Commentary
Commentary
Rick Perry: No Obamacare Exchange for Texas
This is very good news. States that establish Obamacare exchanges are making a one-way, lose-lose bet on Obamacare, as I’ve written before. Governor Jindal in Louisiana and Governor Deal in Georgia have also recently learned this. Our friends at the Heritage Foundation, who are most closely associated with exchanges, have ...
John R. Graham
March 31, 2011
Commentary
Repeal Obamacare’s 1099 Reporting Provision? No Way!
The 1099 provision refers to the justly reviled clause in Obamacare (section 9006) that compels any business spending at least $600 on a supplier to issue a 1099 to that supplier. So, if my consulting business buys $600 worth of office supplies from Staples, I’m supposed to issue Staples a ...
John R. Graham
March 31, 2011
Commentary
How Many Melanoma Patients Did the FDA Kill?
After an “expedited” analysis that lasted a year and a half, the FDA has finally approved Bristol-Myers Squibbs’ Yervoy (ipilimunab) for metastatic melanoma. The deadliest type of skin cancer, melanoma killed 8,700 Americans last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. BMS submitted its application to the FDA on August ...
John R. Graham
March 30, 2011
Business & Economics
Why Brown should strengthen state transparency laws
At a recent California community colleges board meeting, Gov. Jerry Brown said transparency is key to increasing voter trust in government and would help pass his tax-extension plan. He’s right, but national sunshine week slipped by without Brown proposing any reforms to strengthen state sunshine laws. Instead, he worked to ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
March 30, 2011
Commentary
Choice Foes, Including President Obama, Seek to Block DC Students from SOARing to Better Schools
Today the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act. Last month a strong bi-partisan coalition in Congress introduced the act reauthorizing the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, which bolsters a burgeoning movement for education choice nationwide. Powerful opponents of school choice, ...
Vicki E. Murray
March 30, 2011
Commentary
What Explains Sebelius’ Ignorance of Health Law?
As I’ve written about previously, most of the so-called consumer protections that she touts were actually legislated back in 1996. The 1996 law resulted in dramatic increase in federal regulation of health care, but no sigificant positive outcomes. But Secretary Sebelius won’t quit trafficking scare-stories about denial of coverage that ...
John R. Graham
March 29, 2011
Commentary
Piping Up: The Ulterior Motive Behind Rising ObamaCare Premiums
Last week, proponents of ObamaCare celebrated the one-year anniversary of the passage of the landmark health care law with several hundred events across the country. They have little reason to cheer, according to a sobering new study. In the report, former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin calculates that health ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 29, 2011
Commentary
A Mandate Is Not A Solution to Medical-Malpractice Crisis
First, Professor Avraham goes the way of many clever people who have a good idea, but become frustrated that society does not immediately adopt it: He proposes that the federal government mandate that physicians purchase (or license) appropriate guidelines from for-profit companies! If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Obamacare, ...
John R. Graham
March 29, 2011
Business & Economics
Deal with it: We’ll need oil, gas for decades
Oil prices climbed back over $100 per barrel last week. When news like this breaks, pundits and policy wonks on both sides of the political spectrum argue we should depend less on oil and natural gas. But nobody has a believable plan to get there because of economic realities. If ...
Lawrence J. McQuillan
March 28, 2011
Commentary
Price of compassion for cancer patients
There was a time in this country when European-style health care served as a cautionary tale. Today it is beginning to look like something to envy. Future generations wishing to identify the moment the shift took place should look to Dec. 16, 2010. That was the day the U.S. Food ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 28, 2011
Rick Perry: No Obamacare Exchange for Texas
This is very good news. States that establish Obamacare exchanges are making a one-way, lose-lose bet on Obamacare, as I’ve written before. Governor Jindal in Louisiana and Governor Deal in Georgia have also recently learned this. Our friends at the Heritage Foundation, who are most closely associated with exchanges, have ...
Repeal Obamacare’s 1099 Reporting Provision? No Way!
The 1099 provision refers to the justly reviled clause in Obamacare (section 9006) that compels any business spending at least $600 on a supplier to issue a 1099 to that supplier. So, if my consulting business buys $600 worth of office supplies from Staples, I’m supposed to issue Staples a ...
How Many Melanoma Patients Did the FDA Kill?
After an “expedited” analysis that lasted a year and a half, the FDA has finally approved Bristol-Myers Squibbs’ Yervoy (ipilimunab) for metastatic melanoma. The deadliest type of skin cancer, melanoma killed 8,700 Americans last year, according to the National Cancer Institute. BMS submitted its application to the FDA on August ...
Why Brown should strengthen state transparency laws
At a recent California community colleges board meeting, Gov. Jerry Brown said transparency is key to increasing voter trust in government and would help pass his tax-extension plan. He’s right, but national sunshine week slipped by without Brown proposing any reforms to strengthen state sunshine laws. Instead, he worked to ...
Choice Foes, Including President Obama, Seek to Block DC Students from SOARing to Better Schools
Today the U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act. Last month a strong bi-partisan coalition in Congress introduced the act reauthorizing the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program, which bolsters a burgeoning movement for education choice nationwide. Powerful opponents of school choice, ...
What Explains Sebelius’ Ignorance of Health Law?
As I’ve written about previously, most of the so-called consumer protections that she touts were actually legislated back in 1996. The 1996 law resulted in dramatic increase in federal regulation of health care, but no sigificant positive outcomes. But Secretary Sebelius won’t quit trafficking scare-stories about denial of coverage that ...
Piping Up: The Ulterior Motive Behind Rising ObamaCare Premiums
Last week, proponents of ObamaCare celebrated the one-year anniversary of the passage of the landmark health care law with several hundred events across the country. They have little reason to cheer, according to a sobering new study. In the report, former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin calculates that health ...
A Mandate Is Not A Solution to Medical-Malpractice Crisis
First, Professor Avraham goes the way of many clever people who have a good idea, but become frustrated that society does not immediately adopt it: He proposes that the federal government mandate that physicians purchase (or license) appropriate guidelines from for-profit companies! If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Obamacare, ...
Deal with it: We’ll need oil, gas for decades
Oil prices climbed back over $100 per barrel last week. When news like this breaks, pundits and policy wonks on both sides of the political spectrum argue we should depend less on oil and natural gas. But nobody has a believable plan to get there because of economic realities. If ...
Price of compassion for cancer patients
There was a time in this country when European-style health care served as a cautionary tale. Today it is beginning to look like something to envy. Future generations wishing to identify the moment the shift took place should look to Dec. 16, 2010. That was the day the U.S. Food ...