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How We Pay for Health Care: Let's pare down the paperwork
Health Care Op-Ed
By: John R. Graham
11.29.2005
Doctors at UCSF's Institute of Health Policy Studies confirmed this month that California's health-care system suffers from an acute case of clogged arteries. In a study of spending by physicians and hospitals, lead author James G. Kahn revealed that 21 percent of their costs go to billing and insurance-related expenses.
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HSAs Must Not Be A Casualty Of Tax Reform
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Sally C. Pipes
11.27.2005
The President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform unloaded 272 pages of analysis and recommendations to reform the federal tax code. Like any major effort, it offers something for everyone to love and something for everyone to hate.
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The Nobel Prize for Literature Politics
Business and Economics Op-Ed
By: Sally C. Pipes
11.22.2005
The Contrarian turns to a strange event that occurred just before this year's Nobel Prize for Literature winner was announced. Knut Ahnlund, a member of the Nobel committee, abruptly resigned. He did not depart over this year's winner, British playwright Harold Pinter. Mr. Ahnlund resigned over last year's winner, Elfriede Jelinek.
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To preserve supply and innovation, don’t let feds negotiate drug prices
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Benjamin Zycher
11.22.2005
With growing political pressures to find savings in the budget, many now argue that the federal government ought to negotiate the prices to be paid for prescription drugs under the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA), claiming that the law as now written prevents such negotiation.
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Beware the Legacy Cable Guy
Technology Op-Ed
11.18.2005
In a move that makes Jim Carrey's character in "The Cable Guy" look angelic, the California Cable and Telecommunications Association (CCTA) recently circulated a letter to Sacramento lawmakers in an attempt to scare them into protecting cable's dominant video market position.
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California's tax on health-care savings
Health Care Op-Ed
By: John R. Graham
11.13.2005
Next year, about one-third of employers in the United States will offer health savings accounts, according to a survey by Buck Consultants. Health savings accounts have existed for less than two years and are a significant innovation in consumer-directed health care. With a health savings account, the patient, not an insurance company or government bureaucracy, controls money spent on ordinary health care. This change is certain to bring better value and more satisfied patients.
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Educational Excellence: Teachers still key to improving schools
PRI in the News
By: Peter H. Hanley
11.11.2005
As the Nov. 8 special election bears out, California's education-interest groups have demonstrated once again their support for the status quo in the state's dysfunctional system. True, the governor's bungled reform efforts made the task much easier. But the education coalition, funded primarily by another California Teachers Association raid on members' wallets, led a nightly TV advertising blitzkrieg and sealed the doom of a nascent effort to promote teaching excellence.
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World Summit Drama Threatens Internet's Future
Technology Op-Ed
11.11.2005
Imagine a world where China argues for guaranteed freedom of speech and Cuba and Iran push for democracy. If that sounds like an episode of "The Twilight Zone," then welcome to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's new show set to air again next week in Tunisia.
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Wal-Mart Stands Up To Wave Of Lawsuits
PRI in the News
By: Tom Van Riper
11.10.2005
The world's dominant retailer has been facing a tidal wave of negativity--from community activists trying to keep its stores out of their neighborhoods, to local governments mandating that Wal-Mart supply workers with health insurance, to opportunistic lawyers trying to strike it rich by bringing on endless lawsuits.
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Per capita income in state is expected to sink over 20 years
PRI in the News
By: Bob Egelko
11.9.2005
Californians' per capita income will drop 11 percent over the first two decades of this century unless the state closes the educational gap of its expanding Latino population, a nonpartisan research center forecast in a report released today.
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Head-to-Head Drug Trials at Ballot Box
Health Care Op-Ed
By: John R. Graham
11.9.2005
On November 8, Californians will enjoy a rare opportunity to influence the price of prescription drugs in the Golden State. Both Propositions 78 and 79 aim to lower prescription prices for needy Californians. The measures offer starkly different visions of the appropriate relationships between patients, the state, and drug makers. Only one will succeed.
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A FEMA-ized broadband?
Technology Op-Ed
11.9.2005
Should high-speed Internet access continue to develop in the marketplace, or should government bureaucrats take over?
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Battle of the drug-discount plans
Health Care Op-Ed
By: Benjamin Zycher, Ph.D.
11.5.2005
Proposition 78 will increase drug access and reduce drug prices for those in need precisely because it will enable the drug producers to make more money, by discounting drugs for those less fortunate without being forced to offer the same discounts to the federal government. Prop. 79 explicitly would reduce drug access for the needy in an effort to subsidize the middle class, and it would engender a tidal wave of litigation.
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Forward Future Requires Past Principles
Technology Op-Ed
11.4.2005
The imperative to fight diseases like AIDS and cervical cancer is a no-brainer, yet new technologies that help in this quest are under assault from bureaucrats and advocacy groups. As technology advances, questions surrounding its control and use will only get hotter. A key set of guiding principles is therefore of the utmost importance.
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Anti-taxers ring knell for TABOR
PRI in the News
By: Jim Hughes
11.3.2005
The Taxpayer's Bill of Rights is dead in Colorado, Joe Stengel told more than 40 small-government activists and conservative lawmakers from around the country in a national conference call Wednesday.
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FDA, the Internet, and Medical Devices
PRI in the News
11.1.2005
In all of the excitement about the online consumer marketplace for medical device companies, FDA compliance is a question that continually arises. Understanding of exactly which regulations apply specifically to online consumer advertising by device companies has been somewhat elusive. This is justifiable, for it is an intriguing, if not murky, subject, and, on the part of FDA, very definitely a work in progress.
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