Occasional commenter WD sent along his analysis of a recent Commonwealth Fund “study,” and it deserves its own post: One should give credit to the folks at the Commonwealth Fund (CF). The headlines they generate are top-notch: “INSURED BUT POORLY PROTECTED: 25 MILLION ADULTS ARE UNDERINSURED; NUMBER UP 60 PERCENT IN 4 YEARS.â€? Their research, on the other hand…well, let’s [...]
According to the LA Times, a lot of people are getting married to secure insurance coverage: Some people marry for love, some for companionship, and others for status or money. Now comes another reason to get hitched: health insurance. Yep. That Blue Cross card is quite the babe magnet: In a poll released today, 7% [...]
In addition to their afinity for phony surveys and fudged statistics, advocates of government-run health care are also fond of gratuitous assertions wholly unsupported by objective data. A classic example can be found in this AP article about child abuse and neglect: The neglect cases include situations in which medical professionals conclude that a child got sick or [...]
The advocates of government-run health care supplement their thin repertoire of legitimate arguments with a series of canards that they hope will be accepted as facts. Sally Pipes debunks five of these myths in The Washington Times: I. 47Â million Americans do not have insurance. The [Census] Bureau counts anyone who went without insurance for any [...]
The National Federation of Independent Business recently hosted a mandate debate between Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute, Sherry Glied of Columbia University, Bob Moffit of the Heritage Foundation, and Peter Harbage of the Center for American Progress. Cannon, at one point in the discussion, questioned the fairness of forcing healthy young people to buy insurance when they may wish [...]
The NYT, having suddenly developed an interest in high-priced hookers, reveals a previously unknown aspect of the oldest profession: otherwise virtuous young women are being forced into a life of prostitution because America hasn’t solved its uninsured problem: Ava Xi’an sells real estate on Long Island, and turned to selling herself when her father, who lacks [...]
That the latest version of Arnoldcare has been lambasted by both free-market and single-payer advocates suggests that the plan has serious problems. And it does indeed offer the worst of both worlds: heavy-handed government interference in the health care market and preservation of private insurance monopolies. But, being a hospital finance type, I was really taken aback by the proposed 4% tax [...]
Advocates of universal coverage tend to discount the economic phenomenon known as “crowd-out.” Some simply don’t understand the concept, while others contend that it is nothing to fear. Meanwhile, Maine’s “Dirigo” program has become the latest health care initiative to confirm that crowd-out is real and harmful. A new study sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund reports the following: [...]
In addition to encroaching on individual freedom and increasing unemployment, health insurance mandates do not achieve their ostensible goal–universal coverage. Among those who have pointed that out is Robert Reich. In a piece decrying Hillary Clinton’s attacks on Barack Obama, he writes the following: We know from experience with mandated auto insurance–and we’re learning from what’s happening [...]
John Edwards has been derided left, right and center for his proposal to use the apparatchiks of the IRS as health insurance enforcers. And the description offered by his campaign concerning how it would work does give one pause: The process, according to the Edwards campaign, would resemble the process used to collect money from Americans who are delinquent [...]
