John R. Graham
Business & Economics
Medical-Malpractice Reform: Will Republicans Take the Bait?
Medical-malpractice reform has long been on the Republicans’ health-reform checklist (most of which seems to be writtten in invisible ink). Representative Gingrey of Georgia passed a bill through the House in 2005, and has re-introduced it. The key ingredient in the legislation is a cap on punitive, non-economic damages of ...
Commentary
Make September the New August: Tips for Rep. Wilson & Other Obama Critics
So, I also had a different experience than those who heard the Republicans grumbling, and Congressman Wilson call out, “You lie.” It looks like the consensus over on The Corner is that Mr. Wilson was way out of line. As Kathryn Jean Lopez points out, it’s not the House of ...
Commentary
What Did Obama Promise?
I am glad that an issue that we discussed in the working group may now see the light of day. The idea was to use the states as laboratories of democracy, by encouraging them to experiment with alternative forms of dispute resolution. If any of the experiments were particularly effective, ...
Health Care
San Francisco’s Employer Health Tax: Change We Can Do Without
Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Healthy San Francisco plan, which he claims is a model for President Obama’s “public option,” recently picked up some scholarly support. Business owners and low-income workers are not likely to find it encouraging. Effective since January 2008, San Francisco’s Health Care Security Ordinance comprises a head tax ...
Health Care
Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss: President Obama’s Best Health “Insurance” Reforms Were Passed In 1997
The president’s goal of exerting control over Americans’ access to health care has been fighting serious headwinds. While insisting that the government would never get between “you and your doctor,” he also pointed out that the government would only pay for the “blue pill” if it had the same effect ...
California
California Republican Legislators Hike Taxes
Republican legislators, usually steadfast against tax hikes, wobbled on this one because the 2.35% tax on health insurers’ gross revenues will replace a 5.5% tax that will expire in October. You would have thought that the fact that 59% to 66% of California’ suninsured kids are already eligible for SCHIP ...
Commentary
Why Idaho Ranks Number Three in U.S. Health Ownership
As the nation debates President Obama’s “public option” for health care, the citizens of Idaho have an important contribution. Idaho enjoys considerable freedom in health ownership compared to the rest of the United States, according to a new study. The 2009 U.S. Index of Health Ownership (IHOP) ranks Idaho number ...
Commentary
Kidney Dialysis: The Price of Government Monopoly
The punch line? The U.S. government’s Medicare program is the monopoly health insurer for patients who need the treatment. That goes a long way to explain why the protocol is frozen in time. Can you think of any medical specialty — cardiology, psychiatry, orthopedic surgery, etc. — where you can ...
Commentary
Why Does the Government Want to Take Over Health Care? Big Labor
The federal take-over of Americans’ access to medical services is proving a tough mission, as the town halls and other signs of popular resistance demonstrate. Medicare, the territory first occupied almost half a century ago, is proving a major obstacle. Seniors are rightly worried that efforts to cut costs from ...
California
California Health Insurance Rescissions: Doctors Dissatisfied
(My last post on a long trail of posts about the history of the California rescissions noted that Insurance Commissioner Poizner seems to have learned that some people actually do lie on their health-insurance applications.) Organized medicine’s beef with the settlement is that it does not guarantee that doctors be ...
Medical-Malpractice Reform: Will Republicans Take the Bait?
Medical-malpractice reform has long been on the Republicans’ health-reform checklist (most of which seems to be writtten in invisible ink). Representative Gingrey of Georgia passed a bill through the House in 2005, and has re-introduced it. The key ingredient in the legislation is a cap on punitive, non-economic damages of ...
Make September the New August: Tips for Rep. Wilson & Other Obama Critics
So, I also had a different experience than those who heard the Republicans grumbling, and Congressman Wilson call out, “You lie.” It looks like the consensus over on The Corner is that Mr. Wilson was way out of line. As Kathryn Jean Lopez points out, it’s not the House of ...
What Did Obama Promise?
I am glad that an issue that we discussed in the working group may now see the light of day. The idea was to use the states as laboratories of democracy, by encouraging them to experiment with alternative forms of dispute resolution. If any of the experiments were particularly effective, ...
San Francisco’s Employer Health Tax: Change We Can Do Without
Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Healthy San Francisco plan, which he claims is a model for President Obama’s “public option,” recently picked up some scholarly support. Business owners and low-income workers are not likely to find it encouraging. Effective since January 2008, San Francisco’s Health Care Security Ordinance comprises a head tax ...
Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss: President Obama’s Best Health “Insurance” Reforms Were Passed In 1997
The president’s goal of exerting control over Americans’ access to health care has been fighting serious headwinds. While insisting that the government would never get between “you and your doctor,” he also pointed out that the government would only pay for the “blue pill” if it had the same effect ...
California Republican Legislators Hike Taxes
Republican legislators, usually steadfast against tax hikes, wobbled on this one because the 2.35% tax on health insurers’ gross revenues will replace a 5.5% tax that will expire in October. You would have thought that the fact that 59% to 66% of California’ suninsured kids are already eligible for SCHIP ...
Why Idaho Ranks Number Three in U.S. Health Ownership
As the nation debates President Obama’s “public option” for health care, the citizens of Idaho have an important contribution. Idaho enjoys considerable freedom in health ownership compared to the rest of the United States, according to a new study. The 2009 U.S. Index of Health Ownership (IHOP) ranks Idaho number ...
Kidney Dialysis: The Price of Government Monopoly
The punch line? The U.S. government’s Medicare program is the monopoly health insurer for patients who need the treatment. That goes a long way to explain why the protocol is frozen in time. Can you think of any medical specialty — cardiology, psychiatry, orthopedic surgery, etc. — where you can ...
Why Does the Government Want to Take Over Health Care? Big Labor
The federal take-over of Americans’ access to medical services is proving a tough mission, as the town halls and other signs of popular resistance demonstrate. Medicare, the territory first occupied almost half a century ago, is proving a major obstacle. Seniors are rightly worried that efforts to cut costs from ...
California Health Insurance Rescissions: Doctors Dissatisfied
(My last post on a long trail of posts about the history of the California rescissions noted that Insurance Commissioner Poizner seems to have learned that some people actually do lie on their health-insurance applications.) Organized medicine’s beef with the settlement is that it does not guarantee that doctors be ...
