While much of Washington worries about how to constrain Medicare costs, two contrarian legislators want the program to spend $1 billion more annually to fund residency training for new doctors.
Their plan responds to a projected physician shortage. There’s heated debate about whether there will be a physician deficit in the future and, if so, how to best respond. There’s less debate about whether increasing the physician supply will increase our medical bills. It’s intuitive. More doctors will not only bill more so they can make an adequate living, but will order more tests and referrals. Normal economic logic that increased supply drives prices down doesn’t work in medicine.
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House Speaker John Boehner recently confided in 
America may have skirted the fiscal cliff, but don’t unfasten your seatbelts just yet. Looming ahead is the energy cliff, another avoidable crisis brought on by our own ignorance, complacency and lack of leadership.
No issue with less potential impact on public good gets more attention than tax reform. It is possible to argue that the amount of taxes collected from the public impacts the national economy, but there’s no compelling evidence suggesting that the mechanism used (income tax vs. value-added tax vs. personal property tax) makes much difference.
Michigan’s legislature voted on December 11 to make the Wolverine State the 24th in the country to adopt a “right-to-work” law. The governor signed the measure, but the controversy continues. Opponents vow that they will fight the law through the courts and punish legislators who voted for it with recall elections. Supporters vow to push for similar laws in other states.
It’s looking like a very merry holiday season with an extremely prosperous new year ahead for the lobbying community. Fiscal austerity is an ill wind that does blow some good to those paid to influence where the painful spending cuts will be made. And the growing possibility of tax reform is icing on the cake.
PunditWire Correction: How Tea Party Can Help IRS
On behalf of contributor Jim Jaffe and everyone here at PunditWire, we apologize for our error.
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