John R. Graham
Commentary
This’ll Be Huge: WellPoint to Cover “Medical Tourism” Outside U.S.
A growing number of Americans are interested in going abroad for surgery. Hospitals in India, Thailand, and other countries are able to offer high-quality treatment for a fraction of the cost of American hospitals. This enterprise is called “medical tourism”. Indianapolis-based WellPoint, which covers 35 million Americans, has decided to ...
Commentary
Roadblock to health
Census officials just revealed that 17.2 percent of North Carolinians “1.5 million” went without health insurance between 2006 and 2007. These statistics aren’t surprising. North Carolina’s government has erected regulatory roadblocks that make health insurance too expensive. If state officials want to expand coverage, they must improve “health ownership” by ...
Health Care
Election 2008: An Unhealthy Outcome
The federal outcome of the 2008 election bodes ill for Americans’ ability to regain control of their health care dollars. Before the election, PRI compared the candidates’ health plans and concluded that Senator McCain’s proposal was generally superior. Senator Obama’s plan was ambitious and weakly defined, but with strong Democratic ...
Business & Economics
Product Liability Law, FDA Pre-Emption, and Public Opinion
On December 3, the U.S. Supreme Court began to hear Wyeth v. Levine, which will determine whether the FDA’s regulations governing the labels of prescription drugs “pre-empt” state tort laws. I’ve already discussed the details of the case, wherein Wyeth (the manufacturer) claims that the Vermont state court had no ...
Commentary
Health Plans Belly Up to SCHIP Trough
For those of us who believe that American families should control our health-care dollars, instead of government, employers, or other 3rd parties, the recent behavior of health-care lobbyists in DC is disturbing. A key insight of the political philosophy of “public choice” theory is that it is impossible for politicians ...
Commentary
Government Health Care: Let the Rationing Continue
Imagine if a private health plan, Blue Cross or Blue Shield, for example, issued a news release like this: “Due to our deficit, our health plan will no longer cover optometry, dentistry, podiatry, or psychology.” You would go ballistic! Indeed, you’d probably sue, especially if these services were mandated by ...
Commentary
State government keeps health insurance from Tar Heels
U.S. Census officials just revealed that 17.2 percent of North Carolinians went without health insurance between 2006 and 2007, up 2.1 percentage points from the preceding two years. That’s greater than the national average and translates to about 1.5 million uninsured Tar Heels. These statistics are unfortunate, but they’re not ...
Commentary
ObamaCare Attacks Communities’ Ability To Regulate Locally
I’ve spent much of the day considering the consequences of Sen. Obama’s victory in the presidential election to health reform efforts in the states. I regret to say that it does not look good. I wrote an analysis of Sen. McCain’s and Sen. Obama’s health plans before the election. Whatever ...
California
Too Little, Too Late? Business’ Big Guns Attack Healthy San Francisco
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association, the lone battler in the struggle against “Healthy San Francisco”, has found a couple of bigger friends to fight back against the City & County of San Francisco’s bullies. The National Business Group on Health (NBGH) and the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) have just announced ...
Agriculture
Preventionitis: American Health Care’s Chronic Utopian Delusion
Chronic illness is often identified as a culprit responsible for high health costs. By chronic illness, we usually mean diabetes, heart disease, etc. It’s time to add another chronic ailment to the list: “preventionitis”. This is the utopian delusion that investment in “prevention” – eating better, exercising more, quitting smoking, ...
This’ll Be Huge: WellPoint to Cover “Medical Tourism” Outside U.S.
A growing number of Americans are interested in going abroad for surgery. Hospitals in India, Thailand, and other countries are able to offer high-quality treatment for a fraction of the cost of American hospitals. This enterprise is called “medical tourism”. Indianapolis-based WellPoint, which covers 35 million Americans, has decided to ...
Roadblock to health
Census officials just revealed that 17.2 percent of North Carolinians “1.5 million” went without health insurance between 2006 and 2007. These statistics aren’t surprising. North Carolina’s government has erected regulatory roadblocks that make health insurance too expensive. If state officials want to expand coverage, they must improve “health ownership” by ...
Election 2008: An Unhealthy Outcome
The federal outcome of the 2008 election bodes ill for Americans’ ability to regain control of their health care dollars. Before the election, PRI compared the candidates’ health plans and concluded that Senator McCain’s proposal was generally superior. Senator Obama’s plan was ambitious and weakly defined, but with strong Democratic ...
Product Liability Law, FDA Pre-Emption, and Public Opinion
On December 3, the U.S. Supreme Court began to hear Wyeth v. Levine, which will determine whether the FDA’s regulations governing the labels of prescription drugs “pre-empt” state tort laws. I’ve already discussed the details of the case, wherein Wyeth (the manufacturer) claims that the Vermont state court had no ...
Health Plans Belly Up to SCHIP Trough
For those of us who believe that American families should control our health-care dollars, instead of government, employers, or other 3rd parties, the recent behavior of health-care lobbyists in DC is disturbing. A key insight of the political philosophy of “public choice” theory is that it is impossible for politicians ...
Government Health Care: Let the Rationing Continue
Imagine if a private health plan, Blue Cross or Blue Shield, for example, issued a news release like this: “Due to our deficit, our health plan will no longer cover optometry, dentistry, podiatry, or psychology.” You would go ballistic! Indeed, you’d probably sue, especially if these services were mandated by ...
State government keeps health insurance from Tar Heels
U.S. Census officials just revealed that 17.2 percent of North Carolinians went without health insurance between 2006 and 2007, up 2.1 percentage points from the preceding two years. That’s greater than the national average and translates to about 1.5 million uninsured Tar Heels. These statistics are unfortunate, but they’re not ...
ObamaCare Attacks Communities’ Ability To Regulate Locally
I’ve spent much of the day considering the consequences of Sen. Obama’s victory in the presidential election to health reform efforts in the states. I regret to say that it does not look good. I wrote an analysis of Sen. McCain’s and Sen. Obama’s health plans before the election. Whatever ...
Too Little, Too Late? Business’ Big Guns Attack Healthy San Francisco
The Golden Gate Restaurant Association, the lone battler in the struggle against “Healthy San Francisco”, has found a couple of bigger friends to fight back against the City & County of San Francisco’s bullies. The National Business Group on Health (NBGH) and the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC) have just announced ...
Preventionitis: American Health Care’s Chronic Utopian Delusion
Chronic illness is often identified as a culprit responsible for high health costs. By chronic illness, we usually mean diabetes, heart disease, etc. It’s time to add another chronic ailment to the list: “preventionitis”. This is the utopian delusion that investment in “prevention” – eating better, exercising more, quitting smoking, ...
