In the endless run-up to health care reform legislation, two journalists’ commentaries stood out: Ezra Klein’s in The Washington Post and Jonathan Cohn’s in The New Republic. Cohn is now posting a five-part series on the TNR website that offers a blow-by-blow insider’s take on what happened and …
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By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Ezra Klein, Jonathan Cohn, The New Republic, Washington Post | Category: Health Care Reform, Quick Takes |
 Leave a commentFor a succinct explanation of the role of the so-called individual mandate in health care reform – and the surreal quality of the legal challenges to the new law – check out Gene Steuerle’s latest The Government We Deserve column. Steuerle, for those who don’t already … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: C. Eugene Steuerle, individual mandate, The Government We Deserve | Category: Health Care Reform, Quick Takes |
Leave a commentWashington Post columnist Robert Samuelson warns that the health care law’s projected net savings are based on unrealistic assumptions – and in any event, America can ill-afford any increase in gross entitlement spending because the federal debt is about to overrun us. Maybe. But … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: cost containment, death panels, federal deficit, Robert Samuelson | Category: Health Care Reform, Quick Takes |
Leave a commentAs practically everybody knows by now, the new health care law (hey, it’s not just a “bill” anymore) requires chain restaurants to post nutrition information for standard menu items. Now, this is just the sort of regulation that appeals to free-market economists – regulation that reduces the cost of … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Burger King, Corby Kummer, externality, information asymmetry, KFC, nutrition labeling, obesity, securities prospectus, Starbucks, tobacco | Category: Health Care Reform |
One comment…John Holahan and Bowen Garrett’s estimate of the reduction in uncollectible medical care bills that will follow from the expansion of health care insurance? As everybody knows, hospitals can’t (legally) turn away sick people. So when the uninsured are treated, somebody has to eat the lion’s … …Menzie Chinn’s geographic analysis of who signed the dueling economists’ letters on health care reform? Of the 41 professionals signing the letter favoring President Obama’s plan, only two (Kenneth Thorpe of Emory and Len Nichols of George Mason) are from … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Alice Rivlin, David Cutler, Henry Aaron, Kenneth Thorpe, Len Nichols, Menzie Chinn | Category: Did You See, Health Care Reform |
2 commentsHoward Gleckman spotted a revenue provision in President Obama’s health care package that would generate an estimated 86 percent of its revenue from tax filers reporting incomes in excess of $624,000. He’s unhappy with this Medicare tax add-on because it is less transparent (and therefore more politically … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Howard Gleckman, Medicare, TaxVox | Category: Health Care Reform, Quick Takes |
Leave a commentWe all know that the Rube Goldberg machine known as the American health care system is riddled with misincentives that reduce its efficiency. But Leemore Dafny, Katherine Ho and Mauricio Varela point to a big source of loss we’d never … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: adverse selection, Katherine Ho, Leemore Dafny, Mauricio Varela, Medicare | Category: Health Care Reform |
Leave a commentUwe Reinhardt counters Sen. Tom Coburn’s proposal that the feds employ undercover agents to ferret out fraud in hospitals with the suggestion that Washington emulate the statistically-based counter-corruption techniques used in Europe. Reinhardt’s only mistake here was to take Sen. Coburn, who called global warming … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: global warning, health care cost containment, Tom Coburn, Uwe Reinhardt | Category: Health Care Reform, Quick Takes |
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Professor Dieter Helm (Oxford) is a very fine fly fisherman, and an even better economist. If you haven’t done so, take a look at his new book “The Carbon Crunch: How We Are Getting Climate Change Wrong — and How to Fix It” for a bit of unconventional wisdom. He argues that politicians and the general public have not shown any real interest in addressing climate change. Helm argues that places like Europe should focus on setting a price for carbon that would cover consumption (and not just production), and that fracking could be a good “bridge” technology for reducing consumption of coal. The book is readable and insightful for those interested in the inside track on climate policy. 
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