If Obstetricians Charge Medicaid for More Unnecessary Caesarean Sections Will It Reduce the Poverty Rate?

It will according to the Congressional Budget Office's new method of measuring income as discussed in a column by Eduardo Porter. While Porter does present the view of Timothy Smeedling a critic of this new approach, it would have been worth expanding on some of the issues raised. In contrast to items that are directly under consumers' control, we are measuring what the government pays for health care.

We know that the United States pays more than twice as much per person for care as the aver...