Making Ideas
Change the World

Creating jobs, liberating taxpayers,
empowering patients, and more…

What We Have Accomplished

Turning Ideas
into Public Policy

Health Savings Accounts

Because of the idea of Health Savings Accounts, more than 30 million people are managing some of their own health care dollars in accounts they own and control.

401(k) Plans

Because of automatic enrollment in diversified portfolios, 16 million employees are enjoying higher and safer returns.

Social Security

Because of another idea, 78 million baby boomers are able to work beyond age 65 without losing Social Security benefits.

Roth IRAs

Because of the idea of Roth IRAs, $265 billion in savings has been taxed once and will never be taxed again.

Quarterly
Reports

$1T in Medicaid Cuts That Leave Beneficiaries Better Off

John Goodman identifies 12 reforms to Medicaid that will Allow Republicans to reach their budget goals without reducing any real benefit for enrollees. Among the  ideas: let enrollees buy medical care the way they buy food with food stamps, have a heath savings account and have access to 24/7 direct primary care. More

Governor Pete du Pont – R.I.P.

With Gratitude to Governor du Pont, who has worked with John and Jeanette Goodman for many years.

Lockdowns Had Near-Zero Impact on COVID-19 Deaths

A meta-analysis published by the Johns Hopkins Institute for Applied Economics found a variety of restrictions to stop deaths from COVID-19 had little to no effect and instead caused more damage by imposing “enormous economic and social costs.”

First Annual Awards Dinner

On Tuesday, 11 September 2021, The Goodman Institute is proud to host our first annual Awards Dinner at 1225 N. Riverfront Blvd in Texas!

Meet the Experts

Scholars and leading thinkers in Health Care, Economics and Policy.

Welcome to the Goodman Institute

Leveraging People, Money, and Ideas.

Texans Back to Work Task Force

The Texans Back to Work Task Force report will work hand in hand with Governor Greg Abbott’s Strike Force to Open Texas to ensure our state’s economy is once again the job creator for the nation and a powerful force in the global marketplace.

Recent Commentaries

What’s New

Why Social Security Needs DOGE

Why Social Security Needs DOGE

If the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) can stop our Social Security system from sending checks to dead people, that would be a plus. Yet a far more important task is to stop the system from overpaying people who are very much alive. Last year the Social Security Administration admitted it had identified 2 million beneficiaries who have been overpaid and sent them “clawback” letters, demanding the government’s money back. Some of these claims go back several decades, and they can amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. More

read more
House Republicans Love HSAs

House Republicans Love HSAs

Industry experts believe that the House reconciliation bill would result in 20 million more Americans having a Health Savings Account. Among the changes, Bronze and catastrophic plans sold in the (Obamacare) exchanges would automatically qualify for HSAs. And people could use their HSA to pay the monthly premium of a direct primary care doctor of their choosing – providing 24/7 primary care.

However, John Goodman says that for the same CBO score, the Senate could make the bill much better. More.

read more
What the GOP Should Be Doing About Medicaid

What the GOP Should Be Doing About Medicaid

In his latest commentary at Forbes, John Goodman explains a huge, missed opportunity by House Republicans.

They should have focused on why Medicaid does such a poor job of meeting the needs of the enrollees. Then, they should have explored ways of making Medicaid better and reducing spending at the same time. This would have been a very positive message to voters.

Let’s hope this turns around in the Senate. More.

read more
What Price for Drugs?

What Price for Drugs?

