• Of the $400 billion to be spent in Medicare reform legislation for a prescription drug benefit, only about $25 billion will actually be spent on drugs seniors aren’t already getting. According to a brief analysis written by NCPA Senior Fellow Andrew Rettenmaier, for every $16 taxpayers pay, about $1 will buy drugs seniors currently aren’t getting. Taxpayers will foot the bill for the remainder, which currently is being paid for by private insurers, HMOs and other third parties. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba463/

• A study by Rettenmaier concludes that most of the time there is no significant difference in prices paid for drugs between seniors spending their own money and those who have insurance coverage. When differences in prescription prices are significant, individual consumers who pay out-of-pocket are twice as likely to pay lower prices as insurance companies or HMOs. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st265/

• Three Latin American countries have successfully implemented personal accounts to reform Social Security and women have benefited greatly, according to an NCPA study co-authored by NCPA Senior Fellow Estelle James. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st264/

• Social Security and Medicare have made future promises far in excess of tax revenues that will be collected at current tax rates, and the difference between what has been promised to current and future generations and what will be collected from taxes dedicated to fund these programs is an "unfunded liability" of $50 trillion in today’s dollars, according to a study authored by Trustee of Social Security and Medicare and NCPA Senior Fellow Thomas R. Saving. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/st/st263/

• The estate tax forces families to log forests and sell them to developers, according to an NCPA brief analysis written by NCPA Research Associate Pam Villareal. The report concludes that permanent abolition of the estate tax would preserve forests, save wildlife and protect small businesses. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba462/

• Medicare prescription drug bills currently in conference committee would impose marginal tax rates on low- and moderate-income beneficiaries that exceed those faced by even the wealthiest Americans, according to an NCPA brief analysis written by Stephen Entin, president of the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba461/

• Most of the increase in the number of uninsured Americans over the past 4 years has occurred among households earning more than $50,000, according to a brief analysis written by NCPA Senior Fellow Devon Herrick. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba460/

• An NCPA brief analysis shows that limiting urban sprawl through land-use restrictions is not good public policy. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba459/

• The Unemployment Insurance system is routinely overpaying as much as 9 percent of total payments which, according to a brief analysis written by NCPA Senior Fellow William Conerly, is enough to operate the entire system annually. http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba458/

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