Krugman Wrong Again on Health Care
In an editorial in today's New York Times, he's wrong about the McCain plan thrice:
Charge: McCain wants to blow up the current system by eliminating the tax break for employer-provided health insurance.
Fact: McCain would keep the tax break and extend it to people who must buy insurance on their own. He would also make the tax break fairer by giving everyone the same tax benefit: $2,500 per individual and $5,000 per family.
Charge: McCain would be "comforting the comfortable while afflicting the afflicted."
Fact: McCain would replace the current system of tax subsidies – which is heavily regressive – with a same-tax-benefit-for-all plan. The result: a huge redistribution from rich to poor – far more than anything Obama has proposed.
Charge: People who leave their employer plan would face more expensive and less generous insurance in the individual market.
Fact: People won't leave their employer plan if the alternative is more expensive, less generous insurance.
I get the feeling reading Prof. Krugman’s screeds that as far he is concerned, any human activity performed for the motive of profit needs to be replaced by a government agency. Let’s nationalize everything and all human problems will vanish!
Since Krugman believes in regulation, perhaps he would have no objection to the licensing of opinion columnists. Before being allowed to write about health economics the would-be writer would first have to show the licensing authorities that he knows something about the subject.