Politicians often say things that just aren’t true. Texas Senate candidate James Talarico is actually quite good at that. One of his best examples is “God is non-binary.”

This blog is principally about healthcare but I am passionate about school choice so I’ll make an exception when that is the issue. Talarico has put his foot in his mouth once again on the subject of school choice. He said, “Vouchers are welfare for the wealthy.” Now that the new law on school choice in Texas has launched, we can see again how wrong Talarico can be.

The Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal tells us more than 85,000 students from 895 school districts have confirmed they’ll use a state-funded scholarship toward private school or home-school expenses in the coming year, according to a report this month by Texas Comptroller Don Huffines. Some 68,000, or 80%, are in households making 200% or less of the federal poverty level. That’s $66,000 for a family of four.

Another 17,300 students are in households between 200% and 500% of the poverty threshold, meaning no more than $165,000 for a family of four. More than 20,000 students, or about 25%, also have a disability. This outcome is by design: The law gives priority to children with disabilities and lower incomes, and a $1 billion funding cap means the program won’t reach other tiers of applicants.

The figures are incomplete, since only about 70% of the students offered funding had finalized their participation by the report’s Aug. 1 deadline. Depending on how many families with lower incomes decide not to take a scholarship after all, more funds may flow to higher tiers. After the report’s release, Mr. Huffines said the state had offered money to another 15,000 students between 200% and 500% of poverty.

Still, the report is a helpful look at where the taxpayer’s money is going. Scholarship amounts are modest: $2,000 for home-schoolers or up to $10,474 to attend a private school, which is 85% of the usual per-pupil funding. Children with disabilities can qualify for more.

The Editors tell us that more than 100,000 names are on a wait list. While many have higher incomes, that’s no good reason to exclude them from a state program to give families more choice and better educational options. Even for parents who are making more than $165,000, private-school tuition, times two or more children, is a heavy lift.

School choice is the best way to level the playing field for all children to have the opportunity to get a good education. Our public schools are failing to provide the education needed in many cities as demonstrated by declining proficiency scores. The future of our country depends on educating our children adequately to meet the demands of our complex world. School choice makes this possible even for those with lower incomes.  We all should want what’s best for our children and our country. Talarico should want that, too.

Automated Intelligence, or A. I., seems to be everywhere. New applications for A. I. are being found daily. There are certainly some drawbacks to A. I., such as social media advice that has led to some suicides, but for the most part A. I. represents a powerful new tool in our playbook.

The latest breakthrough attributed to A. I. is medical assistance in diagnosing rare diseases.

Alex Janin, writing for The Wall Street Journal, tells us of some remarkable discoveries made possible by A. I. in diagnosing rare conditions that previously stumped medical professionals. He says, “Patients and families are turning to AI to help pinpoint conditions. AI can be especially adept at flagging potential rare and hard-to-diagnose diseases, which may otherwise go undetected for years because doctors don’t often see them.”

“I have been a little slack-jawed a couple of times by the difference” AI has made in helping to spot uncommon conditions, said Dr. Sarah Diekman, a doctor who specializes in a subset of nervous-system disorders like POTS. “I’ve seen patients who’ve had this for 50 years, and I was the first person to diagnose.” Now, she said, patients who identified POTS with the help of AI chatbots are coming to her within months of their first symptoms.

Fidji Simo, the former chief executive of Instacart, has been public about her battle with POTS and stepped down from her post as Open AI’s No. 2 executive in July, citing her health. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, she said she believes today’s AI tools would have helped her get a diagnosis, which took roughly nine months, much more quickly.

Data-center-driven diagnoses can be even more accurate than doctors’. In a study published last year in a JAMA journal, researchers took 90 complex rare-disease cases that had already been solved and tested AI chatbots’ abilities to suggest the right diagnosis. The two chatbots got the diagnoses right in 13% and 10% of cases, respectively, compared with 5.6% of cases that doctors had diagnosed through a review of patients’ medical records.

However, some caution is warranted. I am personally aware of at least one study that showed AI scored only 77% on a test of common orthopedic conditions compared to 100% by doctors. For most common ailments, it’s best to use human physicians. But for cases that stump the doctors, the use of AI may be beneficial.

AI can be especially good at finding patterns, such as links between physical features in medical imaging and words in medical literature or case reports, doctors and researchers said. That can help spot rare diseases, especially in rural or nonspecialty clinics where doctors may be confronting them for the first time, said Dr. Matthew G. Hanna, a breast pathologist who chairs the College of American Pathologists’ AI committee. AI may help provide suggestions for them about what types of tests to run, or what potential treatments could help, Hanna added.

Yet there are limits, doctors said. Clinical geneticist Dr. Xiao P. Peng, who helped confirm Hinken’s family’s diagnoses, said the tools still make mistakes and are better at generating possible leads, translating complex medical jargon and compiling research than making diagnoses.

This doctor agrees. It’s not time to fire your family physician or specialist. Years of experience are still very valuable in the treatment of all patients. AI is just a new useful tool in the doctor’s handbag, not a replacement for his or her wisdom and experience.

The Affordable Care Act, better known now as ObamaCare, was promoted to the public by Democrats as the solution for rising healthcare costs. But polls today show Americans are increasingly worried about the cost of healthcare and many have dropped their ObamaCare coverage because they can’t afford it.

Anna Wilde Mathews, healthcare analyst for The Wall Street Journal, tells us millions of Americans dropped their ACA plans after higher subsidies expired and now struggle to pay their medical bills. ACA enrollment fell by about 2.6 million as of February after enhanced federal subsidies expired.

To call the Affordable Care Act unaffordable is nothing new. I called it that in a blog post I wrote over ten years ago in 2015 (The Affordable Care Act is Unaffordable). The truth is ObamaCare has been a train wreck since the day it was passed without a single Republican vote. Why? Because it never lived up to its promises. Democrats, especially President Obama, was so eager to push new healthcare legislation that would move the country closer to socialized medicine that he told lies to sell the new legislation.

In my 2014 book The ObamaCare Train Wreck, I listed the broken promises made by President Obama:

• “I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover very American.” (June 23, 2007)
• “I can make a firm pledge under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not you income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.” (September 12, 2008)
• “We’ll lower premiums by up to $2500 for a typical family per year. . . We’ll do it by the end of my first term as president of the United States.” (June 5, 2008)
• “I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits.” (September 9, 2009)
• “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your healthcare plan, you’ll be able to keep your healthcare plan, period. No one will take it away, no matter what.” (June 15, 2009)
• On December 15, 2009, President Obama asserted the bill would “finally reduce the costs of health care.”

There isn’t space here to list the many ways these promises have been broken, but suffice it to say that all of these promises were broken. (The details can be found in my book.)

The reasons for the rise of healthcare costs are many, but the underlying fault with ObamaCare is that it is a “one size fits all” system where everyone must purchase the same coverage regardless of their individual needs. This is so extreme that men must pay premiums that include mammograms and woman must pay for prostate exams. No joke!

The solution to our rising healthcare costs is market-based reforms that push the right incentives and reward good health. This is doable except Democrats will resist anything that threatens to eliminate their precious ACA – because what they really want is socialized medicine. While ObamaCare is not yet socialized medicine, it is a large step in that direction. Medicare for All – the Bernie Sanders system being promoted by socialist candidates now – is even further in that direction. If you think our system is bad now, just wait until the Democrats deliver on their Medicare for All promises.

(Note: For more on Medicare for All see recent posts listed on my home page.)