Health Care
Business & Economics
Dodgy days for business
The national unemployment rate remains stubbornly high – 9.5 percent in June – and the private sector simply isn’t willing yet to make a genuine effort to create jobs. Some contend that to stimulate the economy, the government should spend and borrow more. This argument ignores a central reason for ...
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 ...
Commentary
Think tank calls for FDA to forgo approval of drugs cleared by European regulator
The free-market Pacific Research Institute argues in a new report that American patients would benefit if the Food and Drug Administration didn’t have a monopoly on regulations. Instead, the think tank argues that “allowing American patients to access medicines that have already been approved in Europe would increase regulatory competition, ...
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 ...
Commentary
Medical Tort: Ranking the 50 States
Key Points States’ liability laws drive medical-tort costs, which increase health costs. Evidence indicates that medical-tort costs are higher than optimal, with consequences including unfair verdicts, reduced availability of doctors, and increased use of wasteful “defensive” medicine. Eight variables contribute to a medical-tort index that measures all 50 states’ success ...
California
Should The State Decide How Many Nurses a Hospital Must Hire?
Under ObamaCare, those who believe the government should decide how much medical care you deserve, and how it should be delivered, are eager to impose their preferences nationwide. Nurses’ unions lead the charge, armed with a recent study that could use more examination than it is getting from politicians and ...
California
Costs Soaring After Bay State Health Change
Anyone wanting a preview of Obama-Care need just focus on Massachusetts, the state that provided the blueprint for Obama’s plan. It makes a great case for making haste in repealing ObamaCare. In Massachusetts, health care prices are out of control, emergency rooms are overcrowded, the government is at war with ...
Commentary
Making health information technology a HIT
If the federal government’s ambitious new plan to digitize the nation’s medical records comes about, filling out reams of paperwork at the doctor’s office may become a thing of the past. Thus far, however, those who would benefit most from a break in pushing paper — doctors — have balked ...
Commentary
Obama’s promises, promises
“How do you know when a politician is lying?”, asks the hoary joke. His lips are moving. Some politicians are skilled manipulators of words. Recall President Bill Clinton’s definition of what “is” is. Our current president prefers the head-down, right-up-the-center approach. He campaigned on a promise to decrease health care ...
Dodgy days for business
The national unemployment rate remains stubbornly high – 9.5 percent in June – and the private sector simply isn’t willing yet to make a genuine effort to create jobs. Some contend that to stimulate the economy, the government should spend and borrow more. This argument ignores a central reason for ...
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 ...
Think tank calls for FDA to forgo approval of drugs cleared by European regulator
The free-market Pacific Research Institute argues in a new report that American patients would benefit if the Food and Drug Administration didn’t have a monopoly on regulations. Instead, the think tank argues that “allowing American patients to access medicines that have already been approved in Europe would increase regulatory competition, ...
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 ...
Medical Tort: Ranking the 50 States
Key Points States’ liability laws drive medical-tort costs, which increase health costs. Evidence indicates that medical-tort costs are higher than optimal, with consequences including unfair verdicts, reduced availability of doctors, and increased use of wasteful “defensive” medicine. Eight variables contribute to a medical-tort index that measures all 50 states’ success ...
Should The State Decide How Many Nurses a Hospital Must Hire?
Under ObamaCare, those who believe the government should decide how much medical care you deserve, and how it should be delivered, are eager to impose their preferences nationwide. Nurses’ unions lead the charge, armed with a recent study that could use more examination than it is getting from politicians and ...
Costs Soaring After Bay State Health Change
Anyone wanting a preview of Obama-Care need just focus on Massachusetts, the state that provided the blueprint for Obama’s plan. It makes a great case for making haste in repealing ObamaCare. In Massachusetts, health care prices are out of control, emergency rooms are overcrowded, the government is at war with ...
Making health information technology a HIT
If the federal government’s ambitious new plan to digitize the nation’s medical records comes about, filling out reams of paperwork at the doctor’s office may become a thing of the past. Thus far, however, those who would benefit most from a break in pushing paper — doctors — have balked ...
Obama’s promises, promises
“How do you know when a politician is lying?”, asks the hoary joke. His lips are moving. Some politicians are skilled manipulators of words. Recall President Bill Clinton’s definition of what “is” is. Our current president prefers the head-down, right-up-the-center approach. He campaigned on a promise to decrease health care ...
