Commentary
Climate Change
The Unintended Consequences Of ESG Activism
As of the end of 2019, Blackrock (the largest asset manager in the world) held $7.4 trillion in assets. To put this in perspective, relative to the $90 trillion value of the global stock markets, Blackrock’s holdings equaled 8 percent of the total value. Given its size, it was inevitable that ...
Wayne Winegarden
May 18, 2020
Commentary
Anti-Science Precautionary Principle Jeopardizes Health, Safety, And Risks Innovation
Medical innovations do not happen overnight. Whether it is gene therapies, new vaccines, or cutting-edge medical equipment, developing innovative medical products is a risky venture. It also takes time, lots of financial resources, and most importantly, human ingenuity. Developing new drugs, for instance, can take between 10 and 15 years. ...
Wayne Winegarden
May 15, 2020
Commentary
Sally Pipes: COVID-19 Makes Employer-Based Coverage Indefensible
Americans rendered jobless by COVID-19 have lost more than just their incomes. An estimated 12.7 million people have also lost their employer-provided health coverage since the beginning of the pandemic. The crisis has driven home the imprudence of tying health insurance to employment. Our system not only makes coverage precarious but also ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 12, 2020
Agriculture
Flummoxed Feds Freeze Out Frost Fix
Courtesy of the polar vortex, unseasonably cold temperatures came to a broad swath of the country, from Texas to Maine, last week, causing frost damage to crops and ornamental plants. (And snow in New York City’s Central Park on May 9). Cherry and other fruit trees are particularly susceptible, and losses ...
Henry Miller, M.S., M.D.
May 12, 2020
Charter Schools
Charters Are Pivoting to Online Education Better than Traditional Schools
With conventional schools shut down because of COVID-19, school officials are scrambling to provide students with education services through the use of online-learning tools. However, some types of schools are having greater success in transitioning to online education, and often those schools are charter schools. First, it is noteworthy that ...
Lance Izumi
May 11, 2020
Commentary
ICER’s Cost Model Is Not Only Wrong It’s Also Dangerous
There they go again. In the midst of the race for an effective COVID-19 treatment the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has performed an incomplete analysis of remdesivir in order to produce a cost estimate that is, by definition, precisely wrong. Remdesivir, produced by Gilead Sciences Inc., is ...
Wayne Winegarden
May 11, 2020
Commentary
Coronavirus causes financial crisis for hospitals and doctors – Patients lose vital care
While many heroic doctors, nurses and other health care professionals are working long hours and risking their lives to treat COVID-19 patients, others have seen their workloads and hospital occupancy rates drop dramatically as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This has created a financial crisis and endangered public health. ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 11, 2020
Commentary
The Savings Potential Of Biosimilars Is More Urgent Than Ever
It was not long ago that the economy’s rising tide was supporting state budgets across the country. As the Pew Charitable Trusts noted, widespread economic prosperity was supporting tax revenue growth and creating budget surpluses. When times are good, saving money is not always a priority in state capitols. But, times are ...
Wayne Winegarden
May 7, 2020
California
Universal Basic Income — Just Another Welfare Program That Will Fail
Earlier this year, a universal basic income bill was introduced in the California Assembly. Should it become law, every resident 18 and over would receive $1,000 a month from the public fisc. Now U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is talking about including a guaranteed minimum income in the next round of coronavirus ...
Kerry Jackson
May 5, 2020
Commentary
In war on coronavirus, we need more foreign doctors practicing in US
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, New Jersey has begun issuing temporary emergency licenses to doctors licensed in other countries. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy called the new policy “entirely fitting” for the state, which has the second-most cases of COVID-19 and the second-most deaths after New York. It’s a smart ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 4, 2020
The Unintended Consequences Of ESG Activism
As of the end of 2019, Blackrock (the largest asset manager in the world) held $7.4 trillion in assets. To put this in perspective, relative to the $90 trillion value of the global stock markets, Blackrock’s holdings equaled 8 percent of the total value. Given its size, it was inevitable that ...
Anti-Science Precautionary Principle Jeopardizes Health, Safety, And Risks Innovation
Medical innovations do not happen overnight. Whether it is gene therapies, new vaccines, or cutting-edge medical equipment, developing innovative medical products is a risky venture. It also takes time, lots of financial resources, and most importantly, human ingenuity. Developing new drugs, for instance, can take between 10 and 15 years. ...
Sally Pipes: COVID-19 Makes Employer-Based Coverage Indefensible
Americans rendered jobless by COVID-19 have lost more than just their incomes. An estimated 12.7 million people have also lost their employer-provided health coverage since the beginning of the pandemic. The crisis has driven home the imprudence of tying health insurance to employment. Our system not only makes coverage precarious but also ...
Flummoxed Feds Freeze Out Frost Fix
Courtesy of the polar vortex, unseasonably cold temperatures came to a broad swath of the country, from Texas to Maine, last week, causing frost damage to crops and ornamental plants. (And snow in New York City’s Central Park on May 9). Cherry and other fruit trees are particularly susceptible, and losses ...
Charters Are Pivoting to Online Education Better than Traditional Schools
With conventional schools shut down because of COVID-19, school officials are scrambling to provide students with education services through the use of online-learning tools. However, some types of schools are having greater success in transitioning to online education, and often those schools are charter schools. First, it is noteworthy that ...
ICER’s Cost Model Is Not Only Wrong It’s Also Dangerous
There they go again. In the midst of the race for an effective COVID-19 treatment the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has performed an incomplete analysis of remdesivir in order to produce a cost estimate that is, by definition, precisely wrong. Remdesivir, produced by Gilead Sciences Inc., is ...
Coronavirus causes financial crisis for hospitals and doctors – Patients lose vital care
While many heroic doctors, nurses and other health care professionals are working long hours and risking their lives to treat COVID-19 patients, others have seen their workloads and hospital occupancy rates drop dramatically as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. This has created a financial crisis and endangered public health. ...
The Savings Potential Of Biosimilars Is More Urgent Than Ever
It was not long ago that the economy’s rising tide was supporting state budgets across the country. As the Pew Charitable Trusts noted, widespread economic prosperity was supporting tax revenue growth and creating budget surpluses. When times are good, saving money is not always a priority in state capitols. But, times are ...
Universal Basic Income — Just Another Welfare Program That Will Fail
Earlier this year, a universal basic income bill was introduced in the California Assembly. Should it become law, every resident 18 and over would receive $1,000 a month from the public fisc. Now U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is talking about including a guaranteed minimum income in the next round of coronavirus ...
In war on coronavirus, we need more foreign doctors practicing in US
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, New Jersey has begun issuing temporary emergency licenses to doctors licensed in other countries. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy called the new policy “entirely fitting” for the state, which has the second-most cases of COVID-19 and the second-most deaths after New York. It’s a smart ...