Health Care
Commentary
The March of the Senate Democrats
As one early morning report put it, the Senate was marching to passage on Christmas Eve of its version of health overhaul. What does this Democrats-only bill do? What are the consequences? As it stands today, the health overhaul bill is a hoax. We all may know some part of ...
Commentary
Whatever Happened to Informed Consent?
After months of shamelessly pledging to “broadcast health-care negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are,” the president has decided to forgo a formal conference committee for reconciling the House and Senate bills thereby shutting out congressional opposition and the American people alike. ...
Commentary
Seizing the Initiative
Constituents of those who voted for Stupak and constituents of alleged “Blue Dogs” should flood their offices with helpful reminders of the right way to go (remembering that the key is the quantity of letters, not the quality since the member only hears the tallies and won’t ...
Commentary
Orange Grove: CLASS act in health bill really isn’t
Orange County Register, January 6, 2010 Just before the curtain closed on 2009, the U.S. Senate voted to proceed with landmark health care legislation. The bill had appeared to be at a dead end, until Senate leaders assuaged moderates’ concerns about cost by dropping both the “public option” and the ...
Commentary
Obamacare’s Three Major Hurdles
The Democrats are determined to expand the federal governments portfolio beyond the Post Office, Amtrak, and General Motors, by adding the entire health-care industry to its holdings. But before they can subject what will soon be one-fifth of our economy to the federal governments command-and-control model, Democrats must clear three ...
Commentary
If You Like Your Insurance . . .
But fear not. It will be different for “private” insurers operating under the command-and-control processes imposed by the beneficent bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services, who clearly will be driven by the preferences of patients rather than the demands of interest groups.
Commentary
Advantage Cronyism
If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, at least if you pay cash. One of the many problems with funneling our nation’s health-care system through our nation’s political system is that it would politicize health care. The health-care bill that recently passed the Senate ...
California
Would You Like a California Cash Cow or New York Pork With Your Florida Flim Flam?
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reckons that 15 million more people will enroll in Medicaid if the Senate bill becomes law (p. 8), which is just a whisker less than half the total number of persons the CBO forecasts will be newly insured, 31 million, as a result of the ...
Commentary
Medicare for All or Medicare for None?
The primary cause of the Mayo Clinic’s dropping Medicare is its fees, which are too low for physicians to pay the rent. Some have argued that the physicians have been “crying wolf” on this for years. Well, the wolf is at the door, as I wrote in a recent study ...
Business & Economics
Tort system deficiencies raise health costs for all
Wayne Willoughby argued that tort reform amounts to “stripping away the rights of injured patients” (“‘Tort reform’ won’t fix health care,” Commentary, Dec. 18). But America’s current tort system is hardly adept at protecting patients’ interests. Very little of each tort-cost dollar goes to compensate the injured. Not only do ...
The March of the Senate Democrats
As one early morning report put it, the Senate was marching to passage on Christmas Eve of its version of health overhaul. What does this Democrats-only bill do? What are the consequences? As it stands today, the health overhaul bill is a hoax. We all may know some part of ...
Whatever Happened to Informed Consent?
After months of shamelessly pledging to “broadcast health-care negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are,” the president has decided to forgo a formal conference committee for reconciling the House and Senate bills thereby shutting out congressional opposition and the American people alike. ...
Seizing the Initiative
Constituents of those who voted for Stupak and constituents of alleged “Blue Dogs” should flood their offices with helpful reminders of the right way to go (remembering that the key is the quantity of letters, not the quality since the member only hears the tallies and won’t ...
Orange Grove: CLASS act in health bill really isn’t
Orange County Register, January 6, 2010 Just before the curtain closed on 2009, the U.S. Senate voted to proceed with landmark health care legislation. The bill had appeared to be at a dead end, until Senate leaders assuaged moderates’ concerns about cost by dropping both the “public option” and the ...
Obamacare’s Three Major Hurdles
The Democrats are determined to expand the federal governments portfolio beyond the Post Office, Amtrak, and General Motors, by adding the entire health-care industry to its holdings. But before they can subject what will soon be one-fifth of our economy to the federal governments command-and-control model, Democrats must clear three ...
If You Like Your Insurance . . .
But fear not. It will be different for “private” insurers operating under the command-and-control processes imposed by the beneficent bureaucrats at the Department of Health and Human Services, who clearly will be driven by the preferences of patients rather than the demands of interest groups.
Advantage Cronyism
If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, at least if you pay cash. One of the many problems with funneling our nation’s health-care system through our nation’s political system is that it would politicize health care. The health-care bill that recently passed the Senate ...
Would You Like a California Cash Cow or New York Pork With Your Florida Flim Flam?
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reckons that 15 million more people will enroll in Medicaid if the Senate bill becomes law (p. 8), which is just a whisker less than half the total number of persons the CBO forecasts will be newly insured, 31 million, as a result of the ...
Medicare for All or Medicare for None?
The primary cause of the Mayo Clinic’s dropping Medicare is its fees, which are too low for physicians to pay the rent. Some have argued that the physicians have been “crying wolf” on this for years. Well, the wolf is at the door, as I wrote in a recent study ...
Tort system deficiencies raise health costs for all
Wayne Willoughby argued that tort reform amounts to “stripping away the rights of injured patients” (“‘Tort reform’ won’t fix health care,” Commentary, Dec. 18). But America’s current tort system is hardly adept at protecting patients’ interests. Very little of each tort-cost dollar goes to compensate the injured. Not only do ...
