Commentary

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 ...
Commentary

Misleading voters on Medicare for All

By Hal Scherz and Sally C. Pipes Health care is the number one issue on voters’ minds as the midterm elections approach. Half of all Democratic campaign ads have focused on it. Democratic candidates are not merely defending Obamacare. Many are proudly running on a platform of Medicare for All, ...
California

During Net Neutrality “Pause,” Lawmakers Should Think Twice and Repeal Misguided Law

On Friday, Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to temporarily delay implementation of California’s so-called “net neutrality” law while a federal lawsuit moves forward in the courts. California lawmakers would be wise to seize the opportunity from this time out to repeal this ...
Commentary

Medicare Advantage’s Popularity Shows Americans Won’t Like Single-Payer

Democrats hope their advocacy of single-payer health care will help them in the upcoming midterm elections. More than half the Democrats running for seats in the House back Medicare for All. It remains to be seen if their embrace of government-run health care, where private coverage is banned for anything ...
Commentary

Follow the FDA’s Self-Interest

Bringing a new drug to market now takes, on average, $2.6 billion and more than 10 years. Those numbers could shrink, and countless patients could benefit, if Food and Drug Administration regulators were less risk-averse. I know that from firsthand experience. Oct. 30 marks the 36th anniversary of the FDA’s ...
Commentary

The Latest Target Of The Eco-Fundamentalists: Plastics

By Hank Campbell and Henry I. Miller A recent op-ed harangue in the Washington Post — “Scientists know plastics are dangerous. Why won’t the government say so? — by radical activist Paul Thacker seeks to create concern about the health effects of plastics and plasticizers.  It reads like a cross between a trial attorney’s plea ...
Commentary

Banning Polystyrene Won’t Help California’s Environment — But It Will Hurt Jobs, Economy

Having successfully outlawed plastic bags and straws, the next target of California lawmakers, who seem intent on criminalizing as many consumer conveniences as possible, just might be those foam containers used to hold take-out food. Polystyrene, often called by its brand name Styrofoam, is used for more than packaging food — ...
Business & Economics

Repeal the Medical Device Tax

Rarely is there bipartisan agreement that a tax cut won’t cost the federal government money. But, in the case of the medical device tax (a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices and products that was passed as part of the Affordable Care Act) this is true by definition because the ...
Commentary

Drug prices in ads actually hurt consumers

This month, the Trump administration proposed a new rule that would require advertisements for prescription drugs covered by Medicare or Medicaid to include the list price of the medicine. To be sure, a free market is dependent on consumers making informed decisions. But this move would provide patients with incomplete, misleading numbers ...
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 ...
Commentary

Misleading voters on Medicare for All

By Hal Scherz and Sally C. Pipes Health care is the number one issue on voters’ minds as the midterm elections approach. Half of all Democratic campaign ads have focused on it. Democratic candidates are not merely defending Obamacare. Many are proudly running on a platform of Medicare for All, ...
California

During Net Neutrality “Pause,” Lawmakers Should Think Twice and Repeal Misguided Law

On Friday, Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to temporarily delay implementation of California’s so-called “net neutrality” law while a federal lawsuit moves forward in the courts. California lawmakers would be wise to seize the opportunity from this time out to repeal this ...
Commentary

Medicare Advantage’s Popularity Shows Americans Won’t Like Single-Payer

Democrats hope their advocacy of single-payer health care will help them in the upcoming midterm elections. More than half the Democrats running for seats in the House back Medicare for All. It remains to be seen if their embrace of government-run health care, where private coverage is banned for anything ...
Commentary

Follow the FDA’s Self-Interest

Bringing a new drug to market now takes, on average, $2.6 billion and more than 10 years. Those numbers could shrink, and countless patients could benefit, if Food and Drug Administration regulators were less risk-averse. I know that from firsthand experience. Oct. 30 marks the 36th anniversary of the FDA’s ...
Commentary

The Latest Target Of The Eco-Fundamentalists: Plastics

By Hank Campbell and Henry I. Miller A recent op-ed harangue in the Washington Post — “Scientists know plastics are dangerous. Why won’t the government say so? — by radical activist Paul Thacker seeks to create concern about the health effects of plastics and plasticizers.  It reads like a cross between a trial attorney’s plea ...
Commentary

Banning Polystyrene Won’t Help California’s Environment — But It Will Hurt Jobs, Economy

Having successfully outlawed plastic bags and straws, the next target of California lawmakers, who seem intent on criminalizing as many consumer conveniences as possible, just might be those foam containers used to hold take-out food. Polystyrene, often called by its brand name Styrofoam, is used for more than packaging food — ...
Business & Economics

Repeal the Medical Device Tax

Rarely is there bipartisan agreement that a tax cut won’t cost the federal government money. But, in the case of the medical device tax (a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices and products that was passed as part of the Affordable Care Act) this is true by definition because the ...
Commentary

Drug prices in ads actually hurt consumers

This month, the Trump administration proposed a new rule that would require advertisements for prescription drugs covered by Medicare or Medicaid to include the list price of the medicine. To be sure, a free market is dependent on consumers making informed decisions. But this move would provide patients with incomplete, misleading numbers ...
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