Health Care
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
Don’t change formula for needed drugs
A report from the nation’s leading cancer organizations revealed that America’s cancer death rate is dropping. And for the first time in the 10-year history of the report, the rate of cancer incidence is dropping as well. Thanks to lifestyle improvements, prevention programs and new treatment options, the United States ...
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 ...
Business & Economics
State Stem Cell Institute Short on Responsibility – and Results
Last month, California’s Little Hoover Commission, a public watchdog agency, completed its first hearing on the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). The proceedings flagged problems of governance and responsibility with the state’s stem-cell institute. At the same time, a medical breakthrough in Europe points out the shortfall in CIRM ...
Commentary
Consensus Of Whom?
Socialized Medicine: “Consensus” has become one of the scariest words in America. It means officials have reached agreement on how to fleece the public. And it’s being used in the same breath as “universal health care.” “Consensus emerging on universal health care,” screamed the headline of the Web version of ...
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
Rhode Island Seeks Caps on Medicaid, Will Shift Costs to Emergency Room Patients
In response to an ongoing state budget crisis, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri (R) has requested the federal government relax its strict Medicaid regulations in exchange for caps on state spending and federal contributions to the program. The state’s plan is to cap Medicaid spending at 23 percent of the ...
Commentary
San Francisco Employer Mandate Can Go Forward, Circuit Court Rules
San Francisco’s “pay-or-play” health care mandate will be allowed to continue operating following a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decreeing the program does not violate federal law governing employee benefit plans. The controversial program, known as Healthy San Francisco, requires every business in San Francisco County ...
Commentary
Government Care Isn’t Promising
Health care reform proposals generally fall into two camps: Those that rely on government to expand access and hold prices down, and those that rely on market competition to lower prices and expand consumer choice. Proponents of government-heavy reform believe that because the health care problem itself is massive and ...
Commentary
Medicare Benefits Fall Short of Employer-Provided Health Care Plans
Employer-provided health plans provide more generous benefits to seniors than Medicare does, according to an analysis conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Lincolnshire, Illinois-based Hewitt Associates. The study compared the traditional fee-for-service Medicare benefit package, including the prescription drug benefit, with typical large employer-provided health plans. The study found ...
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 ...
Don’t change formula for needed drugs
A report from the nation’s leading cancer organizations revealed that America’s cancer death rate is dropping. And for the first time in the 10-year history of the report, the rate of cancer incidence is dropping as well. Thanks to lifestyle improvements, prevention programs and new treatment options, the United States ...
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 ...
State Stem Cell Institute Short on Responsibility – and Results
Last month, California’s Little Hoover Commission, a public watchdog agency, completed its first hearing on the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). The proceedings flagged problems of governance and responsibility with the state’s stem-cell institute. At the same time, a medical breakthrough in Europe points out the shortfall in CIRM ...
Consensus Of Whom?
Socialized Medicine: “Consensus” has become one of the scariest words in America. It means officials have reached agreement on how to fleece the public. And it’s being used in the same breath as “universal health care.” “Consensus emerging on universal health care,” screamed the headline of the Web version of ...
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 ...
Rhode Island Seeks Caps on Medicaid, Will Shift Costs to Emergency Room Patients
In response to an ongoing state budget crisis, Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri (R) has requested the federal government relax its strict Medicaid regulations in exchange for caps on state spending and federal contributions to the program. The state’s plan is to cap Medicaid spending at 23 percent of the ...
San Francisco Employer Mandate Can Go Forward, Circuit Court Rules
San Francisco’s “pay-or-play” health care mandate will be allowed to continue operating following a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decreeing the program does not violate federal law governing employee benefit plans. The controversial program, known as Healthy San Francisco, requires every business in San Francisco County ...
Government Care Isn’t Promising
Health care reform proposals generally fall into two camps: Those that rely on government to expand access and hold prices down, and those that rely on market competition to lower prices and expand consumer choice. Proponents of government-heavy reform believe that because the health care problem itself is massive and ...
Medicare Benefits Fall Short of Employer-Provided Health Care Plans
Employer-provided health plans provide more generous benefits to seniors than Medicare does, according to an analysis conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Lincolnshire, Illinois-based Hewitt Associates. The study compared the traditional fee-for-service Medicare benefit package, including the prescription drug benefit, with typical large employer-provided health plans. The study found ...
