation. And the one sector that was deregulated more than any other was health care. Since Joe Biden has been re-regulating the economy, it’s hard to think of a starker contrast between the two leading presidential candidates this year – and it affects all aspects of health care. More
The key to reform is to make today’s retirees positive beneficiaries of reform.
A golden opportunity to do so exists for two reasons: (1) the current system is abusing senior retirees in myriad ways, and (2) many of these abuses can be eliminated without any cost to the Treasury. In other words, some aspects of responsible reform are a free lunch.