A Free Market in Health Care?

Recantly, the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico’s largest newspaper, included a letter to the editor from a reader who decried the “failure” of our “free market” health care system. To anyone famililar even in passing with American health care, this concept of a freewheeling, un-regulated health care marketplace might seem to be in stark contrast to [...]

Posted on February 4, 2009 at 5:59 pm by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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Economic Stimulus Bill Would Nationalize Health Information

As I wrote about over the weekend, the so-called economic stimulus now being considered by the Senate is full of waste and pork. This kind of thing is to be expected any time Congress decides to start spending money on a wish list of projects that would otherwise not be funded. Of course, as the [...]

Posted on February 2, 2009 at 11:21 am by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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Richardson’s Health Care Plan (Revised again)

While much of the attention on health care has shifted to Washington and the Obama Administration, there is still action taking place in the states. Governor Richardson, having largely failed to impose his original vision of bureaucratically-managed health care on New Mexico, has revised his plans and come up with a new “streamlined” health care [...]

Posted on January 28, 2009 at 10:23 am by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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McCain’s Health Care Plan: A Response

Rio Grande Foundation economists Brown and Gisser recently wrote an op-ed arguing that McCain’s health care plan is superior to Obama’s. That drew a swift response from a supporter of Obama who argued that McCain couldn’t get health care under his own plan.
To sum up the author’s arguments:
The real problem with the American health-care system [...]

Posted on October 19, 2008 at 4:40 pm by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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McCain Health Care Plan Best

Recently, two Rio Grande Foundation economists, Ken Brown and Micha Gisser, had a column in the Albuquerque Journal discussing the health care plans of Obama and McCain. While Obama claims his plan will not lead to “socialized medicine,” Gisser and Brown believe that his reliance on government will inevitably lead to a breakdown of the [...]

Posted on October 12, 2008 at 7:33 pm by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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State Insurance Plan Stops Enrolling: Costs $11,320 annually per insured person

According to this recent report from the Albuquerque Journal’s Business section (subscription required although a shorter free article is available here), New Mexico’s State Coverage Insurance program has stopped enrolling new members at 40,000. This has occurred two years earlier than the government originally expected.
SCI is a funded through the federal SCHIP Program. The state [...]

Posted on October 8, 2008 at 10:59 am by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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Health Care: A Rudderless Ship?

With all the action and talk about the bailout, the health care issue has been moved off the front pages. Nonetheless, there is still discussion back and forth on the issue. Dr. Jim Tryon, a prominent New Mexico doctor who has advised Governor Richardson and others on health care reform, wrote on the topic in [...]

Posted on September 29, 2008 at 3:30 pm by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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Can We Make Health Care Worse?

With Wall Street in crisis and so many issues sucking up airtime, health care as an issue has been pushed from the front pages of America’s newspapers. Of course, Albuquerque’s alternative weekly still has time to do a story about how our health care system is “poisoned.” In fact, from the sound of things, American [...]

Posted on September 23, 2008 at 10:37 am by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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Richardson’s Health Care Plan (Revised)

After failing to gain either legislative or popular support for his ambitious, universal health care plan which would have relied heavily on government mandates, Governor Richardson has introduced a scaled-back health care reform proposal that will be considered in the upcoming special session.
The Governor’s plan would:
• Require all children through the age of 18 to have [...]

Posted on August 12, 2008 at 10:27 am by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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Doggie Health Care

Several months ago I wrote on this site about dog health care vs. human health care. John Goodman, one of the nation’s free market health care analysts has picked up on that theme on his NCPA health blog. Check out his posting here.
As Goodman points out:
Why does the market for pet care seem to work [...]

Posted on August 11, 2008 at 2:09 pm by Paul Gessing · Permalink · Leave a comment
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