The holidays are fast approaching, and the “elves” are busy at the North Pole. No, not the presidential candidates. No, not the Capitol Hill pols. And no, not those unrelenting pursuers of objectivity and truth: the journalists.
Medicare’s hospital trust fund is set to be exhausted by 2024, according to the latest report from the program’s trustees. Federal officials are understandably looking for easy ways to cut spending in the entitlement program in hopes of shoring up its finances.
As I read the spirited debate over whether Obamacare will drive health insurers out of business (here and here), I wonder if we need to bring the discussion back to fundamentals: The key problem with U.S health insurance is that there is too much of it – whether provided by private insurers or government.
The Congressional Budget Office just released a major new investigation into household income trends over the last three decades. Researchers found that while the total amount of benefits paid out by government social safety-net programs rose between 1979 and 2007, the share going to the poor actually shrank.
