Health Care and the Debt

There is plenty of confusion about connection between the Health Care legislation and our current fiscal situation. The main question is if repeal of the Health Care legislation would reduce or expand the deficit. This piece clarifies quite a bit.

Obama's Agenda

Two Contracts, the first is the intrade contract for a public option being passed and signed into law by the end of June. The second for what intrade calls "Obamacare" (basically the reconsiliation process kicked around in the news right now). Big difference here. Basically the public option looks dead, while the current push looks probable. So the question is "Is Obama pushing too hard for his adgenda?" The answer (according to David Brooks) is who are you asking.

Here is what reads as an unbiased article by someone who is known as 'the' conservative at the New York Times (which is known as left leaning... confusing, right?).

Why are Costs so High?

An excellent post by Mankiw on Healthcare costs and the salaries of doctors.

Biased Healthcare Debate

Want more on the current health care debate? Here it is from the left.

Here it is from the right.

Let the mud slinging begin. BTW, the intrade contract for the deal to be made by the end of the year is the chart. Losing popularity?

Update: A link to Friedman's take (HT Mankiw)

Healthcare Debate Simplified

Do you want an unbiased explanation to the current healthcare debate? Try it here, or here, under the left column headed ‘Healthcare for Dummies 6-18-09’ (each are podcasts).

Nationalizing Health Care I

The first of what I suspect many hints dropped that the government is seriously considering nationalizing health care. What I find interesting is the timing... right after admitting we are out of money Obama implies we will make changes to health care.

In addition to the health care hint there is a word on our deficit and debt.

Who is Picking up the Tab?

Healthcare is a complicated issue to tackle. One timeless post by Mankiw explores what happens if one Obama plan is passed. The plan sounds innocent enough. Tax the employer to pay for healthcare. But knowing that who pays for a tax and who pays the burden of a tax is an important distinction to make.