Commentary
Commentary
Ten Things to Look for in Health Care Reform
Disguised as “reform,” numerous health care proposals are finding support. The result is a mishmash of plans that do little to improve access, quality or cost. There are at least 10 criteria that provide a foundation for reform. Fifty percent of the nation’s health care costs are attributable to lifestyle, ...
Commentary
New Rule: Back Up Your Health-Insurance Horror Story
Health insurers are covered by HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act, and cannot discuss policyholders’ cases. Policyholders who allege insurers’ bad faith, on the other hand, are free to make claims that emotionally sway the public, but leave those of us acquainted with health-insurance regulations utterly baffled. Take, ...
Business & Economics
Budget fixes, no; blueberries, yes
SACRAMENTO – Elected officials would have us believe that the world would not go around if they weren’t busy addressing the “big” issues in city councils and state legislatures. But, in reality, most of what elected officials do ranges from the nonsensical to the malevolent. How many readers believe that ...
Business & Economics
Ending drugmakers’ exemption will cost jobs
During the past 10 years, Michigan has had a declining population, a shrinking job market, and the worst personal income growth of any state. Now Michigan stands to lose even more jobs in one of the state’s remaining robust sectors. The biopharmaceutical industry currently employs more than 100,000 Michiganders and ...
Commentary
AHIP/PriceWaterhouse Blowback?
All intellectual capitalists since Adam Smith have known that we cannot rely on business to carry our philosophical water for us, but even I’m amazed that AHIP has waited so long to release a report (so ably summarized by Mr. Capretta), that describes how the Baucus memorandum (it’s not a ...
Commentary
Obama Hasn’t Closed the Health-Care Sale
Wait until the voters figure out how Congress is proposing to pay for reform. Now that the Senate Finance Committee has voted for the health-care bill drafted by Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, negotiations over the real bill can begin in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s cozy Capitol hideaway. It ...
Commentary
New Obama healthcare plan relies on imaginary savings, costs $2 trillion, explodes budget deficits
Health-care “reform” always costs more than predicted, as ObamaCare provisions have at the state level. So the claim that the new, cheaper version of Obama’s healthcare plan will cost only $829 billion, while not increasing the deficit, should be taken with a grain of salt. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ...
Commentary
How to Improve National Math Scores
The New York Times – Room for Debate Blog, October 15, 2009 Only 39 percent of fourth graders and 34 percent of eighth graders scored at or above the proficient level on the nationwide math test given this spring. With little improvement over the past six years, it’s seems unlikely ...
Commentary
They Just Don’t Learn
First they started cutting “deals” with the Beltway thieves, arrangements that from the very beginning were obviously unenforceable and that powerful interests had every incentive to violate. (See my earlier comments about that expedition to the galaxy Stupid here, here, and here.) And the hits just keep on comin’. PR ...
Commentary
Education Reform is Everyone’s Problem
The National Education Association wants to reform hiring practices to help move highly qualified teachers into the classrooms of troubled schools. This is a laudable effort, but the problems in America’s public schools extend far beyond poor areas. Indeed, many middle-class schools are failing to educate their students. The NEA ...
Ten Things to Look for in Health Care Reform
Disguised as “reform,” numerous health care proposals are finding support. The result is a mishmash of plans that do little to improve access, quality or cost. There are at least 10 criteria that provide a foundation for reform. Fifty percent of the nation’s health care costs are attributable to lifestyle, ...
New Rule: Back Up Your Health-Insurance Horror Story
Health insurers are covered by HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act, and cannot discuss policyholders’ cases. Policyholders who allege insurers’ bad faith, on the other hand, are free to make claims that emotionally sway the public, but leave those of us acquainted with health-insurance regulations utterly baffled. Take, ...
Budget fixes, no; blueberries, yes
SACRAMENTO – Elected officials would have us believe that the world would not go around if they weren’t busy addressing the “big” issues in city councils and state legislatures. But, in reality, most of what elected officials do ranges from the nonsensical to the malevolent. How many readers believe that ...
Ending drugmakers’ exemption will cost jobs
During the past 10 years, Michigan has had a declining population, a shrinking job market, and the worst personal income growth of any state. Now Michigan stands to lose even more jobs in one of the state’s remaining robust sectors. The biopharmaceutical industry currently employs more than 100,000 Michiganders and ...
AHIP/PriceWaterhouse Blowback?
All intellectual capitalists since Adam Smith have known that we cannot rely on business to carry our philosophical water for us, but even I’m amazed that AHIP has waited so long to release a report (so ably summarized by Mr. Capretta), that describes how the Baucus memorandum (it’s not a ...
Obama Hasn’t Closed the Health-Care Sale
Wait until the voters figure out how Congress is proposing to pay for reform. Now that the Senate Finance Committee has voted for the health-care bill drafted by Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, negotiations over the real bill can begin in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s cozy Capitol hideaway. It ...
New Obama healthcare plan relies on imaginary savings, costs $2 trillion, explodes budget deficits
Health-care “reform” always costs more than predicted, as ObamaCare provisions have at the state level. So the claim that the new, cheaper version of Obama’s healthcare plan will cost only $829 billion, while not increasing the deficit, should be taken with a grain of salt. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid ...
How to Improve National Math Scores
The New York Times – Room for Debate Blog, October 15, 2009 Only 39 percent of fourth graders and 34 percent of eighth graders scored at or above the proficient level on the nationwide math test given this spring. With little improvement over the past six years, it’s seems unlikely ...
They Just Don’t Learn
First they started cutting “deals” with the Beltway thieves, arrangements that from the very beginning were obviously unenforceable and that powerful interests had every incentive to violate. (See my earlier comments about that expedition to the galaxy Stupid here, here, and here.) And the hits just keep on comin’. PR ...
Education Reform is Everyone’s Problem
The National Education Association wants to reform hiring practices to help move highly qualified teachers into the classrooms of troubled schools. This is a laudable effort, but the problems in America’s public schools extend far beyond poor areas. Indeed, many middle-class schools are failing to educate their students. The NEA ...
