In a February 15 commentary, economist Martin Sullivan took issue with those who insist that the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, which imposes a tax on those who refuse to buy health insurance, is unconstitutional. He argues that there is no logical difference between a tax penalty and a tax preference. Therefore, if the individual mandate is unconstitutional, so is much of the tax code.
On February 15, the Employee Benefit Research Institute published a study on the extent to which people independently seek out information on different treatments, costs, and other health information.
On February 15, Towers Watson published a report on the extent to which companies are publicly disclosing their potential liabilities for asbestos litigation.
On February 14, the National Bureau of Economic Research published a working paper which calculated that higher taxes associated with higher government health spending will reduce GDP by between 5 percent and 11 percent by 2060 depending on how the revenue is raised.
A February 12 Associated Press report found a considerable amount of fraud in the Medicare Part D program, which was enacted by Republicans in 2003.
In a February 11 blog post, former Congressional Budget Office economist Paul Van de Water explained why Republican claims that the CBO has calculated that health care reform will destroy 800,000 jobs are complete nonsense and based on a willful misreading of what CBO said on the subject.
On February 9, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing on the “Job-Destroying Impact of ObamaCare’s Employer Mandate.”
Also on February 9, the New England Journal of Medicine published an article on the increasing role of public sector institutions in the development of new drugs.
In a February 4 commentary, Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt discussed the Ryan-Rivlin plan for cutting Medicare by converting it from a defined-benefit plan to a defined-contribution plan. He is skeptical that the program will save as much money as the authors hope given that private insurance companies are struggling to contain costs.
Also on February 4, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago published a study on the impact of higher taxes on soda, which many people support to reduce obesity. It finds that such a tax would fall heavily on the poor and uneducated.
On February 2, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Among those testifying in favor was Reagan administration Solicitor General Charles Fried and former assistant Attorney General Walter Dellinger. Opposed were lawyer Michael Carvin and Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett.
I last posted items on this topic on February 2.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column at The Fiscal Times. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).
