HEALTH CARE DEBATE
Canadian drug imports are a dose of bad medicine
The rule is well-intentioned. After all, it seems unfair that Canadians pay less for many name-brand prescription drugs than do Americans. But the Trump administration's drug importation plan won't meaningfully reduce Americans' bills at the pharmacy. Further, it could endanger their health - and the health of Canadians.
Democrats Stage A Phony Retreat On Medicare For All
Not long ago, most leading Democrats were jostling for position aboard the "Medicare for All" bandwagon. But in the last few weeks, the political winds have shifted. Senator Elizabeth Warren has responded to her decline in the polls by embracing a public option for the first few years of her time in the White House-and calling on Congress to pass Medicare for All in year three.
In Healthcare, a Little Bit of Market Freedom Goes a Long Way | Andrew Moran
In the US, a hysterectomy or a gall bladder surgery can set you back tens of thousands of dollars. For families that do not possess medical insurance or have inadequate coverage, it can be financially stressful to visit a hospital or schedule an appointment with a doctor.
New Issue Brief shows that Reforming Supply Chain & Drug Pricing System Will Lower Health Care Costs - Center for Medical Economics and Innovation
As Washington pushes for price caps and government controls to address prescription drug prices, a new issue brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute argues that reforming the complex drug supply chain and ending the current drug pricing system that overcharges patients - along with system-wide reforms - are what's needed to lower America's health care costs.
We Need A Cure For The Arrogance Of Drug Price Control Advocates - Center for Medical Economics and Innovation
"Three hundred forty-five billion dollars in savings versus the cost of eight to 15 fewer drugs over 10 years, I frankly think it's worth it." Rep. Darren Soto (D-FL), hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee In the above quote, Representative Soto is defending H.R.
*CLICK TO READ ARTICLE/WATCH VIDEO*
Venezuela's Health Care System Is in Shambles, but Markets Are Already Responding | Byron Carson
Venezuelan health care has flatlined and is almost non-existent under a government that continues to centrally plan its economic affairs. Approximately 45 percent of hospitals reported robberies and shootings. Fortunately, some Venezuelans are finding alternative methods for acquiring their desired goods and services.
4 Questions for Politicians Claiming Single-Payer Will Lower Health Care Costs | Jim Kelly
You've heard the US spends twice as much on health care as the rest of the developed world. Yet we're not twice as healthy. We're mentally ill for sure because we keep rejecting a "single-payer" system like sensible countries have. Don't you know, Citizen, that Medicare for All would drive huge efficiencies and slash costs?
null
null
Hard-Won Homeschooling Freedoms Are Under Threat and Must Be Defended | Kerry McDonald
Current proposed legislation aims to rein in homeschooling families and require government monitoring, including forming an advisory committee to investigate, and potentially "reform," homeschooling. As NPR reports: "That could be anything from home inspections to credentialing teachers to setting specific curriculums." Now is the time for those of us homeschooling today to show our gratitude to those who came before us by continuing their fight.
3 Ways Regulation Makes Health Care Expensive | David Youngberg
But American health care is more cartel than competition . It would serve the public's interest to turn our attention to the corporatism and protectionism that constrain patient choice and inflate health care costs. I've provided you with three areas we can easily change the status quo.
Single Payer Health Care Is Anything But | Adam Barsouk
As the American health care system continues to spend more and ranks lower than other developed countries, many progressives have suggested a shift to single-payer health care as a solution. However, adopting a single-payer system is likely to worsen our quality of care.
This is How You Make Health Care Affordable | Jay Bowen
As the debate continues to rage in Washington, D.C., and around the country regarding the fate of Obamacare, one elegantly simple concept that would have a dramatic impact on healthcare costs is being drowned out by inflammatory rhetoric.
Healthcare Access in Decline - A Graphic Examination
The narrative around healthcare accessibility for Americans begins with qualified data in 1873. Before that, healthcare was widely available though not as we know it now. Medical schools were numerous. But, mankind was not yet blessed with the scientific method.
Obamacare's "People Will Die" Canard | Charles Blahous
Passions are high in the national health care debate. Some supporters of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have taken to asserting that hundreds of thousands of "people will die" if it is repealed or significantly altered. These claims do not withstand scrutiny, and those who wish their policy arguments to be taken seriously would be well advised to avoid them.
Health Costs Are Rising Because of Price Controls | Daniel J. Mitchell
When discussing government involvement in the health sector, I usually focus on the budgetary implications. Which makes sense since I'm a fiscal wonk and programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare are diverting ever-larger amounts of money from the economy's productive sector.
15 Faceless Bureaucrats Will Decide what Health Care You're Allowed to Have | Eric Peters
President Trump and congressional Republicans have a second chance to take a whack at the Obamacare piñata - and the beauty of it is that this time, Democrats may want to take a swing at it, too. "It" being the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).
California Considers Economic Suicide with Single-Payer Health Care | Daniel J. Mitchell
Politicians in California, unfazed by the disaster of Obamacare, want to create a "single-payer" healthcare scheme for the Golden State. In one fell swoop, California politicians would more than double the fiscal burden of government and cue a mass exodus out of the state.
