Investor's Business Daily

Universal Health Care Costly, Divides Dems (Investor's Business Daily Online)

...Universal health care advocates attribute the cost overruns in Massachusetts to a positive outcome -- more uninsured are signing up.

Len Nichols, director of health policy at the New America Foundation, remains upbeat about health care reform in 2009.

Away from the campaign trail, Nichols notes that a bill from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has attracted about a dozen sponsors across the political spectrum. The bill would pay for… more

... President Bush proposed capping the tax break at $15,000 for families and using the savings to provide a tax deduction to help the uninsured afford coverage. Republican presidential contenders Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have offered similar ideas.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has proposed financing universal coverage by ending the tax break on employer-provided coverage. He would redirect those savings to help people with incomes of less than 400% of the poverty level pay insurance premiums.

The Wyden… more

In recent weeks, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton discussed her approach to saving Social Security. Maya MacGuineas, Director of the Fiscal Policy Program at New America, comments on the issue of Social Security:

"No one could argue that a return to fiscal discipline isn't a step in the right direction, but that alone isn't sufficient" to restore solvency to Social Security, said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

"It's certainly going… more

The Democratic contenders are focusing on expanded health care coverage as the best way to address economic anxiety. But this year's plans are costlier and more ambitious, says Len Nichols, director of health policy at the New America Foundation.

Edwards puts the annual cost of his plan at $90 billion to $120 billion. Obama says his wouldn't cost more than $65 billion — if the assumed savings materialize.

Edwards would mandate that everyone buy coverage — a big leap from… more

Even before Democrats take the reins of power in January, the lame-duck session of Congress that began on Monday is providing a preview of what's to come.

It appears that although the GOP agenda is in retreat, Democrats are picking their battles carefully as they try to hold onto the independent voters who swung Democratic in last week's election....

With a short window of time, Congress is likely to pass a continuing resolution to fund most other agencies and "leave the hard… more

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote that "the true test of a first-rate mind is the ability to hold two contradictory ideas at the same time." By that standard, our president, whose intelligence opponents have long underestimated, may be an economic genius.

In a recent White House meeting, aiming to define the economic policy reaction to the events of Sept. 11, President Bush reportedly said: "We are both supply-siders and Keynesians."

Now, that's a little like saying you're both a Red Sox… more

President Bush received a raucous reception on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange last week. But Wall Street traders have generally not reacted to his… more