Benjamin Zycher
Commentary
Only the Sick Need Apply
Can they be serious? Put aside the absurdity of the notion that a public plan would operate just like Blue Cross or one of the others. (After all, the whole purpose of the public plan is to transfer wealth among constituencies in ways that market competition precludes.) Instead, consider the ...
Health Care
The Medicare Auction Design and Incentives for Research and Development
Key Points: Government has incentives to focus far more heavily upon budget outlays than patient wellbeing in the operation of its health programs. So as to obtain medical devices and equipment for the beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid, the federal government uses auctions that are poorly designed, resulting in prices ...
Business & Economics
Comparative effectiveness reviews mean fewer cures
Elected officials have powerful incentives to spend, and the administrators of government agencies — always seeking to increase their budgets — are happy to oblige. But the federal budget is finite. There are equally-powerful incentives to create more programs, as politicians are driven to make more citizens dependent upon government. ...
Business & Economics
The Federal War Against Medical Technology
At about $75 billion annually, U.S. private-sector investment in medical technology is substantial, and a large body of research demonstrates that the economic returns to these investments are enormous. But emerging federal policies are likely to create powerful disincentives for the research and development of medical innovations, in particular, pharmaceuticals ...
Health Care
Comparative Effectiveness Reviews: Quantitative Analysis of Research and Development Investment Effects
A based free-market think tank, examines an expanded quasi-federal comparative effectiveness review (CER) process and the negative effects on private-sector investment in research and development of new and improved medical technologies. Download the PDF San Francisco (July 15, 2011) — A new research study released by the Pacific Research Institute ...
Business & Economics
Medicare Auctions for Durable Medical Equipment: Price Suppression and Research and Development Investment
San Francisco (June 13, 2011)—A new research study released by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free-market think tank, reviews the auction design process currently established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for medical devices and equipment. That process creates important adverse economic effects: It yields ...
Commentary
Now they tell us
California has to be a leader, the progressives tell us, by which they mean that ordinary people should just shut up and eat their spinach. The spinach is necessary for the good of mankind, ordinary people included, and, anyway, it tastes good, fills you up, and costs next to nothing. ...
Commentary
That Took No Time at All
Well, apparently not. Having only begun the lame-duck session — and well before the seating of the new Congress that heard the voice of the people — Eric Cantor, soon to be the House majority leader, has already caved on an essential element of eliminating central planning in health care. ...
Commentary
That Took No Time At All: Part II
The Hill now reports that its earlier story on Congressman Eric Cantor’s backpedaling on repeal of Obamacare was incorrect. He does not seek to preserve the proscription on exclusion of patients with preexisting conditions or the provision allowing 26-year-olds to remain on their parents’ policies. No indeed: Cantor continues to ...
Business & Economics
Proposition 23 and California Employment
Proposition 23, on next Tuesday’s ballot, would suspend the implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) until the state unemployment rate, now 12.4 percent, declines to 5.5 percent for four quarters. A new study published by the Pacific Research Institute examines the employment implications of ...
Only the Sick Need Apply
Can they be serious? Put aside the absurdity of the notion that a public plan would operate just like Blue Cross or one of the others. (After all, the whole purpose of the public plan is to transfer wealth among constituencies in ways that market competition precludes.) Instead, consider the ...
The Medicare Auction Design and Incentives for Research and Development
Key Points: Government has incentives to focus far more heavily upon budget outlays than patient wellbeing in the operation of its health programs. So as to obtain medical devices and equipment for the beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid, the federal government uses auctions that are poorly designed, resulting in prices ...
Comparative effectiveness reviews mean fewer cures
Elected officials have powerful incentives to spend, and the administrators of government agencies — always seeking to increase their budgets — are happy to oblige. But the federal budget is finite. There are equally-powerful incentives to create more programs, as politicians are driven to make more citizens dependent upon government. ...
The Federal War Against Medical Technology
At about $75 billion annually, U.S. private-sector investment in medical technology is substantial, and a large body of research demonstrates that the economic returns to these investments are enormous. But emerging federal policies are likely to create powerful disincentives for the research and development of medical innovations, in particular, pharmaceuticals ...
Comparative Effectiveness Reviews: Quantitative Analysis of Research and Development Investment Effects
A based free-market think tank, examines an expanded quasi-federal comparative effectiveness review (CER) process and the negative effects on private-sector investment in research and development of new and improved medical technologies. Download the PDF San Francisco (July 15, 2011) — A new research study released by the Pacific Research Institute ...
Medicare Auctions for Durable Medical Equipment: Price Suppression and Research and Development Investment
San Francisco (June 13, 2011)—A new research study released by the Pacific Research Institute (PRI), a California-based free-market think tank, reviews the auction design process currently established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for medical devices and equipment. That process creates important adverse economic effects: It yields ...
Now they tell us
California has to be a leader, the progressives tell us, by which they mean that ordinary people should just shut up and eat their spinach. The spinach is necessary for the good of mankind, ordinary people included, and, anyway, it tastes good, fills you up, and costs next to nothing. ...
That Took No Time at All
Well, apparently not. Having only begun the lame-duck session — and well before the seating of the new Congress that heard the voice of the people — Eric Cantor, soon to be the House majority leader, has already caved on an essential element of eliminating central planning in health care. ...
That Took No Time At All: Part II
The Hill now reports that its earlier story on Congressman Eric Cantor’s backpedaling on repeal of Obamacare was incorrect. He does not seek to preserve the proscription on exclusion of patients with preexisting conditions or the provision allowing 26-year-olds to remain on their parents’ policies. No indeed: Cantor continues to ...
Proposition 23 and California Employment
Proposition 23, on next Tuesday’s ballot, would suspend the implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32) until the state unemployment rate, now 12.4 percent, declines to 5.5 percent for four quarters. A new study published by the Pacific Research Institute examines the employment implications of ...
