Health Care
Commentary
California Can Look Forward to Socialized Medicine If Single-Payer Returns
It’s been five years since California Democrats tried and failed to bring socialized medicine to the Golden State. But with the new year comes a renewed attempt to abolish private health insurance and force all of the state’s 39 million residents into a new government-run plan. AB 1400 passed the state Assembly’s ...
Featured
The Fundamental Flaws of the Third-Party Payer System
Part 1 of the Coverage Denied series documented how distortions in the U.S. healthcare system turned the important financial risk management service of health insurance into a barrier to care and an important driver of health care inflation. The insurance industry’s adverse impact on costs is ironic given its current ...
Commentary
Some hospitals are charging 2 or 3 times more than the one next door
Imagine you’re a mom-to-be from Roxbury Township, looking to schedule a cesarean section. You’re halfway between Morristown Medical Center and Newton Medical Center. The listed price at Morristown — the top-ranked hospital in the state — is $24,927. At Newton, it’s nearly three times as much — $66,091. Price discrepancies like these are ...
Blog
Hospital Emergency Rooms Are Not Covid-19 Testing Centers
A few days ago, I called my pediatrician to set appointments for my children. One child needed to be seen for a potential UTI, the infant needed the next round of standard vaccinations. However, because one child had symptoms related to Covid-19 (a stuffy nose) the pediatrician would not set ...
Commentary
The Feds Continue to Fail Their Covid-19 Test
Americans who have COVID-19 but lack symptoms should only isolate for five days, according to new guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week. That’s a significant improvement over the agency’s previous recommendation of 10 days. The revised guidelines have sparked fierce debate because the CDC included no directive that ...
Commentary
What cereal can teach us about the generic drug market
Imagine you’re walking the aisles of your local supermarket, on the hunt for your favorite cereal. You usually purchase the generic version, since it tastes nearly the same and is much cheaper than the name-brand version. But today, you notice that the price of the name-brand cereal is just a ...
Commentary
Democrats Stumble Over Their Shady BBB Gimmicks
Last week, on Dec. 19 specifically, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced that he would not support the current iteration of the Build Back Better Act. His decision calls the future of the $1.75 trillion spending package into serious question. For this, Democrats have only themselves to blame. After all, Manchin’s demands ...
Commentary
The FDA needs reform. Biden’s nominee is not the person to do it
By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and Jeff Stier When President Joe Biden nominated Obama-era Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf to return to his old post, he made what is widely seen as a safe, if uninspired, choice. Califf is a distinguished cardiologist and clinical trial specialist, ...
Commentary
Expanding telehealth access is a lifesaver for vulnerable patients
It’s hard to find a silver lining in a pandemic. But COVID-19 has convinced the medical and policymaking establishments, perhaps unwittingly, that high-quality care can be delivered remotely. The telehealth revolution is upon us. Lawmakers waived numerous arcane and outdated regulations governing the use of telemedicine to make the service ...
Commentary
A Disastrous Year In Federal Healthcare Spending
For current and future taxpayers, 2021 was a brutal year—at least when it comes to healthcare spending. Congress and the Biden administration approved tens of billions in new expenditures. Much of that money was, or will be, wasted on inefficient programs and subsidies that do little to improve the quality ...
California Can Look Forward to Socialized Medicine If Single-Payer Returns
It’s been five years since California Democrats tried and failed to bring socialized medicine to the Golden State. But with the new year comes a renewed attempt to abolish private health insurance and force all of the state’s 39 million residents into a new government-run plan. AB 1400 passed the state Assembly’s ...
The Fundamental Flaws of the Third-Party Payer System
Part 1 of the Coverage Denied series documented how distortions in the U.S. healthcare system turned the important financial risk management service of health insurance into a barrier to care and an important driver of health care inflation. The insurance industry’s adverse impact on costs is ironic given its current ...
Some hospitals are charging 2 or 3 times more than the one next door
Imagine you’re a mom-to-be from Roxbury Township, looking to schedule a cesarean section. You’re halfway between Morristown Medical Center and Newton Medical Center. The listed price at Morristown — the top-ranked hospital in the state — is $24,927. At Newton, it’s nearly three times as much — $66,091. Price discrepancies like these are ...
Hospital Emergency Rooms Are Not Covid-19 Testing Centers
A few days ago, I called my pediatrician to set appointments for my children. One child needed to be seen for a potential UTI, the infant needed the next round of standard vaccinations. However, because one child had symptoms related to Covid-19 (a stuffy nose) the pediatrician would not set ...
The Feds Continue to Fail Their Covid-19 Test
Americans who have COVID-19 but lack symptoms should only isolate for five days, according to new guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week. That’s a significant improvement over the agency’s previous recommendation of 10 days. The revised guidelines have sparked fierce debate because the CDC included no directive that ...
What cereal can teach us about the generic drug market
Imagine you’re walking the aisles of your local supermarket, on the hunt for your favorite cereal. You usually purchase the generic version, since it tastes nearly the same and is much cheaper than the name-brand version. But today, you notice that the price of the name-brand cereal is just a ...
Democrats Stumble Over Their Shady BBB Gimmicks
Last week, on Dec. 19 specifically, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., announced that he would not support the current iteration of the Build Back Better Act. His decision calls the future of the $1.75 trillion spending package into serious question. For this, Democrats have only themselves to blame. After all, Manchin’s demands ...
The FDA needs reform. Biden’s nominee is not the person to do it
By Henry I. Miller, M.S., M.D. and Jeff Stier When President Joe Biden nominated Obama-era Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf to return to his old post, he made what is widely seen as a safe, if uninspired, choice. Califf is a distinguished cardiologist and clinical trial specialist, ...
Expanding telehealth access is a lifesaver for vulnerable patients
It’s hard to find a silver lining in a pandemic. But COVID-19 has convinced the medical and policymaking establishments, perhaps unwittingly, that high-quality care can be delivered remotely. The telehealth revolution is upon us. Lawmakers waived numerous arcane and outdated regulations governing the use of telemedicine to make the service ...
A Disastrous Year In Federal Healthcare Spending
For current and future taxpayers, 2021 was a brutal year—at least when it comes to healthcare spending. Congress and the Biden administration approved tens of billions in new expenditures. Much of that money was, or will be, wasted on inefficient programs and subsidies that do little to improve the quality ...
