John Goodman

The committee chair will be Bernie Sanders and Bill Cassidy will be the ranking member. Ironically, both believe in universal coverage that could be achieved with no increase in health care spending. Sanders will need help from Cassidy if anything is to be done in a closely divided Senate. The problem: their visions for health care are so different, there is almost no overlap. More.

Before the election, the House Republican Study Committee released a document that was chock full of commendable reforms. But no one read it. More.

Republican politicians and right-of-center thinkers have given us the most progressive tax and transfer system in the world. Here are a few more examples of progressive ideas from the right. More.

The words “progressive” and “Democrat” have become virtually synonymous in modern parlance. But did you know that the most important progressive reform ideas of the last half-century have not come from the left? They have come from Republican politicians and right-of-center intellectuals and think tanks. More.

Here are five surprising facts:

• The U.S. welfare state has almost eliminated poverty in this country.
• Over the last 75 years, income inequality has actually gone down, not up.
• Since the end of World War II, income has steadily risen for every income group – with the greatest increase among the bottom fifth of the income ladder.
• Over half of the population gains very little from working under the U.S. fiscal system – as taxable income replaces untaxed transfer benefits.
• The U.S. has the most progressive fiscal system among all developed countries.

Chief among these is Obamacare reform to (1) let families have access to insurance that meets their medical and financial needs, instead of unaffordable deductibles and sky-high premiums; and (2) let families have access to the best doctors and the best hospitals, instead of narrow networks that deny them the care they need. More.

Bernie Sanders and other socialists think health care should be provided by the state. Their latest version of that idea is “Medicare for all.” How does Medicare stand up against private, free-market provision of similar services? Since Congress just acted on Medicare prescription drugs, let’s examine drug coverage in answering that question. More.