John Goodman’s Commentaries

It’s been six years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). You would think that in all that time Republicans could surely come up with something better. Yet in the race for the presidency, they haven’t.

Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have made two important contributions in this electoral cycle. Both have pointed out that (1) millions of middle class households are being left behind as our country climbs out of the Great Recession and that (2) mainstream politicians in both political parties have no idea what to do about it.

When people are spending below their deductible they will not spend a dollar unless they expect to get a dollar’s worth of value. But when they are above their deductible they may spend a dollar even though the service is worth far less than what they pay.

Because I am often called the “Father of Health Savings Accounts” people sometimes assume that I favor high deductible health insurance. I don’t. In fact, I don’t really favor deductibles at all.

“The problem with Obamacare is that it is focused on finding the money to pay for what good health care costs; instead we should be focused on lowering the cost of health care so that people can afford it.”

Do you know what is the most severe fine, penalty or punitive tax imposed under Obamacare?

On more than one occasion, President Obama has said that the core idea behind Obamacare came from the Heritage Foundation and Politifact rates the claim as “mostly true.”

Obamacare is having a large effect on the market for low-wage labor. How do l know that? I did something most economists never do. I asked. I’m not alone. A lot of enterprising reporters have asked as well.

For most of his career as an editorial writer for The New York Times, Paul Krugman has been an unapologetic advocate of single-payer health insurance or “Medicare for all,” as he sometimes calls it.