Oregon's Health Insurance Experiment

Michael Cannon offers a great analysis at National Review online of the experiment Oregon undertook in 2008 to provide a lottery-picked group of Oregonians with Medicaid coverage. Some of the interesting tidbits:

"medical consumption was no higher in the first half of the year, suggesting there was no “pent-up demand” for medical care."
"Though President Obama has claimed that broader health-insurance coverage and consumption of preventive care would lead to a reduction in emergency-room visits, the OHIE found no discernible difference in ER use between Medicaid enrollees and the control group."
" Though the president has claimed his health-care law will “save lives,” the OHIE detected no evidence that extending Medicaid to 10,000 adults did so in the first year. "
There was an improvement in patient's own assessment of their health. However, "two-thirds of the improvement in self-reported health occurred almost immediately after enrollment, before any increases in medical consumption. The authors posit that much of this improvement could reflect “an improved overall sense of well-being” rather than “changes in objective physical health.”".

The whole article is worth a look.

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Bill Clinton: 'Screw It, I'm Running For President'

This is a hilarious article from "The Onion"...and, as with all satire, has a sprinkle of truth...here is a snippet: Although some have pointed out that it is unconstitutional for Clinton to run for a third term in office, he has silenced most critics by urging voters "not to worry about the Constitution for now" and assuring them he will address those legal issues immediately after regaining control of the White House. "All I am asking of the American people is four more years," Clinton said at a fundraiser Tuesday where tens of thousands of South Carolinians gathered to stare in gape-jawed wonderment at the former president. "Well, maybe eight. Actually, you know what, definitely eight. Eight more years."

U.S. Tax Rates Compared to the rest of the world–a.k.a “U.S. Corporations are not the evil empire”

Below is a graph showing our tax rates compared to the rest of the industrialized world (taken from Wikipedia): Two things to note: Our personal income taxes are not as bad as some anti-tax zealots would have you believe…they are lower than most. Our corporate rates, however, are horrific. They are higher than any other industrialized country save Japan. Lesson to be learned: it’s easy for politicians to sell lower taxes for individuals. Much harder to sell lower rates for corporations. And very easy for liberals to paint corporations as getting off easy (the “big, bad conglomerate” schtick). However, it’s just not true. “Facts are stubborn things.” - John Adams

GOP Ticket should be Romney-McCain (or McCain-Romney)

Yes, yes, I know they hate each other's guts. But this is politics . It's not unheard of for two people who aren't best friends to form alliances. And think of it: No one is stronger on the economy than Romney. He speaks with knowledge and experience...and he's actually done it in the real world, met payroll, created jobs. He would be a great asset to the ticket on the economy. And the economy is sure to be a hot topic. Conversely, no one is stronger on the war in Iraq than McCain. His foresight on the surge when no one was supporting it gives him tremendous leverage. And his personal narrative makes him a very, very powerful opponent. Romney is strong with the conservative base - if McCain picked Romney as a running mate, it just might help him heal some wounds with the very important conservative activists he would need to win in November. McCain has tremendous crossover appeal - more than any candidate in either party. Romney would need some of those Democrat...

Oregon Elephant

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