Commentary
Commentary
The End of Medical Miracles?
Scientific discoveries are neither inevitable nor predictable Americans have, at best, a love-hate relationship with the life-sciences industry—the term for the sector of the economy that produces pharmaceuticals, biologics (like vaccines), and medical devices. These days, the mere mention of a pharmaceutical manufacturer seems to elicit gut-level hostility. Journalists, operating ...
Commentary
Shut Down Google Docs, Advocacy Group Tells FTC
The Electronic Privacy Information Center is calling for a federal government investigation of Google’s privacy safeguards. The group is reacting to the accidental sharing of some users’ Google Docs information in March. The bug affected users who previously shared documents with other users. About .05 percent of all Google Docs ...
Commentary
Fewer Alaska Doctors Take New Medicare Patients
Health Care News (Heartland Institute), June 1, 2009 Fewer than 20 percent of physicians surveyed in Alaska’s largest city are accepting new patients covered by Medicare, according to a study by the University of Alaska-Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research. Only 38 percent of that total are in private ...
Commentary
Minnesota Lawmakers Propose More Control over Health Care
Minnesota legislators have announced several health care reform proposals they say will reduce health care spending by the state government to help lower the state’s looming budget deficit. The proposals include requiring patients to enroll in medical homes; ending state payment for medical errors; implementing a licensing and preferential treatment ...
Business & Economics
A Clarion Call for Expanding E-Commerce
America’s winemakers have won a victory for online wine sales in Kansas, but the legislative battle demonstrates the challenges that e-commerce, a key force for economic recovery, still faces from outdated thinking and entrenched political institutions. Signed into law in April, 2009, Kansas Senate Bill 212 allows direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine ...
Commentary
Obama’s Voucher Plan Isn’t Enough
In order to head off a public-relations catastrophe, Barack Obama has spun a partial about-face in his opposition to the school-choice voucher program for low-income students in Washington, DC. The president’s move, however, falls far short of truly saving the program and helping the legions of disadvantaged children in the ...
Commentary
Obama’s health reforms: Freddie Doc and Fannie Med
IN the battle over health reform, one issue has emerged as particularly divisive – the president’s proposed government health plan that would compete with private insurers. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer recently promised that such a program would be immune to perpetual taxpayer bailouts because he would ensure that it would ...
Commentary
Yes, I Do Have a Nerve
Well, I’m in the same boat. So, I’ll be happy to enter into a “compact” with Mr. Wright (and everybody else): if he’ll ask the government to return the share of my paycheck that it has taken for Medicare, which his parents use, then I’ll ask the government to return ...
Commentary
When politics rules medicine
Government rationing of medical services reality in some states WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress move to provide government-controlled health care on a national level, similar experiments in some states suggest medical care can take a backseat to politics and bureaucratic red tape – resulting in ...
Commentary
Giving Failure a Pass
SACRAMENTO – The Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest in California, spends $10 million a year to “house,” with full pay and benefits, about 160 teachers deemed unsuitable for the classroom, according to “Failure Gets a Pass,” a recent series in the Los Angeles Times. “If I had my ...
The End of Medical Miracles?
Scientific discoveries are neither inevitable nor predictable Americans have, at best, a love-hate relationship with the life-sciences industry—the term for the sector of the economy that produces pharmaceuticals, biologics (like vaccines), and medical devices. These days, the mere mention of a pharmaceutical manufacturer seems to elicit gut-level hostility. Journalists, operating ...
Shut Down Google Docs, Advocacy Group Tells FTC
The Electronic Privacy Information Center is calling for a federal government investigation of Google’s privacy safeguards. The group is reacting to the accidental sharing of some users’ Google Docs information in March. The bug affected users who previously shared documents with other users. About .05 percent of all Google Docs ...
Fewer Alaska Doctors Take New Medicare Patients
Health Care News (Heartland Institute), June 1, 2009 Fewer than 20 percent of physicians surveyed in Alaska’s largest city are accepting new patients covered by Medicare, according to a study by the University of Alaska-Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research. Only 38 percent of that total are in private ...
Minnesota Lawmakers Propose More Control over Health Care
Minnesota legislators have announced several health care reform proposals they say will reduce health care spending by the state government to help lower the state’s looming budget deficit. The proposals include requiring patients to enroll in medical homes; ending state payment for medical errors; implementing a licensing and preferential treatment ...
A Clarion Call for Expanding E-Commerce
America’s winemakers have won a victory for online wine sales in Kansas, but the legislative battle demonstrates the challenges that e-commerce, a key force for economic recovery, still faces from outdated thinking and entrenched political institutions. Signed into law in April, 2009, Kansas Senate Bill 212 allows direct-to-consumer (DTC) wine ...
Obama’s Voucher Plan Isn’t Enough
In order to head off a public-relations catastrophe, Barack Obama has spun a partial about-face in his opposition to the school-choice voucher program for low-income students in Washington, DC. The president’s move, however, falls far short of truly saving the program and helping the legions of disadvantaged children in the ...
Obama’s health reforms: Freddie Doc and Fannie Med
IN the battle over health reform, one issue has emerged as particularly divisive – the president’s proposed government health plan that would compete with private insurers. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer recently promised that such a program would be immune to perpetual taxpayer bailouts because he would ensure that it would ...
Yes, I Do Have a Nerve
Well, I’m in the same boat. So, I’ll be happy to enter into a “compact” with Mr. Wright (and everybody else): if he’ll ask the government to return the share of my paycheck that it has taken for Medicare, which his parents use, then I’ll ask the government to return ...
When politics rules medicine
Government rationing of medical services reality in some states WASHINGTON – As the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress move to provide government-controlled health care on a national level, similar experiments in some states suggest medical care can take a backseat to politics and bureaucratic red tape – resulting in ...
Giving Failure a Pass
SACRAMENTO – The Los Angeles Unified School District, the largest in California, spends $10 million a year to “house,” with full pay and benefits, about 160 teachers deemed unsuitable for the classroom, according to “Failure Gets a Pass,” a recent series in the Los Angeles Times. “If I had my ...
