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	<title>Cato @ Liberty &#187; universal health care</title>
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	<description>Cato Institute Blog</description>
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		<title>Thursday Links</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/thursday-links-30/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/thursday-links-30/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:18:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>George Scoville</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cato Publications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2012 elections]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diane rehm]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gary Johnson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GOP primary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[military intervention]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NPR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[parking subsidies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ron paul]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[urban planning]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vermont]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=30890</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By George Scoville</p>Gary Johnson: the anti-Trump. Interventionists to the left. Interventionists to the right. There ain&#8217;t no such thing as free&#8230; parking. Vermont has a new universal health care proposal on the table. Michael Cannon joined WAMU&#8217;s The Diane Rehm Show (Washington, DC) yesterday to discuss the plan with a panel of other experts: Thursday Links is [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/thursday-links-30/">Thursday Links</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By George Scoville</p><ul>
<li><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/265677/other-libertarian-michael-tanner">Gary Johnson: the anti-Trump</a>.</li>
<li>Interventionists <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-skeptics/did-president-obama-become-liberal-interventionist-because-of-partisan-identity-5218">to the left</a>.</li>
<li>Interventionists <a href="http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=1424">to the right</a>.</li>
<li>There ain&#8217;t no such thing as free&#8230; <a href="http://www.cato-unbound.org/">parking</a>.</li>
<li>Vermont has a new universal health care proposal on the table. Michael Cannon joined WAMU&#8217;s <em>The Diane Rehm Show</em> (Washington, DC) yesterday to <a href="http://www.cato.org/multimedia/radio-highlights/michael-f-cannon-health-care-reform-nprs-diane-rehm-show">discuss the plan with a panel of other experts</a>:
<p><center><iframe width="426" height="254" src="http://www.cato.org/multimedia/embed/4907" frameborder="0"></iframe></center></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/thursday-links-30/">Thursday Links</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>ObamaCare Remains Unpopular, or Round Two of My Exchange with Maggie Mahar</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/obamacare-remains-unpopular-or-round-two-of-my-exchange-with-maggie-mahar/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/obamacare-remains-unpopular-or-round-two-of-my-exchange-with-maggie-mahar/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:16:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael F. Cannon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government and Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ezra Klein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gallup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gallup poll]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kaiser Family Foundation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maggie Mahar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NBC/Wall Street Journal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obamacare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rasmussen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welfare & Entitlements]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=18410</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p>Maggie Mahar responds to my response to her critique of Michael Tanner&#8217;s claim that ObamaCare is deeply unpopular.  Mahar&#8217;s alternative narrative, espoused by many on the Left, is that &#8220;the more voters learn more about the reform legislation, the more they seem to like it.&#8221; Mahar shows that her narrative works if you begin looking [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/obamacare-remains-unpopular-or-round-two-of-my-exchange-with-maggie-mahar/">ObamaCare Remains Unpopular, or Round Two of My Exchange with Maggie Mahar</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p><p>Maggie Mahar <a href="http://www.healthbeatblog.com/2010/07/a-response-to-catos-reply-pollstercom-shows-disapproval-fading-as-americans-learn-more-about-health-.html">responds</a> to <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/07/19/obamacare-is-unpopular-a-response-to-maggie-mahar/">my response</a> to <a href="http://www.healthbeatblog.com/2010/07/a-reply-to-the-cato-institutes-report-on-healthcare-reform-part-1-.html">her critique</a> of Michael Tanner&#8217;s <a href="http://www.cato.org/bad-medicine/?utm_source=nro&amp;utm_medium=banner&amp;utm_campaign=bad-medicine">claim that ObamaCare is deeply unpopular</a>.  Mahar&#8217;s alternative narrative, espoused by many on the Left, is that &#8220;the more voters learn more about the reform legislation, the more they seem to like it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Mahar shows that her narrative works <em>if</em> you begin looking for a trend at the high-water mark of opposition, <em>if</em> you look at a few select polls, <em>if</em> you look at not-so-straightforward poll questions, <em>if</em> you interpret simultaneous declines in both support and opposition as growing support, and <em>if</em> you devise a rationale for ignoring the views of those who most oppose ObamaCare.  Which is to say, her narrative doesn&#8217;t work.  ObamaCare remains deeply unpopular.</p>
<p>Mahar claims that support for repealing ObamaCare has been trending downward since reaching its high water mark of 63 percent on May 22, as measured by the polling firm Rasmussen Reports.  This was shrewd; if you&#8217;re going to look for a downward trend, the high water mark is an excellent place to start.  But it doesn&#8217;t paint an accurate picture of what&#8217;s been happening with public support for repeal. Starting on the  enactment date, <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/07/19/obamacare-is-unpopular-a-response-to-maggie-mahar/">as I wrote before</a>, &#8220;Rasmussen finds opposition to repeal hovering between 32-42 percent, and support for repeal hovering between 52-63 percent, with no clear trend on either side.&#8221;  No clear trend, and a majority consistently supports repeal.  Check out Rasmussen&#8217;s <a href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/health_care_law">data</a> and see for yourself.</p>
<p>Next, Mahar selects a few polls that do support her narrative (e.g., Gallup, NBC/<em>Wall Street Journal</em>, Kaiser Family Foundation).  For example, in her first post, Mahar cites an NBC/<em>Wall Street Journal</em> <a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/A_Politics/___Politics_Today_Stories_Teases/June_NBC_poll.pdf">poll</a> from June that suggests voters would prefer a Democratic congressional candidate who didn&#8217;t want to repeal ObamaCare over a Republican who did.  Aside from the results being barely statistically significant, the question she cites introduces confounding factors such as party affiliation.  When that same poll asked a more straightforward question, it found that 47 percent of respondents would be enthusiastic about or comfortable with a candidate&#8217;s desire to repeal ObamaCare, compared to 40 percent who would have reservations or be uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Moreover, selecting just a few polls probably paints a less accurate picture than looking at something like Pollster.com, which aggregates all polls and therefore (presumably) cancels out the quirkiness of individual polls.</p>
<p><span id="more-18410"></span><script src="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/scripts/javascript/loess.js" type="text/javascript"></script><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="450" height="346" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="chart" value="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="false" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="346" src="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="false" chart="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1"></embed></object></p>
<p>The above graph shows that opposition to ObamaCare surged after Obama&#8217;s inauguration and surpassed support just as the debate began in earnest in July 2009.  (That rising opposition fueled the angry town halls of August 2009.) In other words, from the moment the public began to focus on ObamaCare, they didn&#8217;t like what they saw, and opponents have out-numbered its supporters for 12 months now.  (Note: the above graph only includes polls that ask the straightforward support/oppose question.  It does not include Rasmussen&#8217;s polls showing broad and deep support for repeal, nor the NBC/<em>Wall Street Journal</em> and Kaiser Family Foundation polls Mahar cites, which show weaker support for repeal.  It would be interesting to see Pollster.com aggregate the &#8220;repeal&#8221; polls.)</p>
<p>When Mahar turns her attention to all available polls, she argues, &#8220;if you’re looking for a trend, it’s only sensible to begin the day the bill was signed, March 23.&#8221; Why?</p>
<blockquote><p>
It was only after the final bill was passed, that people could begin to offer an opinion.
