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Cato Daily Dispatch for November 3, 2004

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(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)

Kerry Concedes to Bush
Health Savings Accounts Likely to Become More Common
Stem Cell Initiative Approved in California

Kerry Concedes to Bush

"Democratic Sen. John Kerry conceded the White House race to President Bush in a phone call on Wednesday, ending uncertainty about ballot counting in Ohio and cementing Bush's re-election to a second four-year term," Reuters reports.

"In a dispute that evoked memories of the prolonged election recount in Florida in 2000, questions about provisional and absentee ballots in Ohio had delayed the final outcome of the presidential election for hours."

In "A Case for Bush," Daniel Griswold, director of Cato's Center for Trade Policy Studies, writes: "On free trade, Bush has embraced the freedom of Americans to trade and invest in the global economy. His administration won trade promotion authority, launched a new round of negotiations in the World Trade Organization and signed a number of free trade agreements with free-market trading partners. On tax reform, Bush shares the Reagan vision of a tax system that encourages economic success. With a GOP Congress, he has cut marginal tax rates across the board and especially on dividends and capital gains."

Health Savings Accounts Likely to Become More Common

"Health savings accounts have been difficult to avoid in the run-up to the presidential election. These 401(k)-like investment vehicles allow employees to save for their out-of-pocket health expenses on a pretax basis and to select how to invest the funds. HSAs came up repeatedly during the debates, and were a central tenet of President Bush's health-care platform," the Wall Street Journal reports.

"Regardless of presidential politics, HSAs and similar vehicles are likely to become exponentially more common in coming years. Implemented correctly, they hold out the possibility of putting the brakes on the run-up in health-care costs by giving patients more of a financial stake in the experience of getting well and staying well."

According to the Cato Institute's Web site: "HSAs offer the account holder the ability to both fund their short-term health care needs and to offset financial risk related to illness or injury. In those two ways, HSAs serve the basic purposes of those seeking health insurance. However, HSAs are unique and offer other advantages to the purchaser such as the development of financial assets, tax-free savings for health purchases, flexibility during retirement, portability, leverage in price negotiation, the ability to comparison shop, the capture of savings for future health care purchases, and finally, protection against the insolvency of Medicare."

Stem Cell Initiative Approved in California

"Californians approved a groundbreaking measure allowing around $3 billion in state funds to be used for embryonic stem cell research," Agence France-Presse reports.

"The measure makes California the first U.S. state to allow official money to be used for the controversial science that was banned by President George W. Bush in 2001, effectively circumventing federal funding blocks."

In "Don't Politicize Stem Cell Research," Michael Tanner, director of health and welfare studies, writes: "By its very nature, government politicizes everything it touches. Science is no exception. Stem cell research needs neither government money nor politics. It is better to get the government out and let the private sector continue its good work. Those people calling for increased funding could take out their checkbooks and support it. Those who oppose embryonic stem cell research would not be forced to pay for it.

"The vast majority of medical and scientific breakthroughs in this country's history have been accomplished by the private sector. There's no reason for stem cell research to be any different. Let's end the political debate, and get back to scientific research."

Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org