America has a collective drinking problem. And an eating problem. This is all made worse by Americans propensity to sit at home watching TV or playing video games. A recent study has found that deaths from alcoholic cirrhosis have more than tripled in 20 years. In 1999 alcoholic cirrhosis killed 6,007 Americans or about 3.3 per 100,000 adults. By 2019 the death rate had risen to 10.6 per 100,000. Keep in mind this is only for adults aged 25 to 85+
Category: Cost of Healthcare
Gas Tax Rebate
Biden is thinking about it. Arnold Kling explains why it is a bad idea:
The basic economic analysis is straightforward. The price of gas has to be high enough to balance supply and demand. A rebate amounts to a subsidy for demand. Raising demand will force the price to go higher. Because supply is relatively inelastic, it will turn out that, relative to the price that would have prevailed without the rebate, the price will be driven up by close to the amount of the rebate. The main beneficiaries of a subsidy for gasoline demand will be producers.
And a gas tax holiday will work the same way. It will reward producers. Any consumer benefit will tend to be illusory.
HSA-Bashing Study Slammed
32 million people have a Health Savings Account with more than $100 billion in balances. And they love them. They would love them even more if we could dispense with the across-the-board, high deductible requirement and let the account be perfectly flexible with respect to their health insurance.
Senators Sanders and Paul Try to Sneak in Drug Reimportation Amendment
Drug reimportation is an attractive idea until you think it though. Importing drugs from abroad would seem to make sense in a global economy. Proponents point to the fact that the United States pays the highest price for drugs of any developed country. U.S. prices are far more than developing countries pay. Opponents correctly point out what you’re importing is other countries’ price controls.