</p></blockquote>
<p>How true that is.  Also: mere voters can hardly be expected to offer an opinion about would-be presidents until after Inauguration Day.</p>
<p>One would think that Mahar would only insult the public&#8217;s intelligence, and dismiss the views that a plurality/majority of adults consistently expressed for 9 months, if it would help to bolster her argument.  But it doesn&#8217;t.  When we look at the trend in public opinion on ObamaCare since the signing ceremony, we see that opposition <em>and</em> support are declining:</p>
<p><script src="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/scripts/javascript/loess.js" type="text/javascript"></script><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="450" height="346" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="chart" value="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=2010-03-23&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=2010-03-23&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="false" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="346" src="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=2010-03-23&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="false" chart="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=2010-03-23&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1"></embed></object></p>
<p>If the trendline showing declining opposition to ObamaCare supports Mahar’s narrative (&#8220;the more voters learn…the more they seem to like it&#8221;), the trendline showing declining support for ObamaCare supports the opposite narrative (&#8220;the more voters learn, the less they like it&#8221;).</p>
<p>But recall that Mahar claims that <em>voters</em> are warming to ObamaCare.  When we look only at polls of adults who are registered to vote, there doesn&#8217;t appear to be <em>any</em> change since ObamaCare became law:</p>
<p><script src="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/scripts/javascript/loess.js" type="text/javascript"></script><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="450" height="346" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="chart" value="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=Democracy Corps (D),FOX,NPR,Public Opinion Strategies (R),NSLC/Public Opinion Strategies (R),OnMessage (R-RNC),Quinnipiac,Democracy Corps (D)/Third Way (D),GWU (Lake/Tarrance),Resurgent Republic (R)&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=0&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=Democracy Corps (D),FOX,NPR,Public Opinion Strategies (R),NSLC/Public Opinion Strategies (R),OnMessage (R-RNC),Quinnipiac,Democracy Corps (D)/Third Way (D),GWU (Lake/Tarrance),Resurgent Republic (R)&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=0&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="false" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" height="346" src="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=Democracy Corps (D),FOX,NPR,Public Opinion Strategies (R),NSLC/Public Opinion Strategies (R),OnMessage (R-RNC),Quinnipiac,Democracy Corps (D)/Third Way (D),GWU (Lake/Tarrance),Resurgent Republic (R)&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=0&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="false" chart="http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/flash/swfs/chart.swf?xml=http://www.pollster.com/flashcharts/content/xml/HealthCare.xml&amp;choices=Oppose,Favor&amp;phone=Democracy Corps (D),FOX,NPR,Public Opinion Strategies (R),NSLC/Public Opinion Strategies (R),OnMessage (R-RNC),Quinnipiac,Democracy Corps (D)/Third Way (D),GWU (Lake/Tarrance),Resurgent Republic (R)&amp;ivr=&amp;internet=0&amp;mail=&amp;smoothing=&amp;from_date=&amp;to_date=&amp;min_pct=&amp;max_pct=&amp;grid=&amp;points=&amp;trends=&amp;lines=&amp;colors=Favor-000000,Oppose-BF0014,Undecided-A69A37,No Opinion-68228B&amp;e=1"></embed></object></p>
<p>Looking just at voters also reveals that the opposition leads support by an even wider margin (9.5 percentage points).</p>
<p>(NB: These Pollster.com graphs will update automatically as new polling information becomes available, which may affect the trendlines.  My description of the trends and the numbers I cite are current as of July 26, 2010.  Also, readers using Internet Explorer have reported difficulty seeing the trendlines in user-generated graphs from Pollster.com.)</p>
<p>Finally, Mahar channels Marion Barry, who (in)famously claimed that if you don&#8217;t count murders, the crime rate in Washington, D.C., is really quite low.  She cites a <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/140981/Verdict-Healthcare-Reform-Bill-Divided.aspx?utm_source=alert&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=syndication&amp;utm_content=morelink&amp;utm_term=Politics">poll</a> that &#8220;suggests that opposition is largely confined to the one group that already has universal coverage–seniors,&#8221;  and then invokes <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/affordable_care_act_popular_am.html">Ezra Klein</a>&#8216;s rationale for dismissing their opinions:</p>
<blockquote><p>[S]eniors, of course, aren&#8217;t opposed to government-run health care. They love their Medicare, and insofar as they have a policy concern here, it&#8217;s that the Affordable Care Act will interfere with the single-payer system they rely on.</p></blockquote>
<p>It is nonsense to say that ObamaCare is popular if we just ignore the views of people who will suffer.  If ObamaCare weren&#8217;t taking the money for its <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">insurance-company bailouts</span> new government spending out of Medicare, it would have to take that money from somewhere else and those people would be angry.  (Actually, since those Medicare cuts probably won&#8217;t happen, we&#8217;ll get to see that scenario play out.)  Even if ObamaCare were popular among non-seniors, all Mahar and Klein would have established is that massive new government entitlement programs would be popular if we didn&#8217;t have to pay for them.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/obamacare-remains-unpopular-or-round-two-of-my-exchange-with-maggie-mahar/">ObamaCare Remains Unpopular, or Round Two of My Exchange with Maggie Mahar</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<item>
		<title>The Faux Compassion of Club Sarkozy</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-faux-compassion-of-club-sarkozy/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-faux-compassion-of-club-sarkozy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 May 2010 17:11:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael F. Cannon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[diplomat magazine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[france]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medicaid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[national health service]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nicolas Sarkozy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obamacare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[repeal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Welfare & Entitlements]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=14000</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p>Shortly after President Obama signed his health care law, French president Nicolas Sarkozy offered this backhanded compliment to the United States: &#8220;Welcome to the club of countries that does not dump its sick people.&#8221; In this month&#8217;s Diplomat magazine (U.K.), I explain pourquoi c&#8217;est fou: Every member of Sarkozy’s &#8220;club&#8221; has its stories of sick [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-faux-compassion-of-club-sarkozy/">The Faux Compassion of Club Sarkozy</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p><p>Shortly after President Obama signed his health care law, French president Nicolas Sarkozy offered this backhanded compliment to the United States: &#8220;<a href="http://www.financeweek.co.uk/fw-comment/sarkozy-demands-new-monetary-world-order">Welcome to the club of countries that does not dump its sick people.</a>&#8221;</p>
