John C. Goodman

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, John Goodman says the Medicare Advantage program is arguably our best health care system, while Medicaid is the worst. Yet essentially the same private insurers are involved in administering both programs, just as they are the main players managing employer plans and (Obamacare) exchange plans.

The best feature of the MA program is that these plans are the only plans in the whole health care system that actually try to attract sick enrollees. That’s because they get risk adjusted premiums that reflect the higher cost of care.

Right now, MA enrollees save about $2,500 to $3,000 a year when they choose an MA plan over traditional Medicare. A House bill introduced by Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) and 40 other liberal Democrats would eliminate those savings as well as free extra benefits (hearing, eye and dental care, etc.) MA plans provide.

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• What Were the Cultural Foundations of the Declaration of Independence?
• What is Classical Liberalism?
• How Does Classical Liberalism Differ from the Way People Think Today?

I think you will find these are highly original essays – not the sort of thing you will find elsewhere.

Posted at the Goodman Institute website: https://www.goodmaninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Essays-on-Liberty-7-4-26.pdf

If you can believe the polls, socialism is more popular than ever. Gallop says that roughly two-thirds of Democrats have a positive view of socialism. The same is true for half of young adults. But what exactly is socialism? If it means anything it means a lack of economic freedom. In a socialist world, people are not at liberty to engage in free exchange with each other. Every economic transaction is regulated or potentially regulated by the state.

Next year, the out-of-pocket exposure for someone who buys insurance on the (Obamacare) exchange will be $12,000. It will be $24,000 for a family. If they have chronic health problems, families can face those costs every year.

Congressman Pete Sessions and John Goodman offer a better alternative. Give people a deposit to a Health Savings Account if they agree to be responsible for all preventive care, all primary care, chronic care management, or some other area of care.

The model is Cash and Counseling, the Medicaid program for the home-bound disabled – a highly successful program that has been around for several decades. More

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, John Goodman says the Trump Administration’s proposal to permit non-network health plans “promises to solve two problems: extreme differences in actual prices for the same service because of a lack of price competition, and narrow networks that are denying patients access to the best doctors and medical facilities.” More.

In contrast to a moral approach to taxation, some argue for an immoral, or at least amoral, approach. The most prominent among them is former New York Times columnist Paul Krugman. His approach to taxation of the rich is the same approach a petty thief would take to garden-variety robbery: grab whatever you can get. Krugman guesses that the revenue-maximizing tax rate for someone like LeBron James could be as high as 90 percent. Slaves on southern plantations were able to consume a 9-times-greater share of their output than Krugman would allow for James. More.

1. The opportunity cost of motherhood
2. The cost of successful child rearing
3. The cost of childhood competition
4. Government regulation of housing, education, day care, etc.

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