At the time of the Affordable Care Act’s passage, many suspicious conspiracy theory proponents suggested the goal of Obamacare was to fail in order to usher in a single-payer program of Medicare-for-All. The theory goes something like this: with nowhere to turn except the government, Americans would finally throw up their hands and acquiesce to government intervention. Seniors purportedly all love their Medicare, so why not expand the program to cover everyone?
Category: Health Economics & Costs
Why Has Medicare Spending Slowed?
Spending per Medicare beneficiary has nearly leveled off over more than a decade.
If Medicare spending had grown the way it had for much of its history, federal spending would have been $3.9 trillion higher since 2011, and deficits would have been more than a quarter larger, according to an Upshot analysis. The difference is more than could be saved by raising the eligibility age for Social Security or converting Medicaid into a block grant, controversial proposals raised by legislators concerned about the federal debt.
Tuesday Links
- Labor Day good news: the number of hours worked per year, per worker has fallen by more than one-third over the last century.
- As your hourly wage rises, so does the opportunity cost of leisure.
- NYT on the reason A.I. is an existential threat: it will usher in an new era of neoliberalism.
- Almost 20 scholars offer remedies for revitalizing conservatism. A bird’s eye view suggests they all want us to stand athwart history and yell, “STOP.”
- Enslaved Africans were responsible for introducing the practice of smallpox inoculation throughout the Americas by the 1700s. Interesting, but speculative.
- Even the proponents of colonoscopies and breast cancer screening think they only lower cancer death by 20%. HT: Arnold Kling
Monday Links
- The food stamp program doubled in size during th pandemic, yet its 42 million recipients have less healthy diets and are more obese than other Americans.
- The typical Medicare beneficiary has access to around 40 Medicare Advantage plans. (WSJ)
- Medicaid in NY: volatile budget swings.
- GOP answer to drug shortages: exempt generics from the 340b discounts until the shortage is over. (gated)
- The case for drinking. HT: David Henderson