<p>In this month&#8217;s <em><a href="http://www.diplomatmagazine.com/">Diplomat</a></em> magazine (U.K.), <a href="http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/cannon-what-hath-obama-wrought.pdf">I explain</a> <em><a href="http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/cannon-what-hath-obama-wrought.pdf">pourquoi c&#8217;est fou</a></em>:</p>
<blockquote><p>Every member of Sarkozy’s &#8220;club&#8221; has its stories of sick people who have been &#8220;dumped,&#8221; in one manner or another, despite laws that officially preclude such things from ever happening. In 2005, <a href="http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa568.pdf">Canada’s Supreme Court wrote</a> of its country’s Medicare system: &#8220;Access to a waiting list is not access to healthcare&#8230;[T]here is unchallenged evidence that in some serious cases, patients die as a result of waiting lists for public health care.&#8221; The British, meanwhile, often seem more content to let the National Health Service shortchange its patients than to let an American lecture them about how often it happens.</p>
<p>The checkered history of government guarantees is why so many Americans &#8212; a majority, in fact &#8212; oppose President Obama’s new law, which they believe will move the United States even further from Sarkozy’s ideal world than it is now.</p></blockquote>
<p>Presidents Obama and Sarkozy may prefer the false compassion of a government guarantee.  I&#8217;ll take the real thing.</p>
<p>Repeal the bill.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-faux-compassion-of-club-sarkozy/">The Faux Compassion of Club Sarkozy</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<title>Can Romney Lead the Fight against ObamaCare?</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/can-romney-lead-the-fight-against-obamacare/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/can-romney-lead-the-fight-against-obamacare/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:17:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>David Boaz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Government and Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[daniel gross]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Heritage Foundation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mitt romney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[preexisting conditions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[private insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stuart butler]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health insurance]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=12887</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By David Boaz</p>Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have just run major stories on presidential candidate Mitt Romney&#8217;s difficulties in getting people to understand the difference between his Massachusetts universal-health-care plan, which featured an individual mandate, subsidies, and forbidding insurance companies to deny coverage for preexisting conditions, and the Obama-Reid-Pelosi plan, which features an individual [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/can-romney-lead-the-fight-against-obamacare/">Can Romney Lead the Fight against ObamaCare?</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By David Boaz</p><p><a href="http://wac.0873.edgecastcdn.net/800873/blog/wp-content/uploads/romney.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-12932" title="romney" src="http://wac.0873.edgecastcdn.net/800873/blog/wp-content/uploads/romney.jpg" alt="" hspace="5&quot;" width="252" height="300" /></a>Both the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304830104575172370615310084.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular"><em>Wall Street Journal</em></a> and the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/10/us/politics/10romney.html"><em>New York Times</em></a> have just run major stories on presidential candidate Mitt Romney&#8217;s difficulties in getting people to understand the difference between his Massachusetts universal-health-care plan, which featured an individual mandate, subsidies, and forbidding insurance companies to deny coverage for preexisting conditions, and the Obama-Reid-Pelosi plan, which features an individual mandate, subsidies, and forbidding insurance companies to deny coverage for preexisting conditions.</p>
<p>President Obama is putting Romney on the spot by telling Matt Lauer that <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:efUFUOowo_sJ:www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/apr/01/barack-obama/obama-says-heritage-foundation-source-health-excha/+site:politifact.com+barack+obama+romney+politifact&amp;cd=8&amp;hl=en&amp;ct=clnk&amp;gl=us">his bill is similar to Romney&#8217;s</a>. Daniel Gross of <em>Newsweek</em> <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/235605">recommends</a> that Obama hire Romney &#8212; someone who has management experience, no current job, and &#8220;relevant experience in implementing a large-scale health-care reform program, ideally one that involved using an individual mandate and the private insurance system to attain near-universal health insurance&#8221; &#8212; to run ObamaCare.</p>
<p>As Romney attacks the Obama bill as an unconstitutional &#8220;government takeover,&#8221; he makes two basic arguments in defending his own plan: First, that the Massachusetts law was passed on a bipartisan basis, hardly a substantive defense. Second, that his was a state plan, not a federal intrusion on state authority. He also <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304830104575172370615310084.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular">offered</a> a &#8220;conservative&#8221; defense of the individual mandate:</p>
<blockquote><p>But he did so by adopting a more GOP-friendly vocabulary, declaring it a matter of &#8220;personal responsibility&#8221; for all people to buy into insurance pools so that &#8220;free riders&#8221; without insurance can&#8217;t stick taxpayers with their hospital bills.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are a party and a movement of personal responsibility,&#8221; he said at a book signing in Manchester. He invoked the same idea at the college, calling it a &#8220;conservative bedrock principle.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>That&#8217;s a point that Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation <a href="http://www.heritage.org/Research/Lecture/Why-Conservatives-Need-a-National-Health-Plan">made</a> as far back as 1992, but most conservatives didn&#8217;t embrace the argument. And they&#8217;ve strongly opposed the mandate in the Obama bill.</p>
<p>Conservatives have campaigned for more than a year against the Obama health care bill, with its mandate, subsidies, and insurance regulations. Now they are backing &#8220;Repeal It!&#8221; efforts and lawsuits to have it declared unconstitutional. Yet such conservative leaders as Rush Limbaugh and the editors of <em>National Review</em> endorsed Mitt Romney, the man who wrote the prototype for ObamaCare, in 2008. Romney is leading Republican polls for the 2012 nomination. Romney just won the <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/35617.html">straw poll</a> at the Southern Republican Leadership Council (with only 24 percent, to be sure, and just 1 vote ahead of Rep. Ron Paul). Can the Republican effort to defeat President Obama and repeal ObamaCare really be led by the first American political leader to impose a health care mandate on citizens?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/can-romney-lead-the-fight-against-obamacare/">Can Romney Lead the Fight against ObamaCare?</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<title>Health Care Is Cheap (Subsidies Are Not)</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/health-care-is-cheap-subsidies-are-not/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/health-care-is-cheap-subsidies-are-not/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:05:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Alan Reynolds</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[subsidies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=12106</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Alan Reynolds</p>A column I wrote in 2002 seems more relevant than ever.  Some excerpts: Health care is cheap: Eat less fat and more veggies, take a daily walk, quit smoking, and drink a little wine with some nuts. Fail to take care of yourself, and the long-term results can be costly &#8212; like the results of [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/health-care-is-cheap-subsidies-are-not/">Health Care Is Cheap (Subsidies Are Not)</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Alan Reynolds</p><p><a href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4226">A column I wrote in 2002</a> seems more relevant than ever.  Some excerpts:</p>
