Medicaid Taxes Pay for Themselves
Also tariff loans, OpenAI/Microsoft and stock buybacks.
A classic conflict of interest occurs when the buyer of something gets reimbursed for part of the cost by someone else. Schematically:
There are all sorts of versions of this,1 many of them in the US healthcare space, where (1) no one has any intuitions about the correct price of the thing2 and (2) most consumers are getting reimbursement from someone. Alice is a patient, Bob is a drug company, Carol is Alice’s insurer, Carol pays 80% of the cost of Alice’s drugs (that is, Alice has a 20% copay), and instead of a “refund” or “Christmas present” Bob gives Alice a “charitable copay assistance program.” Bob can charge $10,000 for the drug instead of $100, and Alice is indifferent, since Bob — or Bob’s affiliated charity — pays her copay. Bob is not indifferent, since he gets $8,000 (from Carol) instead of $100.