Health Care and Doctors

The need for health care reform and new health care policies keeps making the news almost every day. Better access to health care includes better access to the knowledge and services of physicians. That would imply new health care graduates should grow as the population grows, but medical school degree data published by the National Center for Education Statistics shows no growth at all. For the academic year 1985-86, they report 15,938 Medical School Degrees. They have not reported a number as high as that since, although MD degrees reached 15,730...

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Taxes and Health Care Reform

The headline in the Washington Post reads “Tax on Health Benefits Weighed: Senate Calls Levy ‘Perhaps the Best Way’ to pay for Overhaul.” [June 10, 2009] Actually it was Senator Max Baucus who is drafting the legislation for the Senate who said that, but we can be sure he discussed it with his Senate colleagues. The qualifier “perhaps” in front of best should be translated into the best we can do given that a majority in Congress wants to avoid raising income tax rates at the top of the Federal income tax scale. The top rate continues to be 35...

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