<blockquote><p>Health care is cheap: Eat less fat and more veggies, take a daily walk, quit smoking, and drink a little wine with some nuts. Fail to take care of yourself, and the long-term results can be costly &#8212; like the results of never changing the oil in your car and never replacing the tires. New diagnostic and surgical technologies involve expensive equipment and skills. Even so, insurance for gigantic medical expenses is also cheap. My policy pays nothing unless annual medical bills top $2,000. Most people call that &#8220;catastrophic&#8221; insurance. I call it real insurance.</p>
<p>Insurance for accidental damage to cars and homes is real insurance &#8212; something to protect against emergencies, not routine expenses. We do not expect an insurance company to pay for tires and gasoline, or to pay for home painting and termite inspections. When families make their own choices and pay for them, they choose insurance only for catastrophic expenses &#8212; the car becoming a total wreck, the house burnt to the ground or the breadwinner dropping dead. If we never collect a dime from such genuine insurance, we consider ourselves lucky.</p>
<p>With health insurance, by contrast, we all want somebody else to pay. Each of us expects to pay less for health insurance than the insurance companies pay to hospitals, doctors and pharmacies. Sadly, that does not add up.</p>
<p>More than a fourth of the U.S. population already has federally subsidized health care through Medicare, Medicaid and military health benefits. If that percentage ever reached 100 percent, as some politicians promise, we might finally begin to wonder how it is possible for everybody to subsidize everybody else.</p>
<p>If you subsidize something, people want more of it. That increase in demand translates into a market in which prices can more easily be raised.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/health-care-is-cheap-subsidies-are-not/">Health Care Is Cheap (Subsidies Are Not)</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<title>The Price of Universal Health Care: Our Freedom</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-price-of-universal-health-care-our-freedom/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-price-of-universal-health-care-our-freedom/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 15 Jul 2009 20:26:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Gerald P. O'Driscoll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=8135</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Gerald P. O'Driscoll</p>In today&#8217;s Wall Street Journal,  Thomas Szasz argues that universal health care is impossible and the quest for it will cost us our freedom.  &#8220;If we persevere in our quixotic quest for a fetishized medical equality we will sacrifice personal freedom as its price.&#8221; The Price of Universal Health Care: Our Freedom is a post [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-price-of-universal-health-care-our-freedom/">The Price of Universal Health Care: Our Freedom</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Gerald P. O'Driscoll</p><p>In today&#8217;s <em>Wall Street Journal,</em>  <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124761945269242551.html">Thomas Szasz argues</a> that universal health care is impossible and the quest for it will cost us our freedom.  &#8220;If we persevere in our quixotic quest for a fetishized medical equality we will sacrifice personal freedom as its price.&#8221; </p>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-price-of-universal-health-care-our-freedom/">The Price of Universal Health Care: Our Freedom</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<title>GOP Health Care Alternative: Drinking the Massachusetts Kool-Aid</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/gop-health-care-alternative-drinking-the-massachusetts-kool-aid/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/gop-health-care-alternative-drinking-the-massachusetts-kool-aid/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2009 13:07:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael D. Tanner</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consumer choice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GOP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care costs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance premiums]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john shadegg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mandate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Massachusetts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[proposal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[state]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal coverage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=7331</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Michael D. Tanner</p>Earlier this morning, my colleague, Michael Cannon, blogged a devastating critique of the Coburn-Burr-Ryan-Nunez alternative to the Obama health plan. As he shows, while the bill has some good features (changing the tax treatment of health insurance, expanding HSAs), the good is swamped by a bizarre collection of regulation, mandates, and hidden taxes. In fact, [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/gop-health-care-alternative-drinking-the-massachusetts-kool-aid/">GOP Health Care Alternative: Drinking the Massachusetts Kool-Aid</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Michael D. Tanner</p><p>Earlier this morning, my colleague, Michael Cannon, blogged <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/05/21/the-coburn-burr-ryan-nunes-mandate-price-control-bill/">a devastating critique</a> of the Coburn-Burr-Ryan-Nunez alternative to the Obama health plan. As he shows, while the bill has some good features (changing the tax treatment of health insurance, expanding HSAs), the good is swamped by a bizarre collection of regulation, mandates, and hidden taxes.</p>
<p>In fact, the bill appears to be based, in large part, on what its sponsors call “<strong>the well-known, bi-partisan achievement of universal health care through a private system in Massachusetts</strong>.” But the Massachusetts model has failed to either achieve universal coverage or control health care costs. Rather, as I noted in <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/04/13/a-not-so-happy-anniversary-for-the-massachusetts-model/">this recent blog</a>, it has led to more regulation, less consumer choice, and increased insurance premiums, while running huge budget deficits that have already led to one tax increase and are now causing the state to consider premium caps and global budgets. One wonders why congressional Republicans would want to head down that road.</p>
<p>Notably, Coburn-Burr-Ryan-Nunez abandons Rep. John Shadegg’s proposal to allow Americans to buy insurance across state lines in favor of a requirement that states establish Massachusetts-style connectors. But the Massachusetts Connector has been one of the worst aspects of that state’s reform, acting as a super-regulatory body, adding new mandated benefits, restricting consumer’s choice of plans, and adding both regulatory and administrative costs to insurance. (In fact, the Connector adds its own administrative costs, estimated at 4 percent of premium costs, for plans that are sold through it.) What the Connector has not done is live up to its promise of breaking the link between employment and insurance, giving workers personal, portable insurance that they could take with them from job to job, and which they would not lose when they lost their jobs. Unfortunately, the Connector has not lived up to its promise in the latter regard. In fact, as of May 2008, only 18,122 people had purchased insurance through the Connector. That’s very little gain for so much pain.</p>
