Health Care
Business & Economics
Don’t hold drugmakers liable for competitors’ generics
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision not to review Conte vs. Wyeth leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version of its drug. This unprecedented and unfair extension of product liability spells bad news for innovators and consumers alike. Plaintiff Elizabeth Conte took a generic ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Commentary
Action Is Needed On Health Reform, But Not The Kind Obama Envisions
President Barack Obama’s Capitol Hill colleagues are urging him to act swiftly on health care reform. Echoing a number of prominent legislators, senior congressmen Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and Michael Castle, R-Del., recently wrote that the president must quickly enact the health care measures he’d promised on the campaign trail, noting ...
Health Care
What If ‘Comparative Effectiveness’ were applied to cheeseburgers?
The Examiner (Washington, D.C.), February 6, 2009 A shocking new provision was discovered today in the $825 billion stimulus package recently passed by the House of Representatives. Hidden half-way down page 538 is a clause that would provide $1.1 billion to help government bureaucrats compare the effectiveness of various cheeseburgers. ...
Commentary
Health care myths obstruct reform
As a retired physician and a conservative, I sometimes feel like a voice in the wilderness in this era of liberalism. Our nation is an enigma. When times are good, we do all we can to get government out of our lives; but when times are bad, we jump back ...
Don’t hold drugmakers liable for competitors’ generics
The California Supreme Court’s recent decision not to review Conte vs. Wyeth leaves name-brand drug manufacturers liable for harm caused by another manufacturer’s generic version of its drug. This unprecedented and unfair extension of product liability spells bad news for innovators and consumers alike. Plaintiff Elizabeth Conte took a generic ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Action Is Needed On Health Reform, But Not The Kind Obama Envisions
President Barack Obama’s Capitol Hill colleagues are urging him to act swiftly on health care reform. Echoing a number of prominent legislators, senior congressmen Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and Michael Castle, R-Del., recently wrote that the president must quickly enact the health care measures he’d promised on the campaign trail, noting ...
What If ‘Comparative Effectiveness’ were applied to cheeseburgers?
The Examiner (Washington, D.C.), February 6, 2009 A shocking new provision was discovered today in the $825 billion stimulus package recently passed by the House of Representatives. Hidden half-way down page 538 is a clause that would provide $1.1 billion to help government bureaucrats compare the effectiveness of various cheeseburgers. ...
Health care myths obstruct reform
As a retired physician and a conservative, I sometimes feel like a voice in the wilderness in this era of liberalism. Our nation is an enigma. When times are good, we do all we can to get government out of our lives; but when times are bad, we jump back ...
