Put the Blueprints Back on the Shelf

and meet Gretchen Whitmer

Never mind Harry Truman, who was 64 when he turned around his presidential candidacy in the last few months of 1948. Joe Biden is 81. The rapidly-aging Biden? Or character-impaired Donald Trump? Each possibility is more distressing than the other. Whatever happened, the Republic would endure. So, while waiting for the dismal outcome, Economic Principals reasoned, why not write about a deferred question, in the future perfect tense?

That is exactly what economists Liran Einav and Amy Finkelstein have done, in We’ve Got You Covered: Rebooting American Health Care. That is exactly what EP planned to write about this month. 

The present ramshackle health insurance system is a tear-down, Einay and Finkelstein  argue. Free basic coverage for all – adequacy, not equality –would bring America’s health insurance costs in line with those of other nations. Tiers of supplemental insurance available to anyone who wished to pay for more protection.