Mark Rubin

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the Promise

July 24, 2017
Mark Rubin

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and the Promise

Mr. President

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels came to mind a bit ago, as I contemplated yet another piece of high drama in the never ending “let’s mess with health care” drama.* Truth be told, I don’t know whether there’s any plot linkage between repeal and replace, and the twists and turns associated with the Big Con on the Riviera. (Not a movie I ever saw.) The title fits, and that’s more farce than this despicable disgrace deserves.

Republicans offer one primary justification for repeal and replace: the promise. Ladies and gents, have you ever made a promise, only to find out later that what you promised won’t work anymore? Or, reflecting, that you were wrong from the

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Gotta Love Those Rs on Health Care

July 15, 2017
Mark Rubin

Gotta Love Those Rs on Health Care

Ted Cruz

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.)

Republicans love them their free markets. In response to any problem, we hear about markets. Free markets require rational, knowledgeable buyers and sellers, acting freely. Advocates tell us free markets will always allow us to achieve optimum outcomes. That’s the mantra!

Rational

Rational? Easy it is to talk about too much spending in the last year of people’s lives, but if it’s your mom or dad, well … that’s different. I’ve been there, at both ends of the spectrum. When you love someone, don’t expect rational judgments.

Knowledgeable

Knowledgeable? Uh, no! We spend a fortune educating and training health care providers, and I say we because, while students pay

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Single-Payer Health Care Saves Money

July 9, 2017
Mark Rubin

Single-Payer Health Care Saves Money

Cornell University Economics Professor Robert H. Frank wrote Why Single-Payer Health Care Saves Money recently. He offers a simple thesis: single-payer saves money.

Yes, taxes will increase. However, individual insurance premiums go away, as do most out-of-pocket expenses. Professor Frank estimates a 30% aggregate health care cost reduction. From where? Lower administrative costs. No advertising expenses. And the government can make more favorable deals with providers and pharma.

B-b-but, Medicare’s crashing. Not true, in fact. More to the point, though, Medicare self-selects older, sicker people. A pool which includes everybody captures the tens of millions of healthy people whose health care costs are minimal.

Without doubt, single-payer presents challenges. Daniel Kahneman, psychologist, Nobel

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Trouble Ahead: Thoughts on Health Care

June 26, 2017
Mark Rubin

Trouble Ahead: Thoughts on Health Care

Ugh!!! Here’s the Congressional Budget Office’s Cost Estimate for H.R. 1628, the Senate version of the so-called Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017. Dense, but I read it. Characterization? “Despicable,” but only because I must be civil.

Some random thoughts:

Process. When you design a plan secretly, you’ll get a bad plan. Always, but especially when you are dealing with health care, which involves almost 20% of the American economy. The Affordable Care Act process involved 100+ hearings. Tons of input from stakeholders. The Senate Finance Committee’s bipartisan Gang of Six worked for months, as well. That process helped, even though the three Rs voted no on the bill in the end. And—in

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Mad as Hell … about Obamacare Repeal.

January 7, 2017
Mark Rubin

Mad as Hell … about Obamacare Repeal.

Why? you say. Or, Just another Liberal who can’t accept a loss? I’ll explain what has me torked off just now—I was pretty equanimous about the whole repeal thing, really—in a bit. Some background first.

Self-employed from 2000 until 2009. Uninsurable from 2006 on, dependent on a state-sponsored program for small businesses. (Uninsurable, for some of my R friends, means No. Policies. Available. Without. Exclusions. For. My. Health. Issues. None, at any cost. For reals.)

I joined a fine law firm in January 2010. Health insurance mattered, although I’d have gone even if insurance was not an issue. I worried about my insurance program continuing. Passage of the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare

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State of the Union – Additional Thoughts 2

January 16, 2016
Mark Rubin

I promised additional thoughts about last week’s State of the Union address. My thoughts relate to how poorly our country thinks deeply at the intersection of law and progress. (I got close to this subject in Law: It Doesn’t Serve Our Interests on December 21 of last year.)

President Obama touched on several issues when he addressed the first of his four big questions: how do we give everyone a fair shot at opportunity and security in this new economy? He mentioned early education and post-secondary education He talked about Social Security, Medicare and retirement, and he even brought up the Affordable Care Act. And he promised an effort to get rid of outdated regulations. Alas, the president did not

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