John C. Goodman (born 22 May 1946) is president and CEO of the Goodman institute for Public Policy Research, a think tank focused on public policy issues. He was the founding chief executive of the National Center for Policy Analysis, which operated from 1982 to 2017. He is a senior fellow at the Independent Institute. The Wall Street Journal and The National Journal have called Goodman the "father of Health Savings Accounts." Goodman received a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University in 1977 and has taught and done research at Columbia, Stanford, Dartmouth, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Dallas. In 1983, he founded the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), a think tank that was the source of such policy ideas as Health Savings Accounts, Roth IRAs, automatic employer enrollment in 401(k) plans and allowing seniors to continue working without penalty after they begin receiving Social Security benefits. In his 2012 book Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, Goodman asserts that empowering both patients and caregivers to control healthcare decisions produces greater patient satisfaction at substantially lower costs. The book emphasizes the importance that patients, payers, and providers each operate according to economic incentives that encourage them consider both the costs and benefits of care, innovate to improve outcomes and lower costs, and provide subsidies that do not arbitrarily benefit one group (like workers at companies that provide insurance) at the expense of other groups (like workers at companies that do not). He regularly briefs members of Congress on economic policy and testifies before congressional committees. He is author and co-author of 15 books and more than 50 published studies on such topics as health policy, tax reform and school choice. He has addressed more than 100 different organizations on public policy issues. He writes a column for Forbes and an occasional weekend column for Townhall. He has appeared 23 times on C-Span. Early history Born on May 22, 1946, Goodman grew up in Waco, Texas. In high school, he won several statewide tournaments. This experience served him later in life when he became a TV debating partner of conservative polemicist William F. Buckley. He attended college at the University of Texas in Austin, where he became involved in campus politics and was elected vice president of the student body. The following year he lost the race for president to Lloyd Doggett, who later served as a senior Democratic