Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ Links (031506)

Free links:

• Government Entitlements Are Expanding more than they have in quite some time, especially Medicaid — This is the kind of growth that I want to see called “unsustainable,” because it is.
• Continuing to show that the early fears of a PR and actual fiasco with the prescription drug program known as Medicare Part D were justified — Pharmacists are getting the shaft because of slow payments and bureaucratic snafus.
• Senator John Cornyn of Texas displays a pretty impressive sense of humor (HT Hugh Hewitt) — though appreciation of it may not be bipartisan.
• Another Cincinnati Hospital May Be Voting with Its Feet (HT Cincinnati Black Blog) — I’m a little late on this one. For those not from Cincinnati, the large majority of hospital beds in the city used to be concentrated in an area of about 10 square miles around the University of Cincinnati that came to be known as “Pill Hill.” Two of them, Jewish Hospital and Bethesda, have gradually migrated about 15 miles to the northeastern suburbs over the past 15 years or so. Christ Hospital is now thinking of going out to an area known as West Chester in Butler County, which is about 25 miles north. That will leave, if my count s correct, four hospitals in Pill Hill (Good Samaritan, University, Children’s, and Deaconess). That geographic mix seems about right; the old concentration was a historical anomaly that goes back to the early 1900s, when transportation was nothing like it is today. If Christ Hospital does move, the first thing staff will probably notice is the lack of a 2.1% city income tax; the second will be the relative safety of the area; the third will be the ridiculous traffic congestion in West Chester.
• George A. Pieler has a good piece on the debate over state and local tax abatements for new or growing business at TCS Daily. Among other things, it suggests the idea of “dynamically scoring” a proposal to see if taxes raised will be greater once the deal is in place, and if the hoped-for extra economic activity really justifies the concesssions. I’m personally opposed to the concessions, period, but at least properly done dynamic scoring would add some rigor instead of wishful thinking to the process.