Goodman And Reinhardt Debate Obamacare At Forbes

18 May 2015 | Media Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DALLAS, TX, April 27, 2015 – Two of the nation’s leading health care economists are squaring off in the blogosphere. Leading off the debate, John Goodman asks, “Are People Getting More Care or Better Care under Obamacare?” “No” he answers:

By one estimate, 14 million people are newly insured because of the Affordable Care Act…. So you might expect that doctors’ offices would be flooded with a host of new patients seeking more care than they had before.

But that hasn’t happened. In fact, new patient visits to physicians have barely changed at all under ObamaCare. One explanation, Goodman speculates, is that the (ObamaCare) deductibles are so high that people are paying the full cost of most medical care out of pocket, just as they did when they were uninsured.

Princeton health economist Uwe Reinhardt responds to Goodman’s critique of high deductibles by asking:

But is that not exactly what the long-time promoters of [consumer directed health care (CDHC)] have wanted all along, that “consumers” of health care, including elective surgery, think twice about visiting a doctor or a clinic and, in their minds, trade off a better quality of life against their own dollars? So why the harrumphing over high deductibles now, from the father of CDHC of all people?

In a forthcoming book, Goodman points to six problems with ObamaCare that will require cooperation from both parties to remedy. For that and other insights into heal policy, visit the Goodman Institute web site.

About John C. Goodman

Dr. Goodman, an author, health economist, and Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute is considered the “Father of Health Savings Accounts” and serves as president of the Goodman Institute, a think tank that focuses on the areas of health care, taxes and entitlement reform. Goodman served as the founder and president of the Dallas-based National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) for 31 years, and regularly appears on television and radio news programs, including those on the Fox News Channel, CNN, PBS, Fox Business Network and CNBC. His articles appear in The Wall Street Journal, Investor’s Business Daily, USA Today, Forbes, National Review, Health Affairs, Kaiser Health News and other national publications. Currently Goodman is working with members of Congress on an alternative to ObamaCare. Visit www.goodmaninstitute.org.

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John C. Goodman is President of the Goodman Institute and Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute. His books include the soon-to-be-published updated edition of Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, the widely acclaimed A Better Choice: Healthcare Solutions for America, and New Way to Care: Social Protections that Put Families First. The Wall Street Journal and National Journal, among other media, have called him the “Father of Health Savings Accounts.”