John Goodman’s Commentaries

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

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.

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.

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.

The liberal penchant for big projects is undermined by their love of regulations, something more people are noticing. More

For many years, magnet schools were the only public schools that competed for students. And the experience as been very positive. So why can’t every school do that? John Goodman argues that every public school should be able to specialize in what it does best and compete for students. More

There is tremendous waste in the program. That means that Congress can make the program work better for beneficiaries and at the same time free up trillions of dollars to help fund the tax bill. The reforms include Roth Health Savings Accounts, 24/7 direct primary care, and access to a competitive medical marketplace. More

They might start by asking, Why are some voters Democrats in the first place? Those who so identify, I believe, tend to think differently than the typical Republican voter on five dimensions. More.

On the one hand, Elon Musk has been given a goal of reducing government waste by the Trump administration. On the other hand, congressional Republicans are desperate to find ways to cut spending in order to pay for a high-priority tax bill. The intersection of these two goals creates a rare opportunity to institute reforms that would be very hard to accomplish under ordinary circumstances. More.