<p>Since there is virtually no chance that the Coburn-Burr-Ryan-Nunez will actually be enacted, perhaps one shouldn’t get too excised about its failings. No doubt it is far superior to <a href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10218">Obamacare</a>. And, it is understandable that congressional Republicans want to appear as more than the “party of no.” Still, this looks like a sadly missed opportunity.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/gop-health-care-alternative-drinking-the-massachusetts-kool-aid/">GOP Health Care Alternative: Drinking the Massachusetts Kool-Aid</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<title>The Coburn-Burr-Ryan-Nunes Mandate-Price-Control Bill</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-coburn-burr-ryan-nunes-mandate-price-control-bill/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-coburn-burr-ryan-nunes-mandate-price-control-bill/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 21 May 2009 12:39:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael F. Cannon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cato Publications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[automatic enrollment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Democrats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[devin nunes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[expanding health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ezra Klein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government takeover]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care system]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health insurance premiums]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health savings accounts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[individual mandate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance exchange]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[john shadegg]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legislation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mandate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Massachusetts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Medicare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paul ryan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[proposal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[regulation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[richard burr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[risk adjustment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[risk rating]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[state health insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tax]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tax increase]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ted kennedy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tom coburn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal coverage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=7326</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p>Today, Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC), along with Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) announced that they will introduce a health care reform bill.  If my reading of the bill summary is correct, their bill would: Mandate that states create a new regulatory bureaucracy called a &#8220;State Health Insurance Exchange,&#8221; [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-coburn-burr-ryan-nunes-mandate-price-control-bill/">The Coburn-Burr-Ryan-Nunes Mandate-Price-Control Bill</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p><p>Today, Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (R-NC), along with Reps. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Devin Nunes (R-CA) announced that they will introduce a health care reform bill.  If my reading of the <a href="http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Files.View&amp;FileStore_id=d4eab376-d507-4fb9-9f17-8b479a10affc">bill summary</a> is correct, their bill would:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Mandate</strong> that states create a new regulatory bureaucracy called a &#8220;State Health Insurance Exchange,&#8221;</li>
<li><strong>Mandate</strong> that all plans offered through those exchanges meet federal regulatory standards,</li>
<li><strong>Mandate</strong> &#8220;guaranteed issue&#8221; in those exchanges,</li>
<li><strong>Mandate</strong> &#8220;uniform and reliable measures by which to report quality and price information,&#8221;</li>
<li><strong>Impose price controls</strong> on those plans by prohibiting risk-rating,</li>
<li><strong>Launch a government takeover</strong> of the &#8220;insurance&#8221; part of health insurance, by means of a &#8220;risk-adjustment&#8221; program intended to cope with the problems created by price controls, and</li>
<li><strong>Fall just short of an individual mandate</strong> by setting up (mandating?) automatic enrollment in exchange plans at &#8220;places of employment, emergency rooms, the DMV, etc.&#8221; &#8212; essentially, trying to achieve universal coverage by nagging Americans to death.</li>
</ul>
<p>Needless to say, I am troubled.</p>
<p>The bill summary is self-contradictory.  On the one hand, it lists &#8220;No Tax Increases&#8221; as a core concept.  Do its authors not know that imposing price controls on health insurance premiums imposes a tax on healthier-than-average consumers?  And where do they think the money for &#8220;risk-adjustment&#8221; payments will come from?  Heaven?</p>
<p>The bill sponsors seem to want to cement in place the monopoly regulation that currently exists at the state level &#8212; when they&#8217;re not encouraging Congress to take over that function.  Have they abandoned their colleague Rep. John  Shadegg&#8217;s (R-AZ) proposal to allow for competitive regulation of health insurance?</p>
<p>And if Massachusetts created an &#8220;exchange&#8221; on its own, why do other states need federal legislation?</p>
<p>The bill includes some ideas for which I have more sympathy, like its tax-credit proposal and expanding <a href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6395">health savings accounts</a>.</p>
<p>But the above provisions would sow the seeds of a government takeover of health care &#8212; so much so that <em>The Washington Post</em>&#8216;s Ezra Klein is <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/05/the_republican_health_care_pla.html">salivating</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>The word of the day is &#8220;convergence.&#8221; That &#8212; and that alone &#8212; is the definitive message of the conservative health reform alternative developed by Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.) and Richard Burr (N.C.), as well as Rep. Paul Ryan (Wisc.). For now, some of the key provisions are about as clear as mud. The plan&#8217;s changes to the tax code, in particular, are impossible to discern. So I&#8217;ll do another post when I can get some clarity on those issues. The politics, however, are perfectly straightforward.</p>
<p>A superficial read of the Patients&#8217; Choice Act &#8212; which I&#8217;ve uploaded here &#8212; would make you think you&#8217;re digging into a liberal bill. A fair chunk of the rhetoric is lifted straight from Sen. Ted Kennedy&#8217;s office. &#8220;It is time to publicly admit that the health care system in America is broken,&#8221; begins the document. &#8220;Health care is not a commodity in the traditional sense,&#8221; it continues. &#8220;States should provide direct oversight of health insurers to make sure they are playing by fair rules,&#8221; it demands. The way we pay private insurers in Medicare &#8220;wastes taxpayer dollars and lines the pockets of insurance executives,&#8221; it says. Elsewhere, it praises solutions that have worked in several European countries.&#8221;</p>
