Media

This op ed is based on a longer publication here on our web site. The federal government is offering the states $50 billion over the next five years, and it’s up to the states to propose ways of spending the money. John Goodman has a number of proposals, including use of drones, greater use of telemedicine along with free market pricing, direct primary care, and deregulation of the hospital sector, health insurance and medical practice law.

The federal government is offering the states $50 billion over the next five years, and its up to the states to propose ways of spending the money. John Goodman has a number of proposals, including use of drones, greater use of telemedicine along with free market pricing, direct primary care, and deregulation of the hospital sector, health insurance and medical practice law. Click to view the Publication.

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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Writing in the Wall Street Journal, John Goodman says the Editors got it right and the economists at AEI and Brookings (along with MedPAC) got it wrong. The Medicare Advantage program is saving the government money. More

One reason why the two parties can’t reach some sort of compromise is that neither party has been willing to tackle the three biggest problems that afflict the market the Affordable Care Act created. On the buyer side, we have been trying to force people to buy insurance they would never buy with their own money. On the seller side, we have been trying to force insurers to enroll people they do not want to enroll. And on both sides of the market, we have created perverse incentives that cause costs to be higher and quality lower than would otherwise have been the case. More