Beech Tree News Network

I have recently done some reading about the midterm election results, our economy and U. S. health care. Each topic is important, but sometimes exhausting. The articles mentioned below provided some unique perspectives.

Midterm Election Results:  The recent midterm election results were discussed in an online Washington Post article by Brian F. Schaffner (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/11/10/these-5-ch...). Schaffner explained how various groups likely voted in the House races by considering five sets of data (Please see the original article for an explanation of data analysis.). Two of the statistics considered voter age and gender. Schaffner stated:

1.“While this year all age groups voted more Democratic than they had in 2016, those under 50 years old shifted more. In particular, 18- to 29-year-old voters chose Democratic candidates over Republican candidates by a 2-to-1 margin in 2018.”

2.“While nearly 60 percent of women who voted for one of the two major parties voted for Democratic candidates, only 47 percent of men did.”

Schaffner concluded by commenting that “divisive and offensive” conduct seems to be “…turning off younger voters at historic rates, while also driving away women (especially those with college degrees).”

The U.S. Economy:  Thankfully, the U.S. economy has shown growth. The Bowling Green Daily News reported that in southcentral Kentucky, wages have increased, with the average increase across all sectors at almost 6 percent (Daily News, July 27, 2018, 1C). On November 2, The New York Times published an article by Neil Irwin entitled “Three Key Factors that Will Determine How Long the Hot Job Market Lasts” (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/upshot/the-job-market-is-firing-on-al...). This article noted that the U.S. October employment report was encouraging: hiring, wages, and the total number of workers and job searchers were up. Nonetheless, Irwin expressed concern that these may be short-lived because “…investment spending has been nothing special, and in the third quarter fixed investment – a category that includes both housing and business investment – was actually negative.” The author also stated that “…for the first time in about a decade the possibility of substantial inflation is becoming real.” Finally, if the jobs boom continues, the economy may be constrained by not having enough workers. Irwin concluded by expressing the hope that “this proves to be the middle of a nice boom rather than the beginning of the end.”

Predictions for Health Care:  Health care in the United States is a never-ending debate. On November 1, The New England Journal of Medicine published an online article “Special Report: Health Care in the 2018 Election” (https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1813425). In the conclusion of the article, the authors (Robert J. Blendon, John M. Benson, and Caitlin L. McMurtry) predicted the following: 

“…If Congress is divided according to party, we are likely to see considerable gridlock and conflicts over health care issues between Republicans and Democrats, as well as with the Trump administration. Despite promises in the election campaign, party loyalists remain so far apart in their policy preferences that agreement on new major policy initiatives is unlikely, including moving ahead with universal coverage or the potential for a Medicare-for-all plan. Agreements are more likely on less contentious health policy topics, such as ways to preserve protections to cover preexisting conditions and proposals to lower prescription drug costs, as well as increased funding for opioid addiction programs and for medical research to find cures for diseases. Because of this likely gridlock, before the ink is dry on media stories about health care in the 2018 election, we will see increasing focus on the importance of health care to the outcome of the 2020 presidential and congressional elections.”

Mitt Romney, American businessman and politician, once said, “I can never predict what the markets will do. Sometimes it does the exact opposite of what I would have expected” (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/predict). These articles all provided thought-provoking information; however, Romney made a good point: we cannot know. I found the midterm election statistics enlightening, I have little understanding of economic predictions, and I believe any legislative agreement regarding health care will be preceded by a hard-fought battle (and followed by finger pointing).