The High Cost of Not Owning Your Healthcare | Rachel Mills
When you ask or force some other entity that doesn't love you to pay for your healthcare (or education for that matter) for how long will you suffer under the illusion that you also retain control or that decisions made for you are truly in your best interest?
Why Computers Are Less Expensive Than Health Care | Devin Cooper
With last month's release of AMD's Ryzen 7 processors and the recent release of AMD's Ryzen 5 processors, tech geeks and consumers alike are excited for AMD to finally re-enter the high-end CPU market. After almost five years of the outdated FX line of processors and Intel's dominance, AMD's Ryzen is an amazing achievement, more power for a cheaper price.
This is Your Medical System on Government | Jeffrey A. Tucker
In the flood of commentary following the election, a gigantic factor is being underreported. Obamacare blew up in the weeks before the vote. It's one of the great ironies of history that the legislation was called the "Affordable Care Act." Once it was implemented, we saw several years of sharp increases in premiums, sometimes as much as 50% per year.
Could the Uber Model Reduce Health Care Costs? | Charles Hughes
Patients are often insulated from the cost of health care services and at an informational disadvantage. It is hard for patients to determine the quality of those services, and they do not have much of an incentive to check.
Real vs Fake Health Care Reform, and How to Tell the Difference | Jeffrey A. Tucker
Obamacare has flopped because it disabled what remained of the competitive system with defined benefits packages, mandates that everyone be covered, requirements that everyone must purchase, and geographic limits on service provision. All these together took health care out of the realm of markets and made it a form of central planning.
If Cosmetic Surgery Has a Working Market, Why Can't Medical Care? | Mark J. Perry
Between 1998 and 2016 prices for "Medical Care Services" in the US (as measured by the BLS's CPI for Medical Care Services) more than doubled (+100.5% increase) while the prices for " Hospital and Related Services" nearly tripled (+177% increase).
Medical Entitlements Make Care Expensive | Tom Mullen
Senator Rand Paul has introduced an alternative bill to what he calls, "Obamacare Lite," a.k.a. the American Health Care Act, introduced by House Speaker Paul Ryan. Paul's criticism of Ryan's bill was mild compared to Rep. Thomas Massie's. Massie called Ryan's bill a "stinking pile of garbage."
Actually, Repealing Obamacare Wouldn't Kill Anyone | Owen Cass
The best statistical estimate for the number of lives saved each year by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is zero. In fact, public health trends since the implementation of the ACA have worsened, with 80,000 more deaths in 2015 than there would have been had mortality continued declining during 2014-15 at the rate achieved during 2000-2013.
Obamacare and Dodd-Frank Have the Same Fatal Flaw | Kevin Villani
The current partisan war over the Dodd-Frank Act is just one dispute in a broader ideological divide about the government's role in industry. This dispute, which has deep historical roots, includes a similar battle over Obamacare.
Why Pre-Existing Conditions Should Be Left to the Market | David R. Henderson
Obamacare looked good because insurers could no longer charge for pre-existing conditions. Now a coalition of 150 patient groups is saying this creates a race to the bottom that "completely undermines the goal of the ACA." If anything, Republicans should fear not repealing ObamaCare's rules for pre-existing conditions.
5 Ways to Make Health Insurance Great Again | Diana Furchtgott-Roth
Americans buy many types of insurance without a mandate, because they think that this insurance is worthwhile. Health insurance can be made attractive so that people want to buy it. A broader choice of health insurance plans would reduce prices by encouraging insurance companies to compete for clients.
Healthcare Licensing and Barriers Are Sickening | Michael H. Wilson
I'm probably one of the few libertarians who would say that you have a right to health care (although not in the sense that progressives mean). I also believe that the ninth amendment protects that right. Let me explain. Getting over a licensing barrier can be very costly in time and money.
How the Market Is Already Repealing Obamacare | Stewart Jones
My wife was 6 months pregnant. The law changed and our insurance no long covered maternity or OB-GYN services. This meant that our insurance would no longer pay for anything related to the birth of our daughter. What were we supposed to do?
Repealing Obamacare Is Not Enough | Mark Humphrey
American health care is not very effective in curing diseases. The National Center for Health Statistics projects over 1.6 million new cancer cases and almost 600,000 cancer deaths for 2016. Among those who suffer heart attacks, fewer than 50% are alive five years later.
US Beats UK in Lives Saved by Health Care | Ryan Bourne
Last night's CNN duel between Senators Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz on the future of Obamacare was pretty illuminating for a recent arrival to the United States, with Senator Sanders' playbook all-too-familiar to those of us from the UK. Sanders wants a single-payer socialized healthcare system in the United States, just as we have in Britain.
Why Single-Payer Health Care Delivers Poor Quality at High Cost | Daniel J. Mitchell
I shared last year a matrix to illustrate Milton Friedman's great insight about the superior results achieved by markets compared to government. Incentives explain why markets work best. When you spend your own money on yourself (box 1), you try to maximize quality while minimizing cost.
