Commentary
Commentary
Congress Has A Big Chance To Investigate A Financial Threat To Patients
Following an enormous cyberattack on a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, the Senate Finance Committee has called the company’s CEO, Andrew Witty, to testify on April 30th. The hackers stole millions of medical records, which reflects badly on the company’s ability to protect patients. But while members of Congress are grilling Witty about the ...
Business & Economics
Read on the FTC's harmful regulatory overreach
Proposed Oil Mergers Will Improve Competition
Under Chairperson Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has consistently used speculative consumer harms to justify regulatory actions. Unfortunately, these actions often stop mergers that would have improved consumer wellbeing and promoted greater innovation. Making these regulatory actions worse, the agency has too often used dubious justifications and novel theories, even overruling their ...
Commentary
Why turn off lights for Earth Day when California is already growing dark?
Earth Day 2024 is today and Californians are being encouraged to turn off their lights. For now, it would be a voluntary exercise in futility. In a few years, though, maybe even this summer, the lights will go out on their own, as the grid becomes shakier while the state ...
Commentary
Medicare Is in Serious Need of Reform. Biden’s Budget Plan Won’t Cut It.
President Joe Biden recently unveiled his $7.3 trillion budget proposal for next fiscal year. He has pitched his plan as one that would “preserve Medicare benefits and the Medicare trust fund.” It’s a nice soundbite. But it’s not the whole story. The president’s budget would raise taxes without solving Medicare’s ...
Commentary
Eliminate regs that drive doctor shortage
Doctor’s appointments will be hard to come by over the next decade, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. By 2036, the organization estimates that the United States will be short as many as 86,000 physicians. This is a shortage of not just doctors but medical ...
Commentary
Read the latest on California's approach to homelessness
Prop 1 promises more of the same for California’s homeless
Leading up to the March 5 primary, Gov. Gavin Newsom appealed to voters by insisting that Proposition 1 is a just reward for veterans, who “have given everything for our freedom often at extraordinary cost to themselves.” It’s not an unpersuasive argument. It was, however, a cheap, emotional ploy. The ...
Commentary
Read the latest on prescription drug pricing
Biden, Sanders Took on ‘Big Pharma’ and Patients Lost
Speaking at a White House event with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., very recently, President Biden crowed about his rapidly progressing scheme to impose price controls on prescription drugs. “Finally — finally we beat Big Pharma,” he said to Sanders. Unfortunately for Americans — and indeed, patients everywhere — the Democrats’ assault on the drug industry ...
Business & Economics
Read the latest asset regulation proposal
The FDIC’s Ill-Advised Regulatory Grab
Board members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are aptly demonstrating Einstein’s maxim that “bureaucracy is the death of all sound work”. In this case, the board is considering an expansion of the FDIC’s regulatory reach that would impose more costs on asset managers and the millions of Americans ...
Commentary
Read about healthcare on the presidential campaign trail
Biden And Harris Are Wrong About Healthcare “Rights”
Speaking to supporters in North Carolina late last month, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “We here agree that access to healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.” President Biden picked up the thread when he joined Harris on stage, saying he envisioned “a future ...
Commentary
Read the latest on drug pricing
Cost-Based Pricing For Innovative Medicines Is Unviable And Harmful
Barber et al. just published a fundamentally flawed study on diabetes medicines in JAMA Network Open (JNO). This study wrongly suggests that cost-based pricing accurately values innovative on-patent medicines, distracts from serious policymaking, and fuels political grandstanding by politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders. Cost-based pricing could be an economically viable pricing ...
Congress Has A Big Chance To Investigate A Financial Threat To Patients
Following an enormous cyberattack on a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, the Senate Finance Committee has called the company’s CEO, Andrew Witty, to testify on April 30th. The hackers stole millions of medical records, which reflects badly on the company’s ability to protect patients. But while members of Congress are grilling Witty about the ...
Read on the FTC's harmful regulatory overreach
Proposed Oil Mergers Will Improve Competition
Under Chairperson Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has consistently used speculative consumer harms to justify regulatory actions. Unfortunately, these actions often stop mergers that would have improved consumer wellbeing and promoted greater innovation. Making these regulatory actions worse, the agency has too often used dubious justifications and novel theories, even overruling their ...
Why turn off lights for Earth Day when California is already growing dark?
Earth Day 2024 is today and Californians are being encouraged to turn off their lights. For now, it would be a voluntary exercise in futility. In a few years, though, maybe even this summer, the lights will go out on their own, as the grid becomes shakier while the state ...
Medicare Is in Serious Need of Reform. Biden’s Budget Plan Won’t Cut It.
President Joe Biden recently unveiled his $7.3 trillion budget proposal for next fiscal year. He has pitched his plan as one that would “preserve Medicare benefits and the Medicare trust fund.” It’s a nice soundbite. But it’s not the whole story. The president’s budget would raise taxes without solving Medicare’s ...
Eliminate regs that drive doctor shortage
Doctor’s appointments will be hard to come by over the next decade, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. By 2036, the organization estimates that the United States will be short as many as 86,000 physicians. This is a shortage of not just doctors but medical ...
Read the latest on California's approach to homelessness
Prop 1 promises more of the same for California’s homeless
Leading up to the March 5 primary, Gov. Gavin Newsom appealed to voters by insisting that Proposition 1 is a just reward for veterans, who “have given everything for our freedom often at extraordinary cost to themselves.” It’s not an unpersuasive argument. It was, however, a cheap, emotional ploy. The ...
Read the latest on prescription drug pricing
Biden, Sanders Took on ‘Big Pharma’ and Patients Lost
Speaking at a White House event with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., very recently, President Biden crowed about his rapidly progressing scheme to impose price controls on prescription drugs. “Finally — finally we beat Big Pharma,” he said to Sanders. Unfortunately for Americans — and indeed, patients everywhere — the Democrats’ assault on the drug industry ...
Read the latest asset regulation proposal
The FDIC’s Ill-Advised Regulatory Grab
Board members of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) are aptly demonstrating Einstein’s maxim that “bureaucracy is the death of all sound work”. In this case, the board is considering an expansion of the FDIC’s regulatory reach that would impose more costs on asset managers and the millions of Americans ...
Read about healthcare on the presidential campaign trail
Biden And Harris Are Wrong About Healthcare “Rights”
Speaking to supporters in North Carolina late last month, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “We here agree that access to healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.” President Biden picked up the thread when he joined Harris on stage, saying he envisioned “a future ...
Read the latest on drug pricing
Cost-Based Pricing For Innovative Medicines Is Unviable And Harmful
Barber et al. just published a fundamentally flawed study on diabetes medicines in JAMA Network Open (JNO). This study wrongly suggests that cost-based pricing accurately values innovative on-patent medicines, distracts from serious policymaking, and fuels political grandstanding by politicians such as Senator Bernie Sanders. Cost-based pricing could be an economically viable pricing ...
