Although he rarely talks about it, the most significant gift Donald Trump bequeathed to economic prosperity was deregulation. And the one sector that was deregulated more than any other was health care. Since Joe Biden has been re-regulating the economy, it’s hard to think of a starker contrast between the two leading presidential candidates this year – and it affects all aspects of health care. More
John C. Goodman
How to Reform Social Security
The key to reform is to make today’s retirees positive beneficiaries of reform.
A golden opportunity to do so exists for two reasons: (1) the current system is abusing senior retirees in myriad ways, and (2) many of these abuses can be eliminated without any cost to the Treasury. In other words, some aspects of responsible reform are a free lunch.
California Dreaming
California legislators want the state to provide free health care to every resident, including undocumented immigrants. Under the act, it would be illegal for any resident to pay a doctor privately for any medical treatment covered by CalCare. John Goodman and Linda Gorman predict higher taxes, less choice, an exodus of doctors and nurses out of the state, rationing by waiting, and something actually worse than Medicaid for all. See our editorial in the Orange County Register.
What To Do About Our Biggest Health Care Problems
Short-term health insurance and indemnity insurance are meeting needs not met by Obamacare. You would appreciate why that is a good thing if you understand:
Goodman’s Rule for Rational Public Policy: Let the markets handle all the problems markets can solve; and turn to government only to meet needs that competitive markets cannot or do not meet.
Biden v. Medicare Advantage
Average Household Income by Race, Ethnicity
The latest Census data is out on income levels by ethnicity. The good news is that the latest data flatly contradict the left’s narrative that America is “systematically racist.” As the chart below shows, by far the most affluent group is NOT whites, but Asians.
View the article on the Committee To Unleash Prosperity’s website.
What Are We Getting for All That Obamacare Spending?
Obamacare spending has now reached $214 billion a year, insuring people through Medicaid (which is mostly contracted out to private insurers) and the Obamacare exchanges. At $1,731 for every household in America, that’s a great deal of money being transferred from taxpayers to insurance companies every year.
So, what are we getting in return?
One scholarly study finds there has been no overall increase in health care utilization in the U.S. since the enactment of Obamacare. The number of doctor visits per capita actually fell over the last decade.
See my latest post at Forbes.
More Details on the Debate Among Economists About inequality
Dylan Matthews at Vox has the best explanation I’ve seen yet on the technical dispute among economists about inequality – mainly focused on whether the rich have gotten richer over the past 60 years.
International Inequality Explained
2 1/2 miles. It’s not very long. Only slightly longer than the National Mall in Washington. Not even 2/3 of the length of the Las Vegas Strip.
But also … it can be the distance between two different worlds. In fact, 2 1/2 miles is the distance between Australia and Papua New Guinea at their nearest point, in the Torres Strait.
In Papua New Guinea, the national wealth averages out to about $3,500 per person per year. In Australia, it averages out to around $65,000 per person per year. Two-and-a-half miles apart … and nearly 20 times wealthier. How does this kind of thing happen? Actually, we know the answer. Because it turns out that the secret to how nations get wealthy … isn’t really a secret at all.
Reason for Poverty: Circumstances or Bad Decisions?
Almost all NFL football players are potentially rich. A career lasting 6 years (the median length) will provide an NFL player with more earnings than an average college graduate will get in an entire lifetime, plus a modest pension. Yet within 12 years after retirement, 12.7% of players have filed for bankruptcy (presumably becoming “poor.”)