Commentary
Commentary
Government Bureaucrats Who Deserve A Salute
In a new Gallup poll, Americans’ confidence in an array of U.S. societal institutions is largely unchanged, with the military continuing to earn the highest level of confidence of 15 institutions tested. (As usual, Congress is dead last.) Maybe one of the reasons is that the military is more of a ...
Commentary
Short-Term Insurance Plans Offer A Much-Needed Escape From Obamacare
Several patient advocacy groups recently sued the Trump administration to overturn an August 2018 rule that expands access to short-term health insurance plans. They argue that short-term plans, which they deride as “junk insurance,” violate the Affordable Care Act. The courts ought to toss this meritless lawsuit. The new rule is legal ...
California
Statewide Polystyrene Ban Would Bring Unintended Consequences
Supposedly civic-minded prohibitions on consumer conveniences always have unintended consequences. California’s single-use plastic bag ban, for instance, has led to a surge in E. coli infections, created a swarm of thicker plastics bags that are a greater environmental hazard than the outlawed single-use plastic bags, boosted shoplifting, and been the ...
California
San Diego Ignores Alternatives in Rush to Ban Styrofoam
San Diego has just dreamed up a Styrofoam prohibition so harsh that it will require consumers to change their foam containers to alternative packaging when they visit city property. The City Council recently voted 5-3 to approve an ordinance banning “the distribution of egg cartons, food service ware, and food trays which ...
Commentary
Putting Drug Prices on TV Will Cause Unnecessary Patient Panic
Last month, the Trump administration proposed several reforms to drive down prescription drug prices. One measure would force pharmaceutical companies to mention the sticker prices of their medicines in television advertisements. The new mandate covers all prescriptions drugs reimbursed by Medicare or Medicaid that cost more than $35 a month. The administration hopes this ...
Commentary
At the VA, bureaucrats — not doctors — hold the scalpel
Staff at nine Veterans Affairs hospitals recently canceled more than 250,000 orders for diagnostic tests. They thought the orders were duplicative or unnecessary. In many cases, they were mistaken. As a result, veterans went without needed CT scans, ultrasounds, and other potentially lifesaving tests, according to a USA Today investigation. ...
Commentary
Homeless Kids – Federal Problems Block Local Solutions
Homelessness among children is more widespread than imagined, and the many problems faced by these children, from instability to personal safety, seriously impact their education. Yet federal housing policies undercut the ability of local organizations to implement proven solutions. A recent study by Schoolhouse Washington, an education research initiative in ...
Commentary
The future of healthcare is on the 2018 ballot
Tuesday’s midterm elections will shape the future of healthcare. A majority of Democrats running for House seats, a whopping 225 candidates, support “Medicare for all,” a single-payer system that would effectively outlaw private insurance and force virtually everyone into a government-run health plan. Sixteen Senate Democrats, including half a dozen senators considering ...
Commentary
This Flu Season Should Serve as a Wake-up Call
Seasonal outbreaks of the flu cause thousands of deaths even in a good year, and the last flu season, 2017-2018, was a terrible one. It killed 80,000 Americans and sent 900,000 to the hospital, making it the worst influenza season in decades. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and ...
Commentary
Democrats Bet Their Midterm Fortunes On Failed Health Care Policy
Health care has been the most-mentioned issue in Democratic advertisements in the run-up to this month’s midterm elections. Many Democrats are making Medicare for All the centerpiece of their pitch to voters. Cearly, Democrats didn’t learn their lesson in 2010, when their previous effort at government micromanagement of the health ...
Government Bureaucrats Who Deserve A Salute
In a new Gallup poll, Americans’ confidence in an array of U.S. societal institutions is largely unchanged, with the military continuing to earn the highest level of confidence of 15 institutions tested. (As usual, Congress is dead last.) Maybe one of the reasons is that the military is more of a ...
Short-Term Insurance Plans Offer A Much-Needed Escape From Obamacare
Several patient advocacy groups recently sued the Trump administration to overturn an August 2018 rule that expands access to short-term health insurance plans. They argue that short-term plans, which they deride as “junk insurance,” violate the Affordable Care Act. The courts ought to toss this meritless lawsuit. The new rule is legal ...
Statewide Polystyrene Ban Would Bring Unintended Consequences
Supposedly civic-minded prohibitions on consumer conveniences always have unintended consequences. California’s single-use plastic bag ban, for instance, has led to a surge in E. coli infections, created a swarm of thicker plastics bags that are a greater environmental hazard than the outlawed single-use plastic bags, boosted shoplifting, and been the ...
San Diego Ignores Alternatives in Rush to Ban Styrofoam
San Diego has just dreamed up a Styrofoam prohibition so harsh that it will require consumers to change their foam containers to alternative packaging when they visit city property. The City Council recently voted 5-3 to approve an ordinance banning “the distribution of egg cartons, food service ware, and food trays which ...
Putting Drug Prices on TV Will Cause Unnecessary Patient Panic
Last month, the Trump administration proposed several reforms to drive down prescription drug prices. One measure would force pharmaceutical companies to mention the sticker prices of their medicines in television advertisements. The new mandate covers all prescriptions drugs reimbursed by Medicare or Medicaid that cost more than $35 a month. The administration hopes this ...
At the VA, bureaucrats — not doctors — hold the scalpel
Staff at nine Veterans Affairs hospitals recently canceled more than 250,000 orders for diagnostic tests. They thought the orders were duplicative or unnecessary. In many cases, they were mistaken. As a result, veterans went without needed CT scans, ultrasounds, and other potentially lifesaving tests, according to a USA Today investigation. ...
Homeless Kids – Federal Problems Block Local Solutions
Homelessness among children is more widespread than imagined, and the many problems faced by these children, from instability to personal safety, seriously impact their education. Yet federal housing policies undercut the ability of local organizations to implement proven solutions. A recent study by Schoolhouse Washington, an education research initiative in ...
The future of healthcare is on the 2018 ballot
Tuesday’s midterm elections will shape the future of healthcare. A majority of Democrats running for House seats, a whopping 225 candidates, support “Medicare for all,” a single-payer system that would effectively outlaw private insurance and force virtually everyone into a government-run health plan. Sixteen Senate Democrats, including half a dozen senators considering ...
This Flu Season Should Serve as a Wake-up Call
Seasonal outbreaks of the flu cause thousands of deaths even in a good year, and the last flu season, 2017-2018, was a terrible one. It killed 80,000 Americans and sent 900,000 to the hospital, making it the worst influenza season in decades. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and ...
Democrats Bet Their Midterm Fortunes On Failed Health Care Policy
Health care has been the most-mentioned issue in Democratic advertisements in the run-up to this month’s midterm elections. Many Democrats are making Medicare for All the centerpiece of their pitch to voters. Cearly, Democrats didn’t learn their lesson in 2010, when their previous effort at government micromanagement of the health ...
