The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) was a center-right think tank based in Dallas, Texas. The think tank ceased operations in 2017 after suffering major financial difficulties and scandals.
The center was most notable for its health care policy ideas such as the creation of health savings accounts and retirement policy research which led to the creation of Roth IRAs and allowing seniors to work beyond the retirement age without cuts to their Social Security benefits. [1]
Activities
The NCPA focused mostly on fiscal issues. It promoted free market solutions to problems such as healthcare and retirement. It also focused on privatizing government services, which was modeled after British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s policies from the 1980s. [2]
Among the healthcare work the NCPA has done was to develop health savings accounts (HSAs). The NCPA created the first private sector HSA sold and encouraged Congress to give them favorable tax treatment. As of 2021, over 30 million Americans have taken advantage of the HSAs and currently use their own money they control to pay for healthcare services. [3]
The NCPA also focused on opposition to Obamacare and other proposals to expand the government’s role in health care. It helped create an alternative to Obamacare which eventually became the Graham-Cassidy bill that was nearly passed in 2017. It also published the book Living With Obamacare, which became the first think tank book that was distributed in Hudson Books stores in airports all over the country. [4]
The NCPA’s biggest effects on public policy were in reforms to the nation’s retirement system. It played a leading role in the creation of the Roth IRA, which was enacted to provide workers a means to save money without having to pay taxes on it during withdrawal. It also worked to allow people who decided to work beyond the Social Security retirement age to continue to work without having their benefits decreased. [5]
The NCPA worked with the Brookings Institution on allowing employers to automatically enroll their employees in 401(k)s with diversified portfolios without being held liable in a market downturn. [6]
Leadership
The NCPA was founded by economist John Goodman. He received a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University. He has appeared in numerous publications and he has frequently testified in front of congressional committees. Goodman served as the NCPA’s president until his dismissal in 2014. Currently, he is the president and CEO of the Goodman Institute for Public Policy Research. [7]
Goodman was replaced as executive director of the NCPA by former U.S. Congressman Allen West (R-FL). West was a Tea Party favorite in his tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served one term. West is also a senior fellow at the London Center for Policy Research. West would be the final executive director of the NCPA. [8]
Steve Ivy was the final chairman of the board at the NCPA. He is the CEO of Heritage Auctions. [9]
Scandals and Closure
In June 2014, the center’s founder and then-president John Goodman was dismissed by the board for “misconduct” of having an affair with a female assistant and then promoting her to be the HR director. Goodman was replaced by former U.S. Congressman Allen West (R-FL). [10]
In 2016, the finance director of NCPA, Joshua Galloway, was accused of embezzling more than $600,000 from the group. He was captured by U.S. Marshals in Nashville. [11]
In 2017, NCPA closed down. Then-senior director of policy research Joe Barnett blamed the actions of Goodman and claimed that NCPA’s reputation and finances could not recover from his actions. [12]
For his part, Goodman claimed that when he left NCPA the organization had $5 million annual income, a $6 million endowment, $750,000 in the bank, and a solid donor base. [13]
Many of the NCPA’s scholars have moved to join another think tank founded by Goodman, the Goodman Institute for Public Policy Research. [14]
The archives of the NCPA are maintained by a financial contribution of Larry Wedekind, a former NCPA director. [15]