When was the last time you saw a news headline announcing that a cancer patient died because she couldn’t afford a drug that could have saved her life? I bet you haven’t. Why? Because it doesn’t happen. At least not in this country. President Trump doesn’t understand the market for drugs. He is not alone. Most people don’t understand it. Here is John Goodman’s contribution to clear thinking:

  1. In Part I, he asks readers to imagine a free market for drugs, in which drug manufacturers are given a patent for a certain length of time. The patent allows drug companies to charge a monopoly price. But by price discriminating, they insure that almost no one goes without a lifesaving drug.
  2. In Part II, he asks how free market health insurance would cover expensive drugs. People who are more risk averse would purchase “top up” plans to pay for drugs conventional insurance finds not cost effective.
  3. In Part III, he shows that both public insurance and unwisely-regulated private health insurance face perverse incentives to favor the healthy over the sick. Reforms are suggested.
read more

Public Policy Research

Leveraging People,
Money and Ideas

Our Role in Tax Reform

Goodman Institute scholars Laurence Kotlikoff and Alan Auerbach were the intellectual source of the Ryan/Brady (“Better Way”) tax reform proposal. They are also the leading intellectual defenders of tax reform, drawing on the most sophisticated and accurate economic models that exist.

Our Role in Health Reform

We are witnessing a radical transformation of the U.S. health care system. Although health care is the most regulated market in our economy, we have recently witnessed massive deregulation — partly in response to the coronavirus threat. These changes were only possible because of three years of prior effort by the Trump administration. Many of the core ideas were pioneered by Goodman Institute health economists.

New Partnership: Health Care News

The Goodman Institute for Public Policy has agreed to partner with Heartland to ensure the newspaper’s survival going forward. This new partnership could not have come at a better time. Polls consistently show that healthcare is the number one issue with voters.

The Health Blog

For many years, our health care blog was the only free enterprise health policy blog on the internet. Then, when the NCPA closed its doors, the health blog stopped as well.

During this five-year hiatus no one else has come forward to claim the space. So, my colleagues and I have decided to restart the blog in connection with the Goodman Institute. We invite you and others to use this forum to share your views.

Debater Resources

John Goodman grew up in Waco, TX and participated in high school debate competitions around the state of Texas. John was quite successful and won several statewide tournaments.  This experience served him later in life when he became a TV debating partner of conservative polemicist William F. Buckley. Dr. Goodman’s interest in speech and debate has never waned and he is excited to share some in-depth thoughts and ideas on current debate topics. 

Health Care Briefing With Newt Gingrich

Former Congresswoman Nan Hayworth, Newt Gingrich and I discuss healthcare in the next election and beyond. Newt and I have a mutual admiration society that goes back many years. Newt has always been an outlier among Republican politicians when it comes to the topic of health care – aggressively searching for solutions instead of avoiding the subject.

Sessions Health Care Bill:

  • Creates a new optional federal health insurance tax credit that is generous, universal, portable, and the same amount for everyone regardless of income,
  • Allows employers and their employees to maintain their current employer-provided health insurance tax status, if preferred,
  • Creates a new “Roth” style Health Savings Account to pay for health care expenses,
  • Allows employees to have a 24/7 direct primary care doctor of their choice.
  • Permanently expands telehealth availability, and
  • Promote price transparency and competition.

Our Scholars

Read the most recent commentaries available in the
nation’s most important news publications.

John Goodman

Larry Kotlikoff

Thomas Saving

Devon Herrick

Linda Gorman

All Experts

Testimonials

What They
Are Saying

Many years ago I read a book called Patient Power. It was… written by Musgrave and Goodman. John Goodman is… known as the Father of Health Savings Accounts.

Sean Hannity

American commentator

They’ve developed innovative ideas on how to create a better health system, a less expensive health system, a health system with more access for well over two decades.

Newt Gingrich

Former Speaker of the House of Representatives

John Goodman is the leading expert on free market proposals for probably the most dysfunctional 1/6th of our economy that exists. He does a spectacular job.

Jeb Bush

Former Governor of Florida

Our Priorities

The Goodman Institute is doing work not done by any other organization – especially in the areas of tax, health care and entitlement policy. Without our work the nation might not have obtained tax reform. Now we need to defend it.

We work with the best scholars from around the country on the nation’s most difficult public policy problems. Our mission is to find private alternatives to government programs that aren’t working. Ideas have enormous potential to change the course of human events.

Tax
Reform

Health
Reform

Virtual
Think Tank

Our
History