Dallas Morning News Examines Influence of U.S. Health Care Economist John Goodman

The Dallas Morning News on Saturday examined John Goodman, a health care economist who recently made "controversial comments dismissing the nation's uninsured problem." According to the Morning News, to "those in health policy or Republican politics, Mr. Goodman has been a prominent figure for decades," and some of his ideas "have been mouthed by some very powerful Republicans," such as President Bush. However, a statement from the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain campaign said, "Mr. Goodman volunteered his advice to the campaign in the past," but "his philosophy on health care -- and especially on the urgency of the problems faced by 45 million uninsured Americans -- are clearly out of step" with McCain's views.

"Whatever Mr. Goodman's impact on the McCain health plan, those who know the economist say that he has influenced policy decisions in the GOP for years and that the comments stirring the recent controversy reflect decades-old conservative thinking," the Morning News reports. Goodman recently said that all U.S. residents have health insurance because they can obtain care in emergency departments and that the "next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American -- even illegal aliens -- as uninsured" (Roberson, Dallas Morning News, 9/13).

Opinion Pieces
Two newspapers recently published opinion pieces about health care issues in the presidential election. Summaries appear below.

• Michael Foster, Raleigh News & Observer: "What is striking" about McCain and Obama "is how little they actually say about the fundamentals" of the health care system and the "fundamental need for a health care overhaul," Foster, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health, writes in a News & Observer opinion piece. "Any health care system is doomed to disappoint," as no "system can be affordable and can provide every consumer with every service that might be of some therapeutic value at no cost to him- or herself," Foster writes, adding, "A reasonable discussion would start by considering what level of basic care can we guarantee to all citizens." The U.S., which "spends an enormous amount on health care," needs to begin "asking how we can spend so much and yet lag in so many categories," Foster writes. In addition, he writes, the U.S. must begin "asking how errors can be so common" in the health care system and "whether something fundamental needs to change about how health care is organized, delivered and regulated." He adds that lawmakers should ask whether health care spending by the federal government is in the "public interest" and evaluate the role of the government in health care, as the "market for health care services is broken" (Foster, Raleigh News & Observer, 9/14).
  
  
• Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times: Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin last week during an interview with ABC's Charles Gibson "seemed confused about entitlement programs -- and unaware that Congress cannot significantly cut Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare," Sun-Times columnist Sweet writes. According to Sweet, when Palin "seemed to equate these entitlement programs to agencies 'where we can find efficiencies in every department,' Gibson lectured her that agencies are not involved in entitlements." However, "Palin -- who as governor of Alaska should be well versed in Medicaid since it is a joint state and federal program -- did not skip a beat, just plowing on about the growth of government," Sweet writes (Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/13).
  

Broadcast Coverage
WAMU's "The Diane Rehm Show" on Monday includes a discussion about the tax proposals of the major presidential candidates. The segment includes comments from Austan Goolsbee, senior economic adviser to the Obama campaign and an economics professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business; Douglas Holtz-Eakin, senior domestic policy adviser for the McCain campaign and former director of the Congressional Budget Office; Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition; and Roberton Williams, principal research associate at the Tax Policy Center (Rehm, "The Diane Rehm Show," WAMU, 9/15).

ABC's "World News" on Friday broadcast the Gibson interview with Palin, which includes her views on embryonic stem cell research and other issues (Gibson, "World News," ABC, 9/12).