Enrollment in Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and the high deductible health insurance plans that go with them is increasing rapidly. The accounts benefit from favorable tax status, and President Bush has proposed further expanding tax incentives that favor HSAs. The goal of these policies is to...

Characterizes the enormous geographic disparity in Medicare spending across the U.S. (even after adjustment for demographics) as the fundamental problem in the program. Reviews alternative approaches that could more directly address the problem of geographic misallocation of health care issues.

Considers the impact of major tax reform (a cut in tax rates) on long-term growth rate. Examines the historical record of the U.S. economy, growth rates of other countries, and evidence from micro-level studies to conclude that tax rate cuts would have modest effects.

Medicare currently transfers roughly $200 billion annually to the elderly. The difference between medicare expenditures flowing into the state and annual Medicare taxes leaving the state--both on an annual and a lifetime basis--varies widely across states. Lifetime Medicare transfers, defined as...

Argues that the dismal performance of the personal saving rate during the 1980's does not imply that U.S. households during this period were spendthrifts. Tests for the impact of precautionary saving using an Euler-equation approach based on a utility-maximizing model of life cycle consumption.