News
America's debt problem is a health care problem
3+ hour, 24+ min ago (337+ words) America has a spending problem. It also has a health care problem. These are not two separate crises but rather the same crisis wearing different clothes. The Cato Institute's new Handbook on Affordability'is a great resource to understand the root…...
The tax loophole that made U. S. health care unaffordable
1+ mon, 2+ week ago (625+ words) America's health care system consistently ranks as the most expensive in the developed world. It's not, as some politicians claim, expensive because markets have failed. It's expensive because the market has been repeatedly blocked from succeeding. Until we're honest about…...
Wealth taxes are proven failures. Will California take note?
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (482+ words) No, once spending is treated as untouchable and restraint as politically impossible, it's only a matter of time before politics demands more, more, more. More taxes and more distortion. This helps explain why wild new forms of wealth taxes are…...
California's 'billionaire tax' could bite harder than advertised
3+ mon, 2+ day ago (452+ words) The ostensible purpose of the tax, per its sponsors, is to "save California's healthcare system from collapse," though money is fungible and the state has spent itself into an $18 billion deficit for the 20262027 budget, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's…...
Auditors submitted 24 fake applications for subsidized health insurance. Only 1 was denied.
4+ mon, 2+ week ago (345+ words) Government auditors tried to enroll 24 fictional people in health insurance plans offered via the Affordable Care Act exchanges'the marketplaces where taxpayer-subsidized health insurance plans are available for purchase. Only one of those applications was denied. Auditors with GAO created four…...
Should the U. S. have a public health insurance plan?
9+ mon, 5+ day ago (138+ words) Gene Epstein | 7. 18. 2025 3: 15 PM Jacob Hacker and David Goldhill debate the resolution: "The government should offer to all Americans a health insurance plan that would compete with private insurance plans." Jacob Hacker is arguing for the affirmative. He's a professor of…...
Social Security and Medicare are racing toward drastic cuts'yet lawmakers refuse to act
9+ mon, 3+ week ago (677+ words) Considering recent news, you may have missed that the 2025 trustees reports for Social Security and Medicare are out. Once again, they confirm what we've known for decades: Both programs are barreling straight toward insolvency. The Social Security retirement trust fund…...