The Trump-GOP tax plan will add to the national debt by $1 trillion (Joint Committee on Taxation) or $1.4 trillion (Congressional Budget Office). Under the pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) law, Congress will need to make a choice to cut Medicare or to allow the increase of the national debt. The PAYGO law says that the revenue shortfall … Continue reading Will New Trump-GOP Tax Plan Trigger PAYGO Cuts to Medicare?
Category: American Health Politics
FAQ: Could a Healthcare Reform Plan Designed for a Single State Work at a National Level?
Could an approach used 23 years ago by a single state, targeted only at its Medicaid program, be applied on a national scale for reforming the vast U.S. healthcare system? The answer is Yes. Oregon in 1994 decided to cut services instead of cutting patients in response to a Medicaid budget squeeze. The governor used … Continue reading FAQ: Could a Healthcare Reform Plan Designed for a Single State Work at a National Level?
Will These Ideas Fix U.S. Healthcare?
Almost everyone agrees that the U.S. healthcare system needs to be fixed. For example, each of the 2016 Presidential candidates promised to fix it. Now that the election is over, heated debate continues over 2 basic questions: What, exactly, is the problem? How, then, should it be fixed? My answer to the first question is: … Continue reading Will These Ideas Fix U.S. Healthcare?
FAQ – Why Did Oregon Health Plan Fail in 2002?
The Oregon Health Plan took effect in 1994, but ended in failure in 2002. This blog explains that the failure was caused by external circumstances and by an internal policy error that can be avoided – provided that we learn a lesson from Oregon’s experience. Here are the straight answers explaining why OHP failed, and … Continue reading FAQ – Why Did Oregon Health Plan Fail in 2002?
Real Tax Reform: Cutting the Healthcare “Excise Tax”
Politicians in Washington have been wrangling over healthcare and tax cuts since January 2017 (really, since 2009). They got a couple of things right. First, they realized that health spending amounts to an 18% excise tax on all economic activity; that’s how much of GDP we currently spend on healthcare. And that’s where real “tax … Continue reading Real Tax Reform: Cutting the Healthcare “Excise Tax”
Fixing U.S. Healthcare 