Commentary
Commentary
Taxes bite into Health Savings Accounts
In an article full of left-handed compliments, the San Francisco Business Times noted that Kaiser Permanente, the mother of all HMOs, has 12 percent of its members in “deductible plans” at the end of 2008 (“New health for HSAs,” Jan. 16-22 issue). The traditional Kaiser Permanente deductible is zero. Of ...
California
How Federal Health “Reform” Will Devastate California’s Budget
Last June California politicians claimed to have “fixed” the budget but according to a November 18 report from the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) California now faces a budget deficit of $20.7 billion from the present until 2010-2011. Unfortunately, something’s coming down the pike that will make today’s budget shenanigans ...
Business & Economics
California Supreme Court Decision Quashes Innovation, Threatens Health, and Encourages Costly Lawsuit Abuse
Traditional tort law holds that manufacturers are responsible only for their own products, not those made by competitors. The California Supreme Court changed that in late January by declining to review Conte v. Wyeth, which leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version. This unprecedented ...
Agriculture
Bank Bailout Blues
Undeterred by the failure of the last injection of taxpayer dollars into a bloated banking system, our financial crusaders in DC are scratching their heads over the best way to flush another few hundred billion away. The latest scheme involves the creation of a “bad bank” that would purchase the ...
Commentary
Prevention pays in big ways: Longer, healthier lives
Guest Column A Register editorial last month called attention to an important Congressional Budget Office report on health-care reform proposals. The CBO report found that preventive care will not reduce health costs significantly. The report infers that, if people live longer, they may increase costs by receiving more in Medicare ...
Commentary
Stimulus no fix for health insurance
Orange County Register, February 9, 2009 The stimulus package has money for government health programs, but that’s not the way to make coverage more affordable Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger raised the ire of many in California by calling for $1.1 billion in cuts to Medi-Cal, the state health care program for ...
Business & Economics
Calif.’s Fertility Flap and the Future of Reproductive Tech
The news of octuplets born recently near Los Angeles shocked many people, especially since the mother, Nadya Suleman, apparently already had six children and is reported to be jobless and living with her parents. Such rare stories certainly sell newspapers, but they can also lead to knee-jerk calls for overly ...
Business & Economics
Obama Stimulus Not Necessary, as This Is No Great Depression
Milton Friedman had a rule: Increases or decreases in the money supply take six to nine months to alter economic output and as much as two years to move prices. As the Senate takes up the president’s stimulus package, the administration argues that, to avert another Great Depression, it is ...
Commentary
California Students Should be Free to Choose
Two years ago Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed January 29 Milton Friedman Day to honor the late Nobel laureate, his “intellectual hero,” whose Free to Choose book and documentary proved “life changing.” The governor and the legislature, unfortunately, have not allowed Milton Friedman’s ideas to change the lives of California parents ...
Commentary
Medical Tourism: Comparable to How Toyota, and Overseas Competition Changed U.S. Auto Industry
More people are engaging in medical tourism because of rising health care prices in the United States, said Greg Scandlen, director of Consumers for Health Care Choices at The Heartland Institute. “As more and more people have out-of-pocket responsibility, they’re looking around for the best deal, and out-of-country services are ...
Taxes bite into Health Savings Accounts
In an article full of left-handed compliments, the San Francisco Business Times noted that Kaiser Permanente, the mother of all HMOs, has 12 percent of its members in “deductible plans” at the end of 2008 (“New health for HSAs,” Jan. 16-22 issue). The traditional Kaiser Permanente deductible is zero. Of ...
How Federal Health “Reform” Will Devastate California’s Budget
Last June California politicians claimed to have “fixed” the budget but according to a November 18 report from the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) California now faces a budget deficit of $20.7 billion from the present until 2010-2011. Unfortunately, something’s coming down the pike that will make today’s budget shenanigans ...
California Supreme Court Decision Quashes Innovation, Threatens Health, and Encourages Costly Lawsuit Abuse
Traditional tort law holds that manufacturers are responsible only for their own products, not those made by competitors. The California Supreme Court changed that in late January by declining to review Conte v. Wyeth, which leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version. This unprecedented ...
Bank Bailout Blues
Undeterred by the failure of the last injection of taxpayer dollars into a bloated banking system, our financial crusaders in DC are scratching their heads over the best way to flush another few hundred billion away. The latest scheme involves the creation of a “bad bank” that would purchase the ...
Prevention pays in big ways: Longer, healthier lives
Guest Column A Register editorial last month called attention to an important Congressional Budget Office report on health-care reform proposals. The CBO report found that preventive care will not reduce health costs significantly. The report infers that, if people live longer, they may increase costs by receiving more in Medicare ...
Stimulus no fix for health insurance
Orange County Register, February 9, 2009 The stimulus package has money for government health programs, but that’s not the way to make coverage more affordable Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger raised the ire of many in California by calling for $1.1 billion in cuts to Medi-Cal, the state health care program for ...
Calif.’s Fertility Flap and the Future of Reproductive Tech
The news of octuplets born recently near Los Angeles shocked many people, especially since the mother, Nadya Suleman, apparently already had six children and is reported to be jobless and living with her parents. Such rare stories certainly sell newspapers, but they can also lead to knee-jerk calls for overly ...
Obama Stimulus Not Necessary, as This Is No Great Depression
Milton Friedman had a rule: Increases or decreases in the money supply take six to nine months to alter economic output and as much as two years to move prices. As the Senate takes up the president’s stimulus package, the administration argues that, to avert another Great Depression, it is ...
California Students Should be Free to Choose
Two years ago Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed January 29 Milton Friedman Day to honor the late Nobel laureate, his “intellectual hero,” whose Free to Choose book and documentary proved “life changing.” The governor and the legislature, unfortunately, have not allowed Milton Friedman’s ideas to change the lives of California parents ...
Medical Tourism: Comparable to How Toyota, and Overseas Competition Changed U.S. Auto Industry
More people are engaging in medical tourism because of rising health care prices in the United States, said Greg Scandlen, director of Consumers for Health Care Choices at The Heartland Institute. “As more and more people have out-of-pocket responsibility, they’re looking around for the best deal, and out-of-country services are ...