Better Off Poor: How Obamacare Punishes Hard Work | Hans Bader
It's perverse to drive up the costs of someone's health insurance-and then punish them for working two jobs to pay for it. But that's what Obamacare is doing to some people. It drives up the cost of their health insurance to the point where they have to get a second job just to pay for it.
CBO Takeaway: Full Repeal Would Insure More People than ObamaCare-Lite | Michael F. Cannon
A new Congressional Budget Office report projecting the effects of the House Republican leadership's American Health Care Act weakens the case for the bill's ObamaCare-lite approach, and strengthens the case for full repeal. The CBO projects that over the next two years, the AHCA would cause average premiums to rise 15 percent to 20 percent above ObamaCare's already high premium levels.
Obamacare and the Second Theorem of Government | Daniel J. Mitchell
A couple of years ago, filled with disgust at the sleazy corruption of the federal Leviathan, I put forth a simple explanation for what happens in Washington, DC. I call it the " First Theorem of Government," and I think it accurately reflects the real purpose and operation of government.
Why Single-Payer Health Care Delivers Poor Quality at High Cost | Daniel J. Mitchell
I shared last year a matrix to illustrate Milton Friedman's great insight about the superior results achieved by markets compared to government. Incentives explain why markets work best. When you spend your own money on yourself (box 1), you try to maximize quality while minimizing cost.
Obamacare and Dodd-Frank Have the Same Fatal Flaw | Kevin Villani
The current partisan war over the Dodd-Frank Act is just one dispute in a broader ideological divide about the government's role in industry. This dispute, which has deep historical roots, includes a similar battle over Obamacare.
Obamacare and Dodd-Frank Have the Same Fatal Flaw | Kevin Villani
The current partisan war over the Dodd-Frank Act is just one dispute in a broader ideological divide about the government's role in industry. This dispute, which has deep historical roots, includes a similar battle over Obamacare.
Why Pre-Existing Conditions Should Be Left to the Market | David R. Henderson
Obamacare looked good because insurers could no longer charge for pre-existing conditions. Now a coalition of 150 patient groups is saying this creates a race to the bottom that "completely undermines the goal of the ACA." If anything, Republicans should fear not repealing ObamaCare's rules for pre-existing conditions.
Why the Feds Should Legalize Interstate Commerce in Healthcare
In a recent television interview, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini, head of one of America's largest health insurers, commented that selling insurance across state lines is "an outdated concept" in these days of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
5 Ways to Make Health Insurance Great Again | Diana Furchtgott-Roth
Americans buy many types of insurance without a mandate, because they think that this insurance is worthwhile. Health insurance can be made attractive so that people want to buy it. A broader choice of health insurance plans would reduce prices by encouraging insurance companies to compete for clients.
The Media's Fake News about Obamacare | Alyene Senger
For Americans paying premiums, this year's price increases speak for themselves. According to the Obama administration, on the exchanges, the average increase this year in the benchmark plan premium is 25 percent across the 39 states that use the HealthCare.gov platform.
Obamacare Is the Welfare State's Requiem | Jeffrey A. Tucker
In the hymn for the dead for the Catholic Mass, the text of "Dies Irae" starts, "The day of wrath, that day will dissolve the world in ashes." For Obamacare, this is that day, and it could portend a future in which the mighty ambitions of the welfare-state shrivel and die.
Obamacare Is the Welfare State's Requiem | Jeffrey A. Tucker
In the hymn for the dead for the Catholic Mass, the text of "Dies Irae" starts, "The day of wrath, that day will dissolve the world in ashes." For Obamacare, this is that day, and it could portend a future in which the mighty ambitions of the welfare-state shrivel and die.
Obamacare Is Raising Premiums and Lowering Employment | Hans Bader
Obamacare has already reduced employment in most states by between 1.5% and 3%, according to Georgetown University's Tomas Wind. The law will slow economic growth over the next decade, costing the nation about 2.3 million jobs and contributing to a $1 trillion increase in projected deficits.
Obamacare Is Literally Killing Us | Hans Bader
The death rate increased 1.2% last year, and life expectancy fell in 2015 for both men and women. As ABC News notes, "A decades-long trend of rising life expectancy in the U.S. could be ending: It declined last year and it is no better than it was four years ago."
Why Obamacare Is Failing at "Universal Coverage" | Yevgeniy Feyman
The ACA has stimulated dramatic changes to America's individual health-insurance market. It has placed more restrictions on insurance pricing (i.e., charging individuals different premiums depending on their health and age), and it has mandated benefit increases for insurance plans.
How Obamacare is Destroying Healthcare Access | Daniel J. Mitchell
The ongoing cluster-you-know-what of Obamacare is a source of unhappy satisfaction. Part of me is glad the law is such a failure, but it's tragic that millions of people are suffering adverse consequences. These are folks who did nothing wrong, but now are paying more, losing employment, suffering income losses, and/or being forced to find new plans and new doctors.
In Health Care, Freedom Is the Only Way Forward | Bartley J. Madden
The winners of this November's election will have a unique opportunity to improve American healthcare. Neither higher taxes nor increased ObamaCare big government is the answer. For guidance, look to the one area of health care where quality has improved and costs (inflation adjusted) have declined - cosmetic surgery. Why?