Search the News Archive

Why John Goodman Doesn't Like Health Insurance Deductibles

"Most people who defend deductibles and co-payments argue that these devices give patients incentives to make better decisions. But, if that is the goal the means to achieve it are too crude and too weak. In the case of the deductible, the incentive to economize vanishes once the deductible is exceeded. In the case of coinsurance, the incentives are incredibly weak. If I have a 10% copayment, my incentive is to consume care until it's worth 10 cents on the dollar to me. At 20%, my incentive is to consume care until it is worth 20 cents on the dollar. Can't we do better than that?"

John Goodman: Why I Am More Egalitarian Than Most Liberals on Health Care

"One thing that adds to so much confusion is that people on the left have a huge investment in seeing themselves as more altruistic and more caring than everybody else. Paul Krugman, for example, refers to the Republican Party as the party of Scrooge and sees most elections as Dickensian morality plays -- even though research shows that right-of-center folks are actually more generous than folks on the left, on the average. Today, [I, John Goodman,] ask you to put aside such foolish thoughts and seriously consider the titular issue of this post."

Why John Goodman Likes Jason Furman

"In a 2008 paper, the new Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors says that the ideal way to encourage private insurance is by means of a refundable tax credit. The explanation reads like it could have been written by John McCain or by yours truly. If only the president had listened three years ago."

Why Health Insurance Policies are Being Cancelled

"Despite the promise that 'If you like the plan you are in, you can keep it,' the AP reports that plans are being cancelled all over the country because of ObamaCare. One insurer explains it this way: ... almost every policy on the street today in the individual and small group markets is not legal for one reason or another[.]"

Republican and Democratic Approaches to Health Reform: Is There a Dime's Worth of Difference?

"There are basically three criteria by which to judge a public policy: efficiency, equity and liberty. To what degree does the policy allow us to achieve a social objective at minimum cost? (Efficiency) To what degree does the policy treat people fairly? (Equity) And to what degree does it leave individuals free to make their own decisions? (Liberty) With respect to efficiency ... I see the Republican and Democratic approaches as different as night and day."

Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: 'Job Lock' Is Not the Problem -- 'Insurance Lock' Is

"We get our health benefits from our employer because they are non-taxable. If employees bought health insurance on our own, we would pay premiums with after-tax dollars.... But while there may be some job lock due to employer-based benefits, the problem has become way overblown in public discourse ... The real problem with our employer-based health benefits is 'insurance lock'. Until recently, and even now only for very large employers, an employee could only get his health-insurance policy from one insurer: The one chosen by his employer."

Liberal Definition of 'Essential Health Benefits' Means Health Insurance is About to Become More Costly

"The ObamaCare law requires the Department of Health and Human Services to establish 'essential health benefits' by looking at 'typical' employer plans. Unfortunately, the plans HHS intends to use as a guide are anything but typical. In its Essential Health Benefits Bulletin, the Department of Health and Human Services envisions a regulatory approach that will end up defining essential benefits as those that are 'substantially equal' to large employer plans."

27 Ways Obamacare Increases Your Health Insurance Premium

"Item 1 explains the $8 billion in new taxes that insurers must pay the federal government in 2014, an amount that increases through 2018 and then applies in all of the years to come.... Item 10 explains that patients will pay an estimated $2.3 billion more for prescription drugs.... Item 17 is the $25 million in transitional reinsurance program fees.... Item 19 covers the limit on the waiting period for enrollment into employer plans.... Item 22 is the slacker mandate, the requirement that 'children' up to age 26 must be covered by family policies."

Why Did Health Spending Slow Down Before It Sped Up?

"It's too soon for ObamaCare to have resulted in a big boost in spending. And the previous slowdown was underway over a decade. Over the longer period, what does track the slowdown very closely are three other developments: the growth of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), the growth of Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRAs) and the general trend toward higher deductibles. All three changes mean that patients are paying more medical bills out of their own pockets. And that has produced profound changes[.]"

Breast Cancer and Government Coverage Versus Private Health Insurance

"Covering all breast cancer cases registered from 1996 to 2005, the data once again suggest that the uninsured fare almost as well as people on Medicaid.... Several interpretations are possible. One is that the health behaviors of those on Medicaid differ in important, and poorly considered, ways from the health behaviors of those with private insurance. Another is that these results are roughly similar for people on Medicaid and those who are uninsured because during the time covered by the study, people in the United States with serious illness could access health care whether or not they had coverage."