Paul Miller of Friedman Billings Ramsey, an investment bank, says a government bad bank can pay more for assets than a private investor because its cost of funds is irrelevant, it needs no capital and can hold the assets to maturity.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus

Predictably, pain-free financing means that to most French patients the cost of their treatment is irrelevant, while they lead the world in the number of times they go into hospital, and swallow more pills than any other nation on earth, bar the Japanese.

ECONOMIST: Health care in France

So cost-benefit analysis is rarely dispositive, but to say that costs are irrelevant is just misguided.

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Many policy analysts say that 200% is an irrelevant cutoff for SCHIP because it doesn't factor in the differences in health care premiums and cost of living among the states.

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