Health Care
Commentary
Massachusetts Hospital Association’s New Recipe for Fudge
An amazing story in the usually reliable Boston Globe by Steve LeBlanc made me gulp: might I have to recant my position on the ineffective and expensive Massachusetts health reform? Luckily, no: a report by the Massachusetts Hospital Association on the reform’s “success” manages to fudge the numbers just enough ...
Commentary
The Hidden Dangers of Government Health Care
Child and Family Protection Association, February 21, 2008 “Socialized health care” is the term we are using to describe various forms of government-controlled health care delivery and funding programs. This topic continues to spark a great deal of debate. We have already addressed a critical part of this issue from ...
Commentary
On Patent Reform, Don’t Be Evil
Google has achieved wild success and cultural notoriety by operating under the corporate mantra “Don’t be evil.” But when it comes to patent reforms currently under consideration in Congress, Google — along with several other tech heavyweights — seems to be straying from the company line. The Patent Reform Act, ...
Commentary
Reject National Health care
America’s medical system has flaws, but government control is no cure Last December, Nataline Sarkisyan, a comatose leukemia patient, failed to receive a liver transplant potentially in time to save her life. Politically motivated opportunists such as former presidential candidate John Edwards have been exploiting the 17-year-old’s tragic death to ...
Commentary
Drug ads a form of free speech
David Lazarus claims that direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising results in “forcing physicians to respond to people’s demands for heavily touted drugs.” (“Ads spur urge for drugs,” Consumer Confidential, Feb. 6.) Actually, physicians have a government-granted monopoly on prescribing drugs, and no patient can “force” a physician to do anything. Rather, research ...
Commentary
NY’s “Cuomortician” Strikes Again! Attorney General to “Fix” Prices
It’s been a couple of months since New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, scourge of the health insurers, has caused me to address the sorry state of the Empire State’s political direction on health reform. Last time, I expressed concern (and perhaps a little contrition) that I was too hard ...
California
What Now for California Health Care?
Last month the Senate health committee dumped the Schwarzenegger/Núñez Model ABX1 1, California’s trend-setting gadget for health-care repair. Senator Sheila Kuehl, who chairs that committee, tossed it for more personal reasons, other than the obvious $14-billion price tag and state budget deficit of similar size. Senator Kuehl wants to bring ...
Commentary
Over Regulating Health Insurance & The Law of Unintended Consequences
I have written quite a few times about California’s regulatory adventurism that has made it impossible for health insurers to assess and price health risks in the market for individual health insurance, despite the fact that it is legal to do so. (Although, the recently defeated California Health Care Deforminator, ...
Commentary
What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas
Even at the glacial pace of take-over activities in the post-credit meltdown deal economy, merger arbitrageurs speculating on the UnitedHealth-Sierra Health Services spread might be forgiven for dozing off at their trading terminals. Almost a year ago, on March 12, UnitedHealth Group (headquartered in Minneapolis), announced a friendly take-over of ...
Health Care
Is Dr. Robert Jarvik Public Health Enemy Number 1? Pharmaceutical Promotion in a Free Society
Suppose that American politicians decided that spending on roads and highways was “unsustainable.” How could they cut those costs? One tactic would be to pass laws banning automobile advertising. Governments would invest in research showing that automobile ads are inaccurate and confusing. Because car manufacturers are only interested in profits, ...
Massachusetts Hospital Association’s New Recipe for Fudge
An amazing story in the usually reliable Boston Globe by Steve LeBlanc made me gulp: might I have to recant my position on the ineffective and expensive Massachusetts health reform? Luckily, no: a report by the Massachusetts Hospital Association on the reform’s “success” manages to fudge the numbers just enough ...
The Hidden Dangers of Government Health Care
Child and Family Protection Association, February 21, 2008 “Socialized health care” is the term we are using to describe various forms of government-controlled health care delivery and funding programs. This topic continues to spark a great deal of debate. We have already addressed a critical part of this issue from ...
On Patent Reform, Don’t Be Evil
Google has achieved wild success and cultural notoriety by operating under the corporate mantra “Don’t be evil.” But when it comes to patent reforms currently under consideration in Congress, Google — along with several other tech heavyweights — seems to be straying from the company line. The Patent Reform Act, ...
Reject National Health care
America’s medical system has flaws, but government control is no cure Last December, Nataline Sarkisyan, a comatose leukemia patient, failed to receive a liver transplant potentially in time to save her life. Politically motivated opportunists such as former presidential candidate John Edwards have been exploiting the 17-year-old’s tragic death to ...
Drug ads a form of free speech
David Lazarus claims that direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising results in “forcing physicians to respond to people’s demands for heavily touted drugs.” (“Ads spur urge for drugs,” Consumer Confidential, Feb. 6.) Actually, physicians have a government-granted monopoly on prescribing drugs, and no patient can “force” a physician to do anything. Rather, research ...
NY’s “Cuomortician” Strikes Again! Attorney General to “Fix” Prices
It’s been a couple of months since New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, scourge of the health insurers, has caused me to address the sorry state of the Empire State’s political direction on health reform. Last time, I expressed concern (and perhaps a little contrition) that I was too hard ...
What Now for California Health Care?
Last month the Senate health committee dumped the Schwarzenegger/Núñez Model ABX1 1, California’s trend-setting gadget for health-care repair. Senator Sheila Kuehl, who chairs that committee, tossed it for more personal reasons, other than the obvious $14-billion price tag and state budget deficit of similar size. Senator Kuehl wants to bring ...
Over Regulating Health Insurance & The Law of Unintended Consequences
I have written quite a few times about California’s regulatory adventurism that has made it impossible for health insurers to assess and price health risks in the market for individual health insurance, despite the fact that it is legal to do so. (Although, the recently defeated California Health Care Deforminator, ...
What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas
Even at the glacial pace of take-over activities in the post-credit meltdown deal economy, merger arbitrageurs speculating on the UnitedHealth-Sierra Health Services spread might be forgiven for dozing off at their trading terminals. Almost a year ago, on March 12, UnitedHealth Group (headquartered in Minneapolis), announced a friendly take-over of ...
Is Dr. Robert Jarvik Public Health Enemy Number 1? Pharmaceutical Promotion in a Free Society
Suppose that American politicians decided that spending on roads and highways was “unsustainable.” How could they cut those costs? One tactic would be to pass laws banning automobile advertising. Governments would invest in research showing that automobile ads are inaccurate and confusing. Because car manufacturers are only interested in profits, ...
