Commentary
Commentary
Wallets will feel pinch under health care bill
The Oklahoman, November 14, 2009 Last Saturday, the House of Representatives approved the 1,990-page bill that would overhaul the nation’s health care system. House leaders gloated over their victory. But the American people may not be as enthused. According to several studies, the Democrats’ reform plan will increase the cost ...
Commentary
The CBO Is Using the Wrong Number of Uninsured
As I detailed in the New York Post last month, according to the Census, there are 28 million uninsured Americans: 46 million, minus 9 million non-citizens, minus the 9 million people on Medicaid who were falsely tallied. That’s 28 million out of 280 million American citizens (according to the Census), ...
Commentary
Government Health Fixes Will Leave Us Broke
RealClearPolitics.com, November 13, 2009 By a razor-thin margin, lawmakers approved the trillion-dollar health reform package proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Saturday evening. Proponents of the measure claim that it will eventually pay for itself — and even lower the nation’s healthcare costs and the federal deficit. This is ...
Commentary
Federal Medicaid Funds Addictive Like Hard Drugs
Medicaid has grown out-of-control in the last four and a half decades, because there is nothing preventing states from competing against each other in a “race to the bottom” for federal funds. Last February, Congress and President Obama made it worse, through the so-called “stimulus” bill (ARRA), which bailed out ...
Commentary
When Private Insurers Are No Longer Private
The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn reports that IMS, a respected global research and consulting firm, projected back in March that American drug companies would actually suffer negative growth from 2008–13. Then came Obamacare — or even the prospect of it. Now, as of last month, IMS has updated its projections ...
Commentary
Collective Neurosis in Maine: Big Government Bad, We Need Gargantuan Government
Unfortunately, Mr. Gardiner gives more than equal time for those who blame Maine’s failures not on government control, but a sick and poor population. Talk about blaming the victim! These folks also blame the fact that Maine has a single, dominant, health insurer – without recognizing the government policies that ...
Commentary
Air Quality Board’s Plan for Car Windows Unrealistic
The California Air Resources Board has proposed a new mandate to require car companies to install metallic reflective windows, which CARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols describes as “a common-sense and cost-effective measure that will help cool the cars we drive and fight global warning.” CARB claims that reflective windows will reduce ...
Commentary
On the Grinding Pace of the Health-Care Take-Over: A Historical Perspective
The 1965 amendments actually proved very easy to legislate, with over 70 percent majorities in both chambers. President Johnson signed the bill on July 30. No disruptive town-hall meetings or tea parties that August! Although I’m pleased that the 2009 bill is taking a lot longer, I must confess surprise. ...
Commentary
PhRMA Is Shocked About GosHealth
The comedy highlight, of course, is the plaintive cry about “killing tens of thousands of jobs in our industry.” Did PhRMA believe that the $80 billion deal would have increased such employment? Did it not occur to them that the $80 billion inevitably would come to be an opening bid? ...
Commentary
Mission Remission
National Review Symposium, November 9, 2009 Now that we have lost the battle, how can we win the war? As the health-care debate moves to the Senate, Obamacare opponents should emphasize that the Senate bill is not remotely moderate. It would cost $1.7 trillion in its real first decade (2014–23), ...
Wallets will feel pinch under health care bill
The Oklahoman, November 14, 2009 Last Saturday, the House of Representatives approved the 1,990-page bill that would overhaul the nation’s health care system. House leaders gloated over their victory. But the American people may not be as enthused. According to several studies, the Democrats’ reform plan will increase the cost ...
The CBO Is Using the Wrong Number of Uninsured
As I detailed in the New York Post last month, according to the Census, there are 28 million uninsured Americans: 46 million, minus 9 million non-citizens, minus the 9 million people on Medicaid who were falsely tallied. That’s 28 million out of 280 million American citizens (according to the Census), ...
Government Health Fixes Will Leave Us Broke
RealClearPolitics.com, November 13, 2009 By a razor-thin margin, lawmakers approved the trillion-dollar health reform package proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Saturday evening. Proponents of the measure claim that it will eventually pay for itself — and even lower the nation’s healthcare costs and the federal deficit. This is ...
Federal Medicaid Funds Addictive Like Hard Drugs
Medicaid has grown out-of-control in the last four and a half decades, because there is nothing preventing states from competing against each other in a “race to the bottom” for federal funds. Last February, Congress and President Obama made it worse, through the so-called “stimulus” bill (ARRA), which bailed out ...
When Private Insurers Are No Longer Private
The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn reports that IMS, a respected global research and consulting firm, projected back in March that American drug companies would actually suffer negative growth from 2008–13. Then came Obamacare — or even the prospect of it. Now, as of last month, IMS has updated its projections ...
Collective Neurosis in Maine: Big Government Bad, We Need Gargantuan Government
Unfortunately, Mr. Gardiner gives more than equal time for those who blame Maine’s failures not on government control, but a sick and poor population. Talk about blaming the victim! These folks also blame the fact that Maine has a single, dominant, health insurer – without recognizing the government policies that ...
Air Quality Board’s Plan for Car Windows Unrealistic
The California Air Resources Board has proposed a new mandate to require car companies to install metallic reflective windows, which CARB Chairwoman Mary Nichols describes as “a common-sense and cost-effective measure that will help cool the cars we drive and fight global warning.” CARB claims that reflective windows will reduce ...
On the Grinding Pace of the Health-Care Take-Over: A Historical Perspective
The 1965 amendments actually proved very easy to legislate, with over 70 percent majorities in both chambers. President Johnson signed the bill on July 30. No disruptive town-hall meetings or tea parties that August! Although I’m pleased that the 2009 bill is taking a lot longer, I must confess surprise. ...
PhRMA Is Shocked About GosHealth
The comedy highlight, of course, is the plaintive cry about “killing tens of thousands of jobs in our industry.” Did PhRMA believe that the $80 billion deal would have increased such employment? Did it not occur to them that the $80 billion inevitably would come to be an opening bid? ...
Mission Remission
National Review Symposium, November 9, 2009 Now that we have lost the battle, how can we win the war? As the health-care debate moves to the Senate, Obamacare opponents should emphasize that the Senate bill is not remotely moderate. It would cost $1.7 trillion in its real first decade (2014–23), ...
