Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell on July 28, 2010
By Daniel J. Mitchell
Free markets are characterized by voluntary exchange between buyers and sellers. Mapping that relationship is absurdly simply, as this image indicates.
Indeed, the only reason I even bothered to include that image was for purposes of comparison. Here is a new flowchart prepared for the Joint Economic Committee showing the healthcare system under Obamacare.
It’s worth noting, [...]
Categories: Politics, Tax and Budget Policy |
Tags: free markets, Government and Politics, government intervention, Government-run healthcare, Health, health reform, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, Obamacare, Third-party payer, voluntary exchange, Welfare & Entitlements | 
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Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 26, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
Maggie Mahar responds to my response to her critique of Michael Tanner’s claim that ObamaCare is deeply unpopular. Mahar’s alternative narrative, espoused by many on the Left, is that “the more voters learn more about the reform legislation, the more they seem to like it.”
Mahar shows that her narrative works if you begin looking for [...]
Categories: Politics |
Tags: Ezra Klein, Gallup, gallup poll, Government and Politics, Health, health care reform, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, Kaiser Family Foundation, Maggie Mahar, Medicare, NBC/Wall Street Journal, Obamacare, rasmussen, universal health care, Welfare & Entitlements | No Comments »
Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 22, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
That didn’t take long at all. Left-wing congresscritters have (re-)introduced legislation to create a “public option” in ObamaCare’s health insurance exchanges.
The Congressional Budget Office scores the bill as reducing federal deficits by $53 billion by 2019. How? Paying doctors and hospitals less! Put that on a bumper sticker! The public option would use Medicare’s price [...]
Categories: Congress, Politics |
Tags: cost containment, Government and Politics, government health care, Health, health bill, health insurance, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, Medicare, Obamacare, prescription drugs, public option, spending | No Comments »
Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 21, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
I just came across this letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal from MIT economist Jonathan Gruber. I don’t know how to confine myself to just one of the letter’s many problems. So brace yourselves, here comes the fisk.
Joseph Rago’s article on Massachusetts health-care reform (“The Massachusetts Health-Care ‘Train Wreck‘,” op-ed, July 7) [...]
Categories: Politics |
Tags: aaron yelowitz, Cato Publications, daniel kessler, General, glenn hubbard, Government and Politics, Health, health reform, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, john cogan, jonathan gruber, joseph rago, larry summers, massachusetts plan, Obamacare, romneycare, Wall Street Journal, Welfare & Entitlements | No Comments »
Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 20, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
You know things aren’t going well in Massachusetts when supporters of RomneyCare write “there’s some evidence that the reforms signed into law by Mitt Romney in 2006 are struggling.” That’s how The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein puts it in a post defending RomneyCare. The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn offers a similar defense.
Klein mentions only [...]
Categories: Politics |
Tags: aaron yelowitz, commonwealth fund, Ezra Klein, Government and Politics, Health, health care reform, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, individual mandate, jonathan cohn, massachusetts plan, medicaid, Medicare, mitt romney, Obamacare, romneycare, Welfare & Entitlements | No Comments »
Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 19, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
As of mid-July, it appears the American public still opposes ObamaCare, with the opposition strongest among those most likely to vote.
Judging by the latest data at the poll-aggregating site Pollster.com, a solid plurality of adults continues to oppose ObamaCare (46.8 vs. 40.1 percent):
The trendlines don’t look so good for supporters of the law. (The public [...]
Categories: Politics |
Tags: Barack Obama, Government and Politics, Health, health care reform, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, Obamacare, Pollster.com, Welfare & Entitlements | No Comments »
Posted by Michael F. Cannon on July 15, 2010
By Michael F. Cannon
The Obama administration announced yesterday its plans for implementing ObamaCare’s mandate that consumers purchase first-dollar coverage for preventive services. The press release reads (emphasis added):
Administration Announces Regulations Requiring New Health Insurance Plans to Provide Free Preventive Care
Of course the administration would emphasize that consumers will pay nothing for these services at the moment of service, [...]
Categories: Politics |
Tags: Cato Publications, cbo, free, Government and Politics, Health, health insurance, health insurance mandates, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, los angeles times, Medicare, New York Times, no cost, Obamacare, Politico, preventive care, Regulatory Studies, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, Welfare & Entitlements | No Comments »
Posted by Cato Editors on July 12, 2010
By Cato Editors
At more than 2,500 pages and 500,000 words long, the new health care bill — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — is the most significant transformation of the American health care system since Medicare and Medicaid.
The bill’s complexity has created confusion, frustration, false expectations, and conflicts about its coverage and impact. An incisive [...]
Categories: Politics |
Tags: affordable care, bad medicine, Health, health care bill, health care reform, health care system, Health, Welfare & Entitlements, medicaid, Medicare, national debt, patient protection | No Comments »