<p>And though it&#8217;s still too early to say how the policy fits together, it&#8217;s clear that many traditionally Democratic concepts have been embraced. To put it simply, the plan wants to encourage a version of the Massachusetts reforms &#8212; which it calls a &#8220;well-known, bi-partisan achievement of universal health care&#8221; &#8212; in every state. There are some differences, of course. The plan doesn&#8217;t have an individual mandate. It doesn&#8217;t have an obvious tax on employers. But it strongly endorses State Health Insurance Exchanges. And that, for Republicans, is a radical change in policy.</p>
<p>This idea &#8212; present in every Democratic proposal but absent in Arizona Sen.John McCain&#8217;s plan &#8212; would empower states to create heavily regulated marketplaces of insurers. The plans offered would have to &#8220;meet the same statutory standard used for the health benefits given to Members of Congress.&#8221; Cherrypicking would be discouraged through risk adjustment, which the PCA calls &#8220;a model that works in several European countries.&#8221; The government would automatically enroll individuals in plans whenever they interacted with a government agency and states would be able to join into regional cooperatives to increase the size of their risk pool.</p>
<p>In essence, Coburn, Burr, and Ryan are abandoning the individual market entirely. Like Democrats, they&#8217;re arguing that individuals cannot successfully navigate the insurance market, and they need the protection of government regulation and the bargaining power that comes from a large risk pool. This is literally the opposite approach from McCain, who attempted to unwind the employer-based insurance and encourage families to purchase health coverage on the individual market. The core elements of this plan, in other words, make it the same type of plan Democrats are offering. A plan that enlarges consumer buying pools rather than shrinks them. It&#8217;s pretty much exactly what I&#8217;d expect a Blue Dog Democrat to propose. And it&#8217;s further evidence that the argument over health reform is narrowing, rather than widening. And it&#8217;s narrowing in a direction that favors the Democrats.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-coburn-burr-ryan-nunes-mandate-price-control-bill/">The Coburn-Burr-Ryan-Nunes Mandate-Price-Control Bill</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<title>Are Health Care Industry Lobbyists Really Proposing to Reduce Their Members&#8217; Revenue by $2 Trillion?</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/are-health-care-industry-lobbyists-really-proposing-to-reduce-their-members-revenue-by-2-trillion/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/are-health-care-industry-lobbyists-really-proposing-to-reduce-their-members-revenue-by-2-trillion/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2009 16:09:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael F. Cannon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health care reform]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=7145</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p>I smell a rat.  Lobbyists never advocate less revenue for their members.  Ever.  If they did, they would be fired and replaced with new lobbyists. The industry wants universal coverage, because that means more customers and more revenue.  But universal coverage is expensive: it could cost $2 trillion itself. If you tax your way to [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/are-health-care-industry-lobbyists-really-proposing-to-reduce-their-members-revenue-by-2-trillion/">Are Health Care Industry Lobbyists Really Proposing to Reduce Their Members&#8217; Revenue by $2 Trillion?</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p><p>I smell <a title="Industry reps offer $2 trillion in health savings; Cost reductions are part of a bid to help pass Obama's health overhaul" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30672330/" target="_blank">a rat</a>.  Lobbyists never advocate less revenue for their members.  <em>Ever</em>.  If they did, they would be fired and replaced with new lobbyists.</p>
<p>The industry wants <a title="Cato@Liberty posts re the Anti-Universal Coverage Club" href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?s=anti+universal+coverage+club" target="_blank">universal coverage</a>, because that means more customers and more revenue.  But universal coverage is expensive: it could cost $2 trillion itself.</p>
<p>If you tax your way to $2 trillion, the people revolt.  If you try to “free up” the money by cutting payments to the industry, the industry revolts.  Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) says he has reforms that will reduce health care spending over time, but the Congressional Budget Office won’t recognize those assumed savings.</p>
<p>So the industry may simply be trying to help Sen. Baucus cook the books by signaling, “Hey CBO – we’ll make sure those reforms work!” – with every intention of fighting those spending reductions later on.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/are-health-care-industry-lobbyists-really-proposing-to-reduce-their-members-revenue-by-2-trillion/">Are Health Care Industry Lobbyists Really Proposing to Reduce Their Members&#8217; Revenue by $2 Trillion?</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<title>Rumor re (House) GOP Supporting an Individual Mandate Quashed</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/rumor-re-house-gop-supporting-an-individual-mandate-quashed/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/rumor-re-house-gop-supporting-an-individual-mandate-quashed/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:07:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael F. Cannon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cato Publications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government and Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GOP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[House of Representatives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[individual mandate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Republicans]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Senate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=6955</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p>I am reliably informed that the rumor that I perpetuated to which I responded here is untrue: House Republicans will not be endorsing an individual mandate. Now let&#8217;s hope that Senate Republicans (and House Democrats, and Senate Democrats) show similar good sense. Rumor re (House) GOP Supporting an Individual Mandate Quashed is a post from [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/rumor-re-house-gop-supporting-an-individual-mandate-quashed/">Rumor re (House) GOP Supporting an Individual Mandate Quashed</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p><p>I am reliably informed that the rumor <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">that I perpetuated</span> to which I responded <a title="Does the GOP Recognize Socialized Medicine When They See It?" href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/04/27/does-the-gop-recognize-socialized-medicine-when-they-see-it/" target="_blank">here</a> is untrue: House Republicans will <em>not </em>be endorsing an <a href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=6243" target="_blank">individual mandate</a>.</p>
