Medicaid
Health Care
Election 2008: An Unhealthy Outcome
The federal outcome of the 2008 election bodes ill for Americans’ ability to regain control of their health care dollars. Before the election, PRI compared the candidates’ health plans and concluded that Senator McCain’s proposal was generally superior. Senator Obama’s plan was ambitious and weakly defined, but with strong Democratic ...
Commentary
Health Plans Belly Up to SCHIP Trough
For those of us who believe that American families should control our health-care dollars, instead of government, employers, or other 3rd parties, the recent behavior of health-care lobbyists in DC is disturbing. A key insight of the political philosophy of “public choice” theory is that it is impossible for politicians ...
Commentary
Government Health Care: Let the Rationing Continue
Imagine if a private health plan, Blue Cross or Blue Shield, for example, issued a news release like this: “Due to our deficit, our health plan will no longer cover optometry, dentistry, podiatry, or psychology.” You would go ballistic! Indeed, you’d probably sue, especially if these services were mandated by ...
Commentary
State government keeps health insurance from Tar Heels
U.S. Census officials just revealed that 17.2 percent of North Carolinians went without health insurance between 2006 and 2007, up 2.1 percentage points from the preceding two years. That’s greater than the national average and translates to about 1.5 million uninsured Tar Heels. These statistics are unfortunate, but they’re not ...
Agriculture
Preventionitis: American Health Care’s Chronic Utopian Delusion
Chronic illness is often identified as a culprit responsible for high health costs. By chronic illness, we usually mean diabetes, heart disease, etc. It’s time to add another chronic ailment to the list: “preventionitis”. This is the utopian delusion that investment in “prevention” – eating better, exercising more, quitting smoking, ...
Commentary
Five Myths About Health Care
Forbes.com, November 1, 2008 RealClearPolitics.com, November 1, 2008 Sen. Barack Obama has drawn many voters to his side, thanks in no small part to his health care plan. Unfortunately, his proposals rest upon several falsehoods that are all too common in the health care debate. Using his own words, let’s ...
Commentary
Measure establishes rights
On November 4, Arizonans have the opportunity to make a key decision about their rights. Proposition 101, the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, secures your right to spend your money on the health care of your choice. It comes as no surprise that some people, notably government types, ...
Commentary
Newsflash! Women Have Different Health Costs Than Men!
Surely, Robert Pear’s article in today’s New York Times, “Women buying health policies pay a penalty”, falls under the category of “old news”. (So old, indeed, that my former colleague Diana Ernst addressed it last year.) Calling it a “penalty”, rather than an actuarially fair premium, is also an old ...
Business & Economics
To dig out of the hole, N.Y. must expand economic freedom
The economic misery caused by the nation’s financial meltdown has hit New York especially hard. Since September 2007, the city’s financial sector has lost 13,400 jobs, according to the state Labor Department. An additional 65,000 financial jobs will be gone in New York and its suburbs by mid-2010, says BusinessWeek. ...
Commentary
SCHIP: Big Pharma Falls Into Line with Big Government
The Wall Street Journal confirms the depressing news that the brand-name pharmaceutical industry has been “collaborating” with advocates of a government take-over of health care. Apparently, it has given $13.2 million to an “astroturf” outfit, “America’s Agenda: Health Care for Kids”, to produce and run advertisements stroking 28 Congressmen (of ...
Election 2008: An Unhealthy Outcome
The federal outcome of the 2008 election bodes ill for Americans’ ability to regain control of their health care dollars. Before the election, PRI compared the candidates’ health plans and concluded that Senator McCain’s proposal was generally superior. Senator Obama’s plan was ambitious and weakly defined, but with strong Democratic ...
Health Plans Belly Up to SCHIP Trough
For those of us who believe that American families should control our health-care dollars, instead of government, employers, or other 3rd parties, the recent behavior of health-care lobbyists in DC is disturbing. A key insight of the political philosophy of “public choice” theory is that it is impossible for politicians ...
Government Health Care: Let the Rationing Continue
Imagine if a private health plan, Blue Cross or Blue Shield, for example, issued a news release like this: “Due to our deficit, our health plan will no longer cover optometry, dentistry, podiatry, or psychology.” You would go ballistic! Indeed, you’d probably sue, especially if these services were mandated by ...
State government keeps health insurance from Tar Heels
U.S. Census officials just revealed that 17.2 percent of North Carolinians went without health insurance between 2006 and 2007, up 2.1 percentage points from the preceding two years. That’s greater than the national average and translates to about 1.5 million uninsured Tar Heels. These statistics are unfortunate, but they’re not ...
Preventionitis: American Health Care’s Chronic Utopian Delusion
Chronic illness is often identified as a culprit responsible for high health costs. By chronic illness, we usually mean diabetes, heart disease, etc. It’s time to add another chronic ailment to the list: “preventionitis”. This is the utopian delusion that investment in “prevention” – eating better, exercising more, quitting smoking, ...
Five Myths About Health Care
Forbes.com, November 1, 2008 RealClearPolitics.com, November 1, 2008 Sen. Barack Obama has drawn many voters to his side, thanks in no small part to his health care plan. Unfortunately, his proposals rest upon several falsehoods that are all too common in the health care debate. Using his own words, let’s ...
Measure establishes rights
On November 4, Arizonans have the opportunity to make a key decision about their rights. Proposition 101, the Freedom of Choice in Health Care Act, secures your right to spend your money on the health care of your choice. It comes as no surprise that some people, notably government types, ...
Newsflash! Women Have Different Health Costs Than Men!
Surely, Robert Pear’s article in today’s New York Times, “Women buying health policies pay a penalty”, falls under the category of “old news”. (So old, indeed, that my former colleague Diana Ernst addressed it last year.) Calling it a “penalty”, rather than an actuarially fair premium, is also an old ...
To dig out of the hole, N.Y. must expand economic freedom
The economic misery caused by the nation’s financial meltdown has hit New York especially hard. Since September 2007, the city’s financial sector has lost 13,400 jobs, according to the state Labor Department. An additional 65,000 financial jobs will be gone in New York and its suburbs by mid-2010, says BusinessWeek. ...
SCHIP: Big Pharma Falls Into Line with Big Government
The Wall Street Journal confirms the depressing news that the brand-name pharmaceutical industry has been “collaborating” with advocates of a government take-over of health care. Apparently, it has given $13.2 million to an “astroturf” outfit, “America’s Agenda: Health Care for Kids”, to produce and run advertisements stroking 28 Congressmen (of ...
