Markus Bjoerkheim
@MBjoerkheim
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Senior Economist @jecrepublicans , formerly @mercatus Open Health & @MasonEconomics. Retired soccer player. Coffee enthusiast.
Washington, DC
Joined May 2012
🧵1/ New Paper Alert! My latest paper, co-authored with Thomas Stratmann and Chris Koopman @ckoopman, is now published in the Southern Economic Journal. 🧵Thread:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
In many states, Certificate-of-Need (CON) laws prevent ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) from entering the market or expanding their services. This paper estimates the causal effects of state...
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The Biden COVID premium subsidies for ACA Marketplace plans have not only outlived their intended temporary purpose, but evidence indicates that their design, focused on maximizing coverage regardless of cost, reduces pressure on insurers to contain costs. Â As a result, these
Democrat Senator Peter Welch on Obamacare: "We did fail to bring down the cost of healthcare."
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As enhanced PTCs expanded, the share of consumers paying nothing in premiums surged and pressure to compete on price weakened, allowing insurers to benefit from raising gross premiums largely unnoticed.
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Long-term care in the U.S. faces growing pressure as the senior population expands. In our new @CatoInstitute Research Brief in Economic Policy, @MBjoerkheim and I look at what happens when states lift certificate-of-need limits on long-term acute care hospitals. #LongTermCare
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.@MeloVitor_ of @RANDCorporation, @usafliam of @KneeCenter_WVU, @ElijahNeilson of @SUUtbirds, and @MBjoerkheim of @JECRepublicans offer the first estimate of the causal effects of CON laws on rural and urban healthcare access. #HealthcareAccess #Regulation
https://t.co/G1DxLTKhw4
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Certificate-of-Need (CON) laws require that healthcare providers receive approval from a state board before offering additional services in a given community. Proponents of CON laws claim that these...
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Healthcare accounted for over 25% of Federal spending in FY2024 and continues to grow more quickly than other categories. Policymakers should focus on realigning incentives to cure underlying diseases to alter healthcare cost projections.
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In August, of the 50 states & DC, unemployment fell in 13, rose in 12 & remained unchanged in 26. Highest rate was 6% in DC & the lowest was 1.9% in SD. 35 States ended August w/lower unemployment than national rate of 4.3% while 2 tied & 13 states & DC ended the month higher.
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And then missing workers…
You know how US births have been falling since 2007? Well, fast forward 18 years and those “missing” babies become missing college students. This will put a lot of pressure on higher ed institutions (that’s not necessarily bad) -
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"The unwinding of the continuous Medicaid enrollment provision reduced overall Medicaid enrollments. However, there is no evidence that these provisions changed the probability of being uninsured and experiencing economic hardship for the general adult population."
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our movement is growing
Coffee shops should have a special line, like TSA Pre-Check, for people ordering just black coffee.
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The portable benefits bill, just passed in @EdWorkforceCmte, builds on years of work and research led by the incredible @MissLiyaP. Amazing to see @RepKiley directly citing our study (w/ @MBjoerkheim). #evidencebasedpolicy for the win.🧠📊 🔗 Our study: https://t.co/3rJEzUCIrm
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📢BIG NEWS! @SenBillCassidy just introduced new legislation to bring portable benefits to independent workers! I had the chance to join him on Capitol Hill today to talk about how we can modernize workplace support for a 21st-century workforce. Exciting step forward!!
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I’ve seen teachers in Uganda do it, with first-graders. It’s a distinct skill set, and it’s amazing to see them pull it off.
You can’t be an excellent teacher with 50 kids in a classroom.
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My Tax Expenditure Madness Bracket cited in the @WSJ! Blog on pass-through deduction winning the worst tax expenditure here: https://t.co/SYMhFdpJLO
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New @CatoInstitute polling done by @emilyekins and @YouGov shows that 76% of Americans think the federal government spends too much money. They think 59 cents of every dollar is wasted. Even Democrats would cut 32% of spending to balance the budget!
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WELCOME TO TAX EXPENDITURE MADNESS! The tax code is riddled with trillions of dollars of loopholes. Over the next two weeks, I’ll ask you to vote on which tax expenditure is most worthy of repeal. It is time to pick the worst tax loophole!
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Each year, the Joint Economic Committee reviews and responds to the Economic Report of the President (ERP). Check out the 2025 Joint Economic Report – our official response to President Biden's final report. 📖 Read it here:
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A better idea: Universal Savings Accounts. 5 million Americans pay tax penalties every year for accessing their savings. Extend the tax treatment of retirement savings to more savings—including for emergencies. (@adamnmichel @CatoInstitute) https://t.co/g77HAaD0nI
cato.org
Universal savings accounts achieve bipartisan goals of increasing personal savings while reducing the complex and costly penalties on Americans accessing their own money when they need it most.
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