Health care economist sentences to ponder

Various ideas to cut costs in Medicare and Medicaid have been proposed in recent years. Health economists generally oppose those changes.

And this:

If health economists were in charge of the health system, not a lot would change, with some notable exceptions. Medicaid would not have work requirements (which would be unpopular among conservatives in some states), and taxes would go up for Medicare and for employer-based health insurance (which would make it unpopular among just about everybody).

Here is a much longer and excellent piece by Austin Frakt, surveying what health economists in the United States believe about health care policy.  Also do note that health care economists overwhelmingly tend to be Democrats.

What should we think about all this?  That we can trust these health care economists to (more or less) endorse the current system because it is in fact pretty good, relative to available constraints?  That radical reforms, as suggested by say some Democratic presidential candidates, are undesirable and unneeded?  That the Democratic economists who endorse single payer are way overreaching?  Or that these health economists are both deluded — in whichever direction — and also major wusses?

Inquiring minds wish to know.  Here is a related Twitter thread from Michael Cannon.

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