John R. Graham
Health Care
ObamaCare Will Dramatically Reduce Choice in Private Insurance
Key Points The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has just issued regulations that will reduce choice in health insurance for individuals and businesses. These regulations focus on the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR), a misleading bookkeeping concept irrelevant to peoples’ choice of health insurance. To succeed in reducing choice, ObamaCare ...
Business & Economics
Doctors, patients need legal reform
Doctors in America are spending more time in courtrooms – and less time with patients – as personal injury lawyers wage a war on providers that’s harming the quality of health care. Some states are taking steps to curb this abuse, and other states have good reason to follow their ...
Commentary
Obamacare undermines our right to health care
President Obama has made no secret of his belief that health care should be “a right for every American.” This moral argument for reform was no doubt among the strongest offered by Obamacare’s proponents. Unfortunately, Obamacare doesn’t guarantee a right to health care. Instead, it undermines that right by subverting ...
Commentary
Which is More Obese, San Francisco’s Kids, or Its Government?
Imagine this scene a year or two in our future: An inspector from the San Francisco Department of Public Health spots something shiny behind a restaurant freezer. He pulls out a plastic Iron Man™ action figure, which the manager claims belongs to his son. No dice – they haul him ...
Commentary
Ratios condemn patients to inferior care
In 1999, Gray Davis signed a law mandating a statewide ratio of one nurse to five patients in surgical wards, one to six in psychiatric wards, one to four in pediatric wards, one to three in maternity wards, and one to two in intensive care. The law was strong-armed to ...
Commentary
Government Greed, Not Human Need, Drives the Growth of Medicaid
Key Points For four and a half decades, Medicaid has experienced significantly faster cost increases than Medicare or private health spending. Since February 2009, the federal government has leveraged states’ Medicaid spending to unprecedented levels. The “stimulus” bill, ObamaCare, and the recently passed bailout for states have further reduced incentives ...
Commentary
States Are Right to Shun ObamaCare’s High-Risk Pools
States Are Right to Shun ObamaCare’s High-Risk Pools By John R. Graham, director of Health Care Studies One of ObamaCare’s first major cash flows was scheduled to start on July 1: $5 billion to bail out states’ so-called “high-risk pools” until January 1, 2014. A full 22 states want nothing ...
Health Care
Leviathan’s Drug Problem
This study concludes that allowing American patients to access medicines that have already been approved in Europe would increase regulatory competition, enable more patient choice, and potentially save the lives of those suffering life-threatening illnesses and who currently have no treatment options. During a 12-month period in 2008 and 2009, ...
Government Spending
Medicare needs systemic remedies
President Barack Obama signed a bill to “fix” payments to doctors by Medicare — until November. Although costing taxpayers $6.5 billion, this short-term patch will just have to be “fixed” again right after the next election. Throwing more money at a broken Medicare reimbursement schedule is what passes for bipartisan ...
ObamaCare Will Dramatically Reduce Choice in Private Insurance
Key Points The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has just issued regulations that will reduce choice in health insurance for individuals and businesses. These regulations focus on the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR), a misleading bookkeeping concept irrelevant to peoples’ choice of health insurance. To succeed in reducing choice, ObamaCare ...
Doctors, patients need legal reform
Doctors in America are spending more time in courtrooms – and less time with patients – as personal injury lawyers wage a war on providers that’s harming the quality of health care. Some states are taking steps to curb this abuse, and other states have good reason to follow their ...
Obamacare undermines our right to health care
President Obama has made no secret of his belief that health care should be “a right for every American.” This moral argument for reform was no doubt among the strongest offered by Obamacare’s proponents. Unfortunately, Obamacare doesn’t guarantee a right to health care. Instead, it undermines that right by subverting ...
Which is More Obese, San Francisco’s Kids, or Its Government?
Imagine this scene a year or two in our future: An inspector from the San Francisco Department of Public Health spots something shiny behind a restaurant freezer. He pulls out a plastic Iron Man™ action figure, which the manager claims belongs to his son. No dice – they haul him ...
Ratios condemn patients to inferior care
In 1999, Gray Davis signed a law mandating a statewide ratio of one nurse to five patients in surgical wards, one to six in psychiatric wards, one to four in pediatric wards, one to three in maternity wards, and one to two in intensive care. The law was strong-armed to ...
Government Greed, Not Human Need, Drives the Growth of Medicaid
Key Points For four and a half decades, Medicaid has experienced significantly faster cost increases than Medicare or private health spending. Since February 2009, the federal government has leveraged states’ Medicaid spending to unprecedented levels. The “stimulus” bill, ObamaCare, and the recently passed bailout for states have further reduced incentives ...
States Are Right to Shun ObamaCare’s High-Risk Pools
States Are Right to Shun ObamaCare’s High-Risk Pools By John R. Graham, director of Health Care Studies One of ObamaCare’s first major cash flows was scheduled to start on July 1: $5 billion to bail out states’ so-called “high-risk pools” until January 1, 2014. A full 22 states want nothing ...
Leviathan’s Drug Problem
This study concludes that allowing American patients to access medicines that have already been approved in Europe would increase regulatory competition, enable more patient choice, and potentially save the lives of those suffering life-threatening illnesses and who currently have no treatment options. During a 12-month period in 2008 and 2009, ...
Medicare needs systemic remedies
President Barack Obama signed a bill to “fix” payments to doctors by Medicare — until November. Although costing taxpayers $6.5 billion, this short-term patch will just have to be “fixed” again right after the next election. Throwing more money at a broken Medicare reimbursement schedule is what passes for bipartisan ...
