John Goodman’s Commentaries

How to Reform Social Security

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.

How to Reform Social Security, Part I

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California Dreaming

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.

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What’s Wrong with the US Welfare State?

What’s Wrong with the US Welfare State?

The bottom fifth of households in 2017 had an average (after tax and after entitlement spending) income of $33,653 per person. Almost all of this “income” is in the form of noncash welfare benefits. If all those benefits were converted into cash, a family of four in the bottom fifth of the (earned) income distribution would have $134,652 a year to spend, after taxes! The bottom fifth also had more per capita “income” than the next fifth and the middle fifth. To answer the question, “What’s Wrong?” I really shouldn’t have to say anything more. But, I did find a few more things to say in my most recent post at Forbes.

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What To Do About Our Biggest Health Care Problems

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.

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Biden v. Medicare Advantage

Biden v. Medicare Advantage

When does the failure to answer a phone call in 8 seconds cost the company receiving the call $190 million? When the caller is a spy working for the agency that runs Medicare and the receiving entity is a private insurance company. More.

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Two Cheers for the Bipartisan Tax Deal

Two Cheers for the Bipartisan Tax Deal

A rare bipartisan agreement in Congress would create a larger child tax credit for parents and extend some key business tax breaks in the 2017 (Trump) tax reform bill that have expired. Democrats are said to favor the former and Republicans the latter.

Opinions on the accord are all over the map, with pros and cons – both on the right and the left. I give it two cheers. If it were funded by reducing means-tested welfare spending, I would give it a third cheer.

More at Forbes

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What Are We Getting for All That Obamacare Spending?

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.

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Washington Doesn’t understand Obamacare

Washington Doesn’t understand Obamacare

In the House of Representatives, the GOP’s “number-one priority for health care reform” is lowering health insurance premiums. However, the vast majority of folks who buy their own insurance are getting hefty subsidies. So much so, that 8 in 10 enrollees in the exchanges pay $10 a month or less. For a family with average income, the premium is usually zero. More.

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ObamaCare still desperately needs fixing

ObamaCare still desperately needs fixing

The American Rescue Plan injects new life into ObamaCare with more generous subsidies, expanded eligibility and premium limits that make insurance more affordable. Unfortunately, the stimulus proposal just passed by Congress does nothing to correct the most serious...

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