Commentary
Climate Change
Fund coronavirus research, not a climate change musical
I’ve been a science nerd almost all my life. In graduate school, I was the co-discoverer of a bacterial enzyme essential to DNA replication and of a key enzyme in the influenza virus. I have written more than a thousand articles concerned with science and science policy. I’m convinced that America’s prosperity is based on post-WWII ...
Commentary
‘Rescue’ package makes poor pay for rich’s health care
President Joe Biden recently signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law. With a stroke of his pen, he claimed to put “working people in this nation first. It’s not hyperbole; it’s a fact.” A closer look at this so-called “rescue” package suggests otherwise. Democrats tucked two provisions into the law ...
California
Green Jobs Demonstrate The Perils Of Government-Directed Economic Growth
Part of President Biden’s Build Back Better initiative promises to “create good-paying union jobs and train Americans for jobs of the future.” The unspoken theory behind this initiative is that green jobs will offer a pay premium to workers compared to jobs in the fossil fuel industry. It also reflects the Administration’s ...
Commentary
President Biden’s Weak Vaccination Incentives Hurt Americans
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recently expressed a sense of “impending doom” regarding the pandemic. Her fear is that, unless Americans keep abiding by strict Covid-19 protocols like mask-wearing, social distancing, and forgoing travel, a new surge in cases and deaths could be on ...
Commentary
Hospitals shouldn’t be the gatekeepers of healthcare prices
It’s been more than three months since the federal government ordered hospitals to make like the rest of the economy and start publishing their prices. But nearly two-thirds of the country’s largest hospitals are refusing to do so, according to Health Affairs analysis. That’s absurd. Price transparency is fundamental to the efficient ...
Commentary
What the Public Gets Wrong About the Public Option
Nearly seven in 10 voters, including more than half of Republicans, support a public health insurance option, according to new polling from Morning Consult. Medicare for All is less popular. Some 55 percent of voters embrace the idea. Americans might see the public option as a moderate alternative to the explicit government takeover of ...
Commentary
Conservatives Have Healthcare Ideas, Too
Democrats are pushing ahead with their healthcare agenda. In the last few weeks, progressive lawmakers have introduced a new Medicare for All bill, proposed legislation that would implement a public option, and poured billions of dollars into expanding Obamacare subsidies. The press is wondering how Republicans will respond. Last month, ...
Commentary
Let health care workers treat patients in any state
Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., recently introduced legislation that would allow licensed medical professionals to provide treatment in any state through the remainder of the pandemic. That’s a good idea. But its existence sheds light on a bigger problem within our health care system. Even under normal ...
Commentary
Medicare-X deserves a third strike
Some ideas never die. Such is the case with the Medicare-X Choice Act, a bill just reintroduced by Sens. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, and Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat. The measure would create a public health insurance plan that would eventually be open to all Americans. It’s the third time the ...
Commentary
Obamacare’s 11th Anniversary Is Nothing to Celebrate
Yesterday, President Biden commemorated the 11th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. But Americans who want affordable health insurance have little to celebrate. In Obamacare’s first decade, premiums and deductibles have skyrocketed while provider networks have shrunk. Exchange policies routinely do not cover best-in-class doctors or hospitals. And the law’s costs have ...
Fund coronavirus research, not a climate change musical
I’ve been a science nerd almost all my life. In graduate school, I was the co-discoverer of a bacterial enzyme essential to DNA replication and of a key enzyme in the influenza virus. I have written more than a thousand articles concerned with science and science policy. I’m convinced that America’s prosperity is based on post-WWII ...
‘Rescue’ package makes poor pay for rich’s health care
President Joe Biden recently signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law. With a stroke of his pen, he claimed to put “working people in this nation first. It’s not hyperbole; it’s a fact.” A closer look at this so-called “rescue” package suggests otherwise. Democrats tucked two provisions into the law ...
Green Jobs Demonstrate The Perils Of Government-Directed Economic Growth
Part of President Biden’s Build Back Better initiative promises to “create good-paying union jobs and train Americans for jobs of the future.” The unspoken theory behind this initiative is that green jobs will offer a pay premium to workers compared to jobs in the fossil fuel industry. It also reflects the Administration’s ...
President Biden’s Weak Vaccination Incentives Hurt Americans
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recently expressed a sense of “impending doom” regarding the pandemic. Her fear is that, unless Americans keep abiding by strict Covid-19 protocols like mask-wearing, social distancing, and forgoing travel, a new surge in cases and deaths could be on ...
Hospitals shouldn’t be the gatekeepers of healthcare prices
It’s been more than three months since the federal government ordered hospitals to make like the rest of the economy and start publishing their prices. But nearly two-thirds of the country’s largest hospitals are refusing to do so, according to Health Affairs analysis. That’s absurd. Price transparency is fundamental to the efficient ...
What the Public Gets Wrong About the Public Option
Nearly seven in 10 voters, including more than half of Republicans, support a public health insurance option, according to new polling from Morning Consult. Medicare for All is less popular. Some 55 percent of voters embrace the idea. Americans might see the public option as a moderate alternative to the explicit government takeover of ...
Conservatives Have Healthcare Ideas, Too
Democrats are pushing ahead with their healthcare agenda. In the last few weeks, progressive lawmakers have introduced a new Medicare for All bill, proposed legislation that would implement a public option, and poured billions of dollars into expanding Obamacare subsidies. The press is wondering how Republicans will respond. Last month, ...
Let health care workers treat patients in any state
Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., recently introduced legislation that would allow licensed medical professionals to provide treatment in any state through the remainder of the pandemic. That’s a good idea. But its existence sheds light on a bigger problem within our health care system. Even under normal ...
Medicare-X deserves a third strike
Some ideas never die. Such is the case with the Medicare-X Choice Act, a bill just reintroduced by Sens. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, and Michael Bennet, Colorado Democrat. The measure would create a public health insurance plan that would eventually be open to all Americans. It’s the third time the ...
Obamacare’s 11th Anniversary Is Nothing to Celebrate
Yesterday, President Biden commemorated the 11th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. But Americans who want affordable health insurance have little to celebrate. In Obamacare’s first decade, premiums and deductibles have skyrocketed while provider networks have shrunk. Exchange policies routinely do not cover best-in-class doctors or hospitals. And the law’s costs have ...
