Employers are paying hospitals more than twice as much as what Medicare pays. At some hospitals they are paying four times as much. So, who’s to blame? John Goodman says employers are to blame.
No other savings vehicle can top an HSA. Not a 401(k) plan. Not an IRA. Not even a Roth IRA. For starters, deposits to an HSA escape both income and payroll taxes. That can’t be said of the other three options. During the retirement years, health expenses are going to be larger than what most people realize. HSA withdrawals can be used to pay premiums for Medicare Part B, Part C and Part D, as well as any out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Accountable Care Organizations are President Obama’s attempt at stealth privatization — 10.4 million people think they are in a fee-for-service system, when in reality their doctors have economic incentives to reduce care. And it has been illegal for doctors to inform their patients of this fact. John Goodman and Laurence Wedekind explain the development and what Medicare director Seema Verma is doing about it.
Health Savings Account plans are the fastest growing product in the health insurance marketplace. At last count, 25 million Americans were covered by an HSA plan and the account balances totaled $50 billion. That’s on a par with the gross domestic product of the entire state of Alaska. It’s more than the GDP of South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming or Vermont.
Senior citizens are discriminated against by a number of unwise public policies.
The Cato Institute hosted a celebration of a book John Goodman and Gerald Musgrave a quarter a century ago. Commenters included Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, (R-LA); Paul B. Ginsburg, Leonard D. Schaeffer Chair in Health Policy Studies, Brookings Institution; and David A. Hyman, Coauthor, Overcharged; Professor of Law, Georgetown University; and Michael F. Cannon, Director of Health Policy Studies, Cato Institute.
If AOC is the voice of the left, New York Times writer Paul Krugman is its brain. But here is the catch. Krugman rarely ever attempts to introduce readers to the economic way of thinking. Day after day, in column after column, he reinforces the view that left-wingers don’t need to read textbooks or study economic models. Their gut instincts will do just fine.
This article was coauthored by Linda Gorman, director of health care at the Independence Institute in Denver, Colorado.
Democrats in the House of Representatives have put aside grandiose thoughts of Medicare-for-All and single-payer health insurance – at least for a day or two. Instead, they have introduced a new health plan with a more modest goal: making Obamacare work better.
Is there a health care deal that would meet the needs and solve the political problems of members of both parties in Congress?