<p>Now let&#8217;s hope that Senate Republicans (and House Democrats, and Senate Democrats) show similar good sense.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/rumor-re-house-gop-supporting-an-individual-mandate-quashed/">Rumor re (House) GOP Supporting an Individual Mandate Quashed</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<title>To Reform Health Care, Obama Must First Convince His Advisers</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/to-reform-health-care-obama-must-first-convince-his-advisers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/to-reform-health-care-obama-must-first-convince-his-advisers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:03:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael F. Cannon</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[health insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jonatahn Cohn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The New Republic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[white house]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=6373</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p>In The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn makes some interesting observations about how Barack Obama&#8217;s campaign and administration approach policy issues, particularly health care. In early January, most of Barack Obama&#8217;s senior staff assembled with the president-elect . . . It was a pivotal moment in Obama&#8217;s transformation from candidate to commander-in-chief. Obama&#8217;s advisers had taken [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/to-reform-health-care-obama-must-first-convince-his-advisers/">To Reform Health Care, Obama Must First Convince His Advisers</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Michael F. Cannon</p><p>In <em>The New Republic</em>, Jonathan Cohn <a title="Stayin' Alive" href="http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=4de1ca9d-6334-484f-a311-1c6c3d4998f7" target="_blank">makes</a> some interesting observations about how Barack Obama&#8217;s campaign and administration approach policy issues, particularly health care.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="first">In early January, most of Barack Obama&#8217;s senior staff assembled with the president-elect . . . It was a pivotal moment in Obama&#8217;s transformation from candidate to commander-in-chief. Obama&#8217;s advisers had taken all of his campaign pledges, factored in his promise to reduce the deficit, and put together a provisional blueprint for governing. For the first time, Obama would get a sense of how his proposals fit together in the real world.</p>
</blockquote>
<p class="first">Does Cohn suggest that candidate Obama just threw out proposals without considering their cumulative, real-world impact?  That Obama launched a new administration <em>with insufficient planning</em>??  Perish the thought.</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="articleText">Obama . . . said he was mostly happy with what his advisers had produced. Investments in energy and education, plus real progress on reducing the deficit&#8211;it was all in there, Obama noted. But then the president-elect turned to his one major concern: a key item that was not, in his opinion, sufficiently funded. &#8220;Here&#8217;s my guidance to you,&#8221; one participant recalls Obama saying to the group. &#8220;Protect health care.&#8221;</p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t the first time that health care had seemed to get short shrift from Obama&#8217;s advisers. Nor would it be the last. Indeed, there were moments during the transition and the early weeks of the administration when it appeared that the push for comprehensive health care reform might collapse before it had even begun. During this time, a debate raged inside the administration, with some senior officials arguing that the new president should wade into health care gingerly&#8211;or even postpone it altogether&#8211;because it would cost too much, distract from other priorities, and carry huge political risks.</p>
<p>Ultimately, however, these arguments failed to carry the day, and health care reform, against what occasionally seemed like long odds, managed to find a sizeable place in Obama&#8217;s budget&#8230;</p>
<p>The divide among Obama&#8217;s counselors was never over whether to pursue health care reform or even what it should look like in the end . . . What divided Obama&#8217;s team was the question of how to pursue reform&#8211;in particular, how quickly.</p>
<p>That tension stretched back to the campaign, when Obama&#8217;s political strategists advised him to soft-pedal the topic. One of them was David Axelrod. Although personally acquainted with the flaws in our health care system because of his disabled daughter, he also understood public opinion: The middle-class voters whose support politicians covet were worried about the cost of insurance, but their enthusiasm for universal coverage seemed shallow. Obama, though, always insisted on keeping health care prominent in the election.</p></blockquote>
<p>Why so much dissension in the ranks? Partly because the nation faces much more immediate problems.</p>
<blockquote><p>Axelrod&#8217;s anxiety hadn&#8217;t dissipated since the election. And now he had a new ally in Larry Summers, whom Obama had appointed to head the National Economic Council. One concern for Summers was the diversion of presidential and staff attention from other issues, like the economy.</p></blockquote>
<p>But the dissension is also because Obama&#8217;s advisers understand just how difficult it will be to achieve <a title="Cato@Liberty posts re Anti-Universal Coverage Club" href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?s=anti-universal+coverage+club" target="_blank">universal coverage</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p>Mostly, though, Summers worried about money. Experts generally believe it will take years before better use of information technology, more preventive care, and other reforms start to yield serious savings. At least in the short run, health care reform is therefore likely to add to the government&#8217;s financial burden&#8211;during a time of rising deficits. This made Summers uncomfortable.</p></blockquote>
<p>How bad was the dissension?</p>
<blockquote><p>Particularly in Obama&#8217;s absence, the voices of the skeptics often predominated. &#8220;It was scaring the hell out of the rest of us,&#8221; says one of the advisers who favored more aggressive action.</p></blockquote>
<p>Ultimately, Obama insisted on putting $634 billion in his budget to fund health care reform.  But Cohn acknowledges that Obama may be over-reaching.</p>
<blockquote><p>At a time when the economy is collapsing, perhaps Obama can&#8217;t afford the distraction of such a major policy effort; at a time when the government is pumping out so much money for other priorities, perhaps it&#8217;s foolish to incur a new obligation that, if carried out by the book, still may not pay for itself in under ten years. And, even if it makes sense to seek health care reform this year, Obama&#8217;s decision to allocate health care money now could make the budget tougher to pass&#8211;inviting an extra political fight that might make reform even harder to achieve.</p></blockquote>
<p>Nice thing about Cohn: he may be a <a title="Still Don't Think Universal Coverage Is a Religion?" href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2008/07/07/still-dont-think-universal-coverage-is-a-religion/" target="_blank">high priest</a> in the <a title="Cato@Liberty posts re Church of Universal Coverage" href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?s=church+of+universal+coverage" target="_blank">Church of Universal Coverage</a>.  But he&#8217;s a darned good journalist.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/to-reform-health-care-obama-must-first-convince-his-advisers/">To Reform Health Care, Obama Must First Convince His Advisers</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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		<title>Week in Review: A Health Care Summit, School Choice and Ayn Rand</title>
		<link>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/week-in-review-a-health-care-summit-school-choice-and-ayn-rand/</link>
