The nation is ill-prepared to finance the quantum jump in long-term care spending that is on its way as the baby boom ages. By default rather than by design, Medicaid has become the main source of funds for long-term care. But reliance on Medicaid has fostered the institutionalization of the...

This paper examines the features of HMOs and their associated ethical problems. And it points to a framework of needed consumer protection. The problems seem to flow from the very design of HMO medicine. One is prepayment. Every revenue dollar is also potentially a profit dollar when not spent...

Condemned bridges, dilapidated school buildings, contaminated water supplies, and other infrastructure shortcomings threaten American growth, productivity, and prosperity. S Jay Levy and Walter M. Cadette propose a plan for financing infrastructure projects that is designed to have minimal...

The falling ratio of workers to retirees in the United States has raised concerns about Social Security's ability to continue to provide a base level of support for all retired workers and to remain in balance with all of government's other fiscal obligations. Of alternative plans that have been...

Senior Fellow Walter M. Cadette's areas of special interest include public policy, business capital spending, and international trade. He is currently examining the options available for providing health care. His project will include (1) a description of the health care delivery system in the...

This paper compares and contrasts the two visions of Social Security's future. Its object is to give readers the background they need to understand the arguments made by the two sides, and thus to follow the debate that promises to enfold at the national level in the next few years -- first...

The nation is ill-prepared to finance the quantum jump in long-term care spending that is on its way as the baby boom ages. By default rather than by design, Medicaid has become the main source of funds for long- term care. But reliance on Medicaid has fostered the institutionalization of the...

Would privatization yield sufficient benefits to support low-income retirees and satisfy all others? Does a focus on private management of assets take attention away from the real issues in the future of Social Security?

Hospitals have been squeezed by the Balanced Budget Act; the uninsured population is still on the rise; long-term care is paid for largely by welfare grants. The nation's flawed structure of health care finance ultimately will adversely affect the quality of care for all.

The problem is that the payers of health care-government and employers alike-are in open revolt against costs they never anticipated would become so high. Payers succeeded for a time in limiting increases to rises in the general price level. But it is one thing to remedy the most glaring...