John R. Graham
Commentary
Government Monopoly Health Care in Quebec
Proud Canadian that I am, I like to keep my ears and eyes on my homeland. A couple of days ago, the province of Quebec had a general election. As always, in states where the government monopolizes “universal” health care, the permanent health crisis is a major political issue. You ...
Commentary
Paying Medical Bills in Bankruptcy
Most advocates of individual choice in health care appreciate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), because it allows self-insuring firms to reduce health care costs by avoiding state mandates and offering a uniform health benefit nationwide. Skunk at the garden party, I am significantly less enthusiastic. However, I do ...
Commentary
Fixing Fragmentation in U.S. Health Care
One of the primary reasons for the large number of uninsured people in America is that the government uses the tax code to take your family’s health care dollars away from you and give them to your employer to buy health insurance that it chooses for you. When you lose ...
Commentary
When State Fails, Community Steps Up for Group Home
Once in a while, a story comes along that really drives home the case against allowing government to control funding for social services. A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about a non-profit, Community Link, having to shut down a group home for five developmentally impaired ...
Commentary
Bush’s Final Medicaid Reform Increases Patient Responsibility
The Bush Administration’s (or the Bush “regime’s”, if you prefer) theme in Medicaid reform has been to give states more flexibility in how they operate their Medicaid programs, despite the federal government paying over half the cost. In its (likely) final hurrah, the Administration recently published Medicaid rules allowing states ...
Business & Economics
San Francisco Tax Hike Cannot Help Public Health Bureaucracy
Don’t get me wrong: of all the various byzantine agencies that comprise the massive (and growing) government intervention in American health care, counties’ public-health agencies are probably my favorite (or, perhaps to assuage the arch-libertarian readers, “the least harmful”). They do things like inspecting restaurants for cleanliness, watching out for ...
Commentary
Medicaid Contributes To Medical Bankruptcy
The Wall Street Journal ran a disturbing story about the increasing number of people unable to pay medical bills. Some are even having to sell homes in a bad market to raise cash. Of course, the health care and political elites always interpret such harrowing tales as signals to increase ...
California
The Folly of California’s Taxpayer Funded Stem Cell Research
The Sacramento Bee has editorialized on a topic near to our hearts at PRI: stem cell research. Actually, stem cell research itself is “above our paygrade” as the President-elect might say. Nevertheless, we have an intense interest in the whereabouts of $3 billion that Californian voters approved to fund embryonic ...
Commentary
Arizona’s Prop 101: It’s Always Darkest Before It Goes Totally Black
Before the election, I concluded that Sen. McCain had a health care plan which would have allowed states and families more freedom to choose health care that they prefer, instead of that which the federal government prefers. Sen. Obama’s choice of Dr. Tom Daschle as the next U.S. Secretary of ...
Agriculture
California’s Newest Chronic Disease: “Preventionitis”
A major driver of health costs over the last couple of decades is chronic illness such as diabetes and heart disease. It’s time to add another chronic ailment to the list: “preventionitis.” Because much chronic disease is associated with bad lifestyle choices, many succumb to the utopian delusion that investment ...
Government Monopoly Health Care in Quebec
Proud Canadian that I am, I like to keep my ears and eyes on my homeland. A couple of days ago, the province of Quebec had a general election. As always, in states where the government monopolizes “universal” health care, the permanent health crisis is a major political issue. You ...
Paying Medical Bills in Bankruptcy
Most advocates of individual choice in health care appreciate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), because it allows self-insuring firms to reduce health care costs by avoiding state mandates and offering a uniform health benefit nationwide. Skunk at the garden party, I am significantly less enthusiastic. However, I do ...
Fixing Fragmentation in U.S. Health Care
One of the primary reasons for the large number of uninsured people in America is that the government uses the tax code to take your family’s health care dollars away from you and give them to your employer to buy health insurance that it chooses for you. When you lose ...
When State Fails, Community Steps Up for Group Home
Once in a while, a story comes along that really drives home the case against allowing government to control funding for social services. A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about a non-profit, Community Link, having to shut down a group home for five developmentally impaired ...
Bush’s Final Medicaid Reform Increases Patient Responsibility
The Bush Administration’s (or the Bush “regime’s”, if you prefer) theme in Medicaid reform has been to give states more flexibility in how they operate their Medicaid programs, despite the federal government paying over half the cost. In its (likely) final hurrah, the Administration recently published Medicaid rules allowing states ...
San Francisco Tax Hike Cannot Help Public Health Bureaucracy
Don’t get me wrong: of all the various byzantine agencies that comprise the massive (and growing) government intervention in American health care, counties’ public-health agencies are probably my favorite (or, perhaps to assuage the arch-libertarian readers, “the least harmful”). They do things like inspecting restaurants for cleanliness, watching out for ...
Medicaid Contributes To Medical Bankruptcy
The Wall Street Journal ran a disturbing story about the increasing number of people unable to pay medical bills. Some are even having to sell homes in a bad market to raise cash. Of course, the health care and political elites always interpret such harrowing tales as signals to increase ...
The Folly of California’s Taxpayer Funded Stem Cell Research
The Sacramento Bee has editorialized on a topic near to our hearts at PRI: stem cell research. Actually, stem cell research itself is “above our paygrade” as the President-elect might say. Nevertheless, we have an intense interest in the whereabouts of $3 billion that Californian voters approved to fund embryonic ...
Arizona’s Prop 101: It’s Always Darkest Before It Goes Totally Black
Before the election, I concluded that Sen. McCain had a health care plan which would have allowed states and families more freedom to choose health care that they prefer, instead of that which the federal government prefers. Sen. Obama’s choice of Dr. Tom Daschle as the next U.S. Secretary of ...
California’s Newest Chronic Disease: “Preventionitis”
A major driver of health costs over the last couple of decades is chronic illness such as diabetes and heart disease. It’s time to add another chronic ailment to the list: “preventionitis.” Because much chronic disease is associated with bad lifestyle choices, many succumb to the utopian delusion that investment ...