		<comments>http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/week-in-review-a-health-care-summit-school-choice-and-ayn-rand/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:27:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Moody</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Cato Publications]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education and Child Policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Government and Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health Care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aquinas]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Aristotle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ayn Rand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bastiat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Isabel Paterson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jefferson]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Locke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[medical care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mises]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Rose Wilder Lane]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[school choice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[school vouchers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spencer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Discovery of Freedom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Fountainhead]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The God of the Machine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[The Washington Post]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[universal health care]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Washington DC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Women's History Month]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/?p=6196</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>By Chris Moody</p>Obama Holds White House Health Care Summit President Obama hosted almost 150 elected officials, doctors, patients, business owners, and insurers on Thursday for a White House forum on health care reform. The Washington Post reports Obama &#8220;reiterated his intention to press for legislation this year that dramatically expands insurance coverage, improves health care quality and [...]<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/week-in-review-a-health-care-summit-school-choice-and-ayn-rand/">Week in Review: A Health Care Summit, School Choice and Ayn Rand</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>By Chris Moody</p><p><strong>Obama Holds White House Health Care Summit </strong></p>
<p>President Obama hosted almost 150 elected officials, doctors, patients, business owners, and insurers on Thursday for a White House forum on health care reform. <em>The Washington Post</em> <a title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/05/AR2009030501707.html" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/05/AR2009030501707.html">reports</a> Obama &#8220;reiterated his intention to press for legislation this year that dramatically expands insurance coverage, improves health care quality and reins in skyrocketing medical costs.&#8221;</p>
<p>Cato senior fellow Michael D. Tanner <a title="http://www.cato.org/pressroom.php?display=ncomments&amp;id=192" href="http://www.cato.org/pressroom.php?display=ncomments&amp;id=192">responds</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>The Obama administration and its allies mainly seek greater government control over one-seventh of the U.S. economy and some of our most important, personal, and private decisions. They favor individual and employer mandates, increased insurance regulation, middle-class subsidies, and a government-run system in competition with private insurance. On the other side are those who seek free market reforms and more consumer-centered health care.</p>
<p>These differences are profound and important. They cannot and should not be papered over by easy talk of bipartisanship.</p></blockquote>
<p>In a new article, Tanner explains <a title="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10011" href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10011">why universal health care is not the best option</a> for Americans seeking a better system:</p>
<blockquote><p>If there is a lesson which U.S. policymakers can take from national health care systems around the world, it is not to follow the road to government-run national health care, but to increase consumer incentives and control.</p></blockquote>
<p>To find out how the free market system can increase health care security, read University of Chicago professor John H. Cochrane&#8217;s <a title="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9986" href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9986">new policy analysis</a>, which explains how markets can &#8220;provide life-long, portable health security, while enhancing consumer choice and competition.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Battle</strong><strong> Over Washington DC School Choice Program Continues </strong></p>
<p>Congressional Democrats are considering cutting the funding for a pilot education program that sends low-income children in Washington, D.C., to private schools through vouchers. The program serves as an example of how helpful school choice programs can be to children who are born into families that cannot afford to send them to good schools.</p>
<p>Adam Schaeffer, policy analyst at Cato&#8217;s Center for Educational Freedom, says <a title="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/03/03/school-choice-support-has-media-mainstreamed/" href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/03/03/school-choice-support-has-media-mainstreamed/">even the mainstream media</a> is on the side of school choice this time.</p>
<p>In a recent study, Andrew J. Coulson, director of Cato&#8217;s Center for Educational Freedom, demonstrates the <a title="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9634" href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9634">superiority of market-based education</a> over monopolies.</p>
<p>For comprehensive research on the effectiveness of charter schools, private schools, and voucher programs, read Herbert J. Walberg&#8217;s book, <em><a href="http://www.catostore.org/index.asp?fa=ProductDetails&amp;method=&amp;pid=1441361">School Choice: The Findings</a></em>.</p>
<p><strong>Cato Celebrates Women&#8217;s History Month </strong></p>
<p><strong><img src="http://www.cato.org/images/homepage/homepage_items/200903_threewomen.jpg" alt="" hspace="4" width="200" align="right" /></strong>The Cato Institute <a title="http://www.cato.org/special/threewomen/" href="http://www.cato.org/special/threewomen/">pays homage to three women</a> during Women&#8217;s History Month who unabashedly defended individualism and free-market capitalism early in the 1940s — an age that widely considered American capitalism dead and socialism the future.</p>
<p>In 1943, <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.cato.org/special/threewomen/paterson.html">Isabel Paterson</a>, <a href="http://www.cato.org/special/threewomen/wilder-lane.html">Rose Wilder Lane</a> and <a href="http://www.cato.org/special/threewomen/rand.html">Ayn Rand</a> published three groundbreaking books, <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1560006668/?tag=catoinstitute-20?tag=catoinstitute-20" >The God of the Machine</a></em>, <em><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000XG8TE0/?tag=catoinstitute-20?tag=catoinstitute-20" >The Discovery of Freedom</a></em> and <em><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0452286751/?tag=catoinstitute-20?tag=catoinstitute-20" >The Fountainhead</a>,</em> that laid the foundations of the modern libertarian movement.</p>
<p>On Rand&#8217;s centennial, Cato executive vice president David Boaz highlighted <a title="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3661" href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3661">the many contributions</a> she made to liberty:</p>
<blockquote><p>Although she did not like to acknowledge debts to other thinkers, Rand&#8217;s work rests squarely within the libertarian tradition, with roots going back to Aristotle, Aquinas, Locke, Jefferson, Paine, Bastiat, Spencer, Mill, and Mises. She infused her novels with the ideas of individualism, liberty, and limited government in ways that often changed the lives of her readers. The cultural values she championed — reason, science, individualism, achievement, and happiness — are spreading across the world.</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/week-in-review-a-health-care-summit-school-choice-and-ayn-rand/">Week in Review: A Health Care Summit, School Choice and Ayn Rand</a> is a post from <a href="http://www.cato-at-liberty.org">Cato @ Liberty - Cato Institute Blog</a></p>
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