Health Care
Commentary
Wallets will feel pinch under health care bill
The Oklahoman, November 14, 2009 Last Saturday, the House of Representatives approved the 1,990-page bill that would overhaul the nation’s health care system. House leaders gloated over their victory. But the American people may not be as enthused. According to several studies, the Democrats’ reform plan will increase the cost ...
Commentary
The CBO Is Using the Wrong Number of Uninsured
As I detailed in the New York Post last month, according to the Census, there are 28 million uninsured Americans: 46 million, minus 9 million non-citizens, minus the 9 million people on Medicaid who were falsely tallied. That’s 28 million out of 280 million American citizens (according to the Census), ...
Commentary
Government Health Fixes Will Leave Us Broke
RealClearPolitics.com, November 13, 2009 By a razor-thin margin, lawmakers approved the trillion-dollar health reform package proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Saturday evening. Proponents of the measure claim that it will eventually pay for itself — and even lower the nation’s healthcare costs and the federal deficit. This is ...
Commentary
Federal Medicaid Funds Addictive Like Hard Drugs
Medicaid has grown out-of-control in the last four and a half decades, because there is nothing preventing states from competing against each other in a “race to the bottom” for federal funds. Last February, Congress and President Obama made it worse, through the so-called “stimulus” bill (ARRA), which bailed out ...
Commentary
When Private Insurers Are No Longer Private
The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn reports that IMS, a respected global research and consulting firm, projected back in March that American drug companies would actually suffer negative growth from 2008–13. Then came Obamacare — or even the prospect of it. Now, as of last month, IMS has updated its projections ...
Business & Economics
The Pillage People Ride Again
On November 1 California began withholding 10 percent more from workers’ paychecks than the government already takes. This money grab, bad enough on its own terms, is a sign that the state has missed an opportunity to modernize the tax system and provide more stable revenue. Those were the tasks ...
Health Care
John R. Graham on “Straight Ahead with Bob Grant”
“Straight Ahead” with Bob Grant John R. Graham, Director of Health Care Studies, is interviewed by Bob Grant on the proposed health care reform bill. John Graham talks about what is in the 1,990 page bill and the huge federal bureaucracy that will be created if this health care legislation ...
Commentary
Collective Neurosis in Maine: Big Government Bad, We Need Gargantuan Government
Unfortunately, Mr. Gardiner gives more than equal time for those who blame Maine’s failures not on government control, but a sick and poor population. Talk about blaming the victim! These folks also blame the fact that Maine has a single, dominant, health insurer – without recognizing the government policies that ...
Commentary
On the Grinding Pace of the Health-Care Take-Over: A Historical Perspective
The 1965 amendments actually proved very easy to legislate, with over 70 percent majorities in both chambers. President Johnson signed the bill on July 30. No disruptive town-hall meetings or tea parties that August! Although I’m pleased that the 2009 bill is taking a lot longer, I must confess surprise. ...
Commentary
PhRMA Is Shocked About GosHealth
The comedy highlight, of course, is the plaintive cry about “killing tens of thousands of jobs in our industry.” Did PhRMA believe that the $80 billion deal would have increased such employment? Did it not occur to them that the $80 billion inevitably would come to be an opening bid? ...
Wallets will feel pinch under health care bill
The Oklahoman, November 14, 2009 Last Saturday, the House of Representatives approved the 1,990-page bill that would overhaul the nation’s health care system. House leaders gloated over their victory. But the American people may not be as enthused. According to several studies, the Democrats’ reform plan will increase the cost ...
The CBO Is Using the Wrong Number of Uninsured
As I detailed in the New York Post last month, according to the Census, there are 28 million uninsured Americans: 46 million, minus 9 million non-citizens, minus the 9 million people on Medicaid who were falsely tallied. That’s 28 million out of 280 million American citizens (according to the Census), ...
Government Health Fixes Will Leave Us Broke
RealClearPolitics.com, November 13, 2009 By a razor-thin margin, lawmakers approved the trillion-dollar health reform package proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Saturday evening. Proponents of the measure claim that it will eventually pay for itself — and even lower the nation’s healthcare costs and the federal deficit. This is ...
Federal Medicaid Funds Addictive Like Hard Drugs
Medicaid has grown out-of-control in the last four and a half decades, because there is nothing preventing states from competing against each other in a “race to the bottom” for federal funds. Last February, Congress and President Obama made it worse, through the so-called “stimulus” bill (ARRA), which bailed out ...
When Private Insurers Are No Longer Private
The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn reports that IMS, a respected global research and consulting firm, projected back in March that American drug companies would actually suffer negative growth from 2008–13. Then came Obamacare — or even the prospect of it. Now, as of last month, IMS has updated its projections ...
The Pillage People Ride Again
On November 1 California began withholding 10 percent more from workers’ paychecks than the government already takes. This money grab, bad enough on its own terms, is a sign that the state has missed an opportunity to modernize the tax system and provide more stable revenue. Those were the tasks ...
John R. Graham on “Straight Ahead with Bob Grant”
“Straight Ahead” with Bob Grant John R. Graham, Director of Health Care Studies, is interviewed by Bob Grant on the proposed health care reform bill. John Graham talks about what is in the 1,990 page bill and the huge federal bureaucracy that will be created if this health care legislation ...
Collective Neurosis in Maine: Big Government Bad, We Need Gargantuan Government
Unfortunately, Mr. Gardiner gives more than equal time for those who blame Maine’s failures not on government control, but a sick and poor population. Talk about blaming the victim! These folks also blame the fact that Maine has a single, dominant, health insurer – without recognizing the government policies that ...
On the Grinding Pace of the Health-Care Take-Over: A Historical Perspective
The 1965 amendments actually proved very easy to legislate, with over 70 percent majorities in both chambers. President Johnson signed the bill on July 30. No disruptive town-hall meetings or tea parties that August! Although I’m pleased that the 2009 bill is taking a lot longer, I must confess surprise. ...
PhRMA Is Shocked About GosHealth
The comedy highlight, of course, is the plaintive cry about “killing tens of thousands of jobs in our industry.” Did PhRMA believe that the $80 billion deal would have increased such employment? Did it not occur to them that the $80 billion inevitably would come to be an opening bid? ...
