1. Life & Times
  2. The Great Antidote
  3. Michael Cannon on Medicare

Michael Cannon on Medicare

October 28, 2022

Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, talks to us today about Medicare. He provides statistics on the size of Medicare spending and the history of how Medicare came into being. We also discuss the distortions that Medicare creates, and Cannon addresses calls for “Medicare for All”.

Do you know how much fraud there is in the Medicare system? Listen to find out.

And don't miss Christy Lynn's Great Antidote EXTRA on this episode, where you'll find even more to explore!



Want to explore more?
Michael Cannon on Employer-Sponsored Health Care, a Great Antidote podcast Extra
Richard Gunderman, Insights from Adam Smith on the Erosion of Sympathy in Medicine, at AdamSmithWorks
Vivian Lee on the Long Fix, an EconTalk podcast

Comments
Peter Brown

To call this a rant would to devalue a good rant. Hesitant, contradictory and horrifying in its ignorance, this interview is made worse by the interviewer who makes no attempt to challenge any specious assertions but instead feeds lines to amplify the highly partial narrative.

Adam Smith distinguished himself by dispassionately analysing the activities of countries around the world and showing what different actions might produce in reality. Sadly I found none of this clinical assessment of health systems worldwide, analysing their strengths and weaknesses, and offering a range of possible improvements or modifications to the US system.

This does a massive disservice to the memory and reputation of Adam Smith, whose penetrating and incisive analysis is still celebrated more than 200 years later.

All in all, it does not deserve to be associated with Adam Smith.