In May 2003, President George W. Bush signed into law his investment tax cut. This package included accelerated reductions in income tax rates, a cut in the dividend tax from 39.6 percent to 15 percent and a reduction in the capital gains tax from 20 percent to 15 percent.
Medicare reform will soon be front and center in the public policy arena. The reason: Projections in the past two years for Medicare's deteriorating finances have triggered a legal requirement for the President to propose reform legislation within 15 days of the release of the next federal budget. Congress must consider the president's proposal on an expedited basis.
Telemedicine – the use of information technology for diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of patients' conditions – brings a new dimension to 21st century health care. Entrepreneurs are using the Internet, improvements in computer software and the advent of high-speed telecommunications networks in innovative ways to make medical care more accessible and convenient to patients, to raise quality and to reduce costs.
Global competition is emerging in the health care industry. Wealthy patients from developing countries have long traveled to developed countries for high quality medical care. Now, a growing number of less-affluent patients from developed countries are traveling to regions once characterized as "third world." These patients are seeking high quality medical care at affordable prices.
People are living longer and healthier lives, yet disability benefits are the fastest growing portion of social security expenditures in the United States and many other countries. What can be done to restrain the rising cost of disability? Chile may have found a partial answer.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA), passed in 1973, was designed to recover species to a level at which they are no longer considered endangered and therefore do not require the Act's protection. Unfortunately, the law has had the opposite effect on many species. The ESA can severely penalize landowners for harboring species on their property, and as a result many landowners have rid their property of the species and habitat rather than suffer the consequences.
Social Security benefits over the next 75 years will exceed payroll tax revenues by $4.6 trillion. To close this enormous fiscal gap, one proposal is to cut the benefits of high-income workers. Many low-income workers depend almost entirely on Social Security for their retirement income, but it is often assumed that high-wage workers can maintain their standard of living without Social Security benefits due to their private pensions and savings. Surprisingly, however, even high-wage workers depend on Social Security for a substantial portion of their retirement income and would significantly change their consumption and saving behavior in the absence of Social Security.
Although Social Security reform has received considerable attention in recent years, Medicare is the far-bigger problem. Medicare is growing at a faster rate and has an unfunded liability six times the size of Social Security.
The income tax is highly progressive. It takes a higher portion of the income of the rich than the poor. But federal, state and local governments raise revenues in a number of ways that are regressive, taking a greater portion of the incomes of the poor than the rich. In some cases, the total dollar amounts paid by the poor are higher than the amounts paid by the rich.
Does it pay to save? The answer is often no. In fact, penalties for saving are astronomical for some households, particularly young, single-parent and lower-income families. But these are the very people who need the strongest incentives to save for retirement.
In most markets, prices and quality indicators are transparent – clear and readily available to consumers. Health care is different: Prices are difficult to obtain and often meaningless when they are disclosed. Many patients never learn the cost of their care.
NCPA studies generally break new ground on policy issues. A study seeks to cast new light on an issue and to stimulate policy-makers and others to think of new, innovative …
The United States spends about 17 percent of its national income on health care, the highest in the world. Some have wondered how high spending can go and what difference it will make. In thinking about that question, the experience of our senior citizens provides a vital clue.
The United States was founded on the principle of private property ownership as the ultimate guarantor of individual liberty and prosperity. Yet, more than 40 percent of the land is owned by government, and the federal government controls ocean resources within 200 miles of the coast.
Air pollution has been declining for decades across the United States, yet most Americans still believe air pollution is a growing problem and a serious threat to their health.
Some activities of government clearly contribute to economic growth. Beyond some minimum level, however, government becomes a net drain on the economy. Empirical evidence shows that as the tax burden rises beyond a certain level, the rate of economic growth slows.
Patients are increasingly being given the opportunity and responsibility to manage their own health care dollars.
Without changes, Social Security and Medicare will grow relative to the earnings and compensation of the workers who fund the programs. Further, the rate at which these entitlement benefits replace preretirement earnings of successive cohorts of retirees will rise. By the time today's teenagers retire, net Medicare and Social Security benefits will rival their average preretirement price-indexed wages.
The U.S. Supreme Court missed a recent opportunity to give landowners, federal regulators and the states clear guidance about which wetlands are under federal control and what actions can be taken to protect and/or develop them.
Medicaid, the joint federal-state health care program for the poor and near poor, is the largest single expenditure by state governments today. At the rate the program is growing, it is on a course to consume the entire budgets of state governments in just a few decades.
It is commonly assumed that inheritances are a major source of wealth inequality and that the offspring of wealthy families tend to be as rich as their parents due to bequests. This perception is one reason why many people support taxing estates at death. But an individual's skills and personal choices are far more important in determining household wealth than inheritances. In fact, the contribution of inheritance is surprisingly small.
Workers' compensation is the oldest government-mandated employee benefit program in the United States. Costs are increasing because state systems provide incentives for employers, employees and others to behave in ways that cause costs to be higher and workplaces to be less safe than they otherwise could be.
The United States has very meager spending controls. If current trends continue, U.S. government health care spending will consume an ever growing portion of national income — far more so than any other developed country.
Scientific debate continues regarding the extent to which human activities contribute to global warming and what the potential impact on the environment might be. Importantly, much of the scientific evidence contradicts assertions that substantial global warming is likely to occur soon and that the predicted warming will harm the Earth’s biosphere.
As 77 million members of the Baby Boom generation begin to retire, America is about to experience one of the most dramatic economic, sociological and demographic changes in its history. The institutions we have relied upon in the past are completely unprepared for what lies ahead.