Opinion
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Liberals’ Medicare Reform Proposal Is Just Plain Politics
Opinion -On February 5, two U.S. Senators, Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), introduced legislation allowing the federal government to directly negotiate drug prices with private drug companies. -
Repeal Community Rating
Opinion -A main tenet of modern liberalism is that government must take from those who have a lot, and distribute benefits to those who have little. Thus it is always baffling when liberals demand the poor be taxed to shower benefits on the rich. -
Obesity Epidemic: Peter Jennings Is Wrong
Opinion -Peter Jennings said on his recent ABC Special Report on Obesity that U.S. agricultural policies and the food industry are making our kids fat. Peter Jennings is wrong. When I was a kid I played outside a lot. -
Patients Caught in Crossfire as Bureaucrats Take Aim at Doctors
Opinion -In the 1930s, Joseph Stalin noted the Soviet population wasn’t growing fast enough to build his workers’ paradise quickly enough. So he shot the census takers. The next batch of census takers weren’t any better. -
Taxpayer Group Seeks to Save Feds $12.6 Million
Opinion -February 5, 2004 The Honorable Tommy Thompson Secretary Department of Health and Human Services 200 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20201 Dear Secretary Thompson: On behalf of the 350,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I write to -
Minnesotans Polled on Government-Run Health Care
Opinion -On January 12, the Minnesota Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs released a draft report of findings it reached after a telephone survey of Minnesota residents. As chair of the 18-member panel appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty (R), former U.S. -
Health Care 2004: The Candidates Stake Out Positions
Opinion -Managing editor’s note: Health care rates high on the list of issues taxpayers and voters want Presidential candidates to address during this year’s campaign. -
California Play or Pay Repeal Gains Ballot Status
Opinion -A three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has ruled Californians should be allowed to vote on a referendum aimed at repealing SB 2, a law requiring some companies either to provide health insurance to their workers or pay -
Medicare HMO Premiums Plummet
Opinion -Millions of seniors enrolled in private-sector Medicare HMOs are getting a big surprise: lower health insurance premiums and increased benefits. -
$30 Million Awarded to High-Risk Pools
Opinion -In late December, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded $30 million in grants to 16 states to help meet the health insurance expenses of residents with preexisting conditions who are unable to obtain private health coverage and are -
Consumer Choice Matters: Celebrating Consumer Choice
Opinion -The President of the United States has become the number one salesman and marketer for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Grace-Marie Turner and I were honored to be among about 100 people to join President George W. -
Health Insurance Meltdown in Vermont
Opinion -Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, a physician now running for the Democratic Party’s nomination for President, considers his state a model for health care reform. -
Rx Buying Clubs Not Always Cheaper
Opinion -Budget pressures, clamoring from senior citizen groups, and a recent favorable court ruling have prompted a number of states to create “drug buying clubs” and take other measures to cut prescription drug costs. -
Latest Medicare Reform Proposal Is ‘Just Plain Politics,’ Think Tank Says
Opinion -CHICAGO--Today two U.S. Senators, Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) plan to introduce legislation allowing the federal government to directly negotiate drug prices with private drug companies. -
MyTurn: A Reasonable Doubt
Opinion -Thanks to increased border security in the wake of September 11, seizures of diluted and counterfeit drugs entering the U.S. from Asia, Europe, and other locations have increased dramatically over the past two years. -
Economists Warn of Dangers of Drug Importation, Price Controls
Opinion -We are deeply concerned about proposed legislation to remove pharmaceutical companies’ ability to control the importation of their products. -
Medicare’s Long Rx History
Opinion -They say the wheels of progress grind slowly. The history of getting a prescription drug benefit into Medicare seems to validate that truism: It took 36 years. -
Weight Restrictions Not Pound Foolish
Opinion -According to a panicky report in the press, our society is in the grips of another terrible crisis: weight restrictions for players on youth football teams. -
‘Best Practices’ Provoke Controversy, Opposition
Opinion -The notion of “best practices” is an emerging concept in health care policy and practice. Exactly what it means and how it will affect patient care are open to debate. -
Consumer Choice Matters: HSAs and Some Devilish Details
Opinion -Some readers will find the discussion below tedious, and I apologize for that. We’ll get back to fun stuff next month ... but how well Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) work will depend on how the IRS regulations shake out. -
Destroying Insurance Markets: Introduction to a Series
Opinion -During the early 1990s, state legislators and insurance regulators faced growing public concern over two health insurance problems. -
Drug Importation Remains Illegal
Opinion -The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, signed by President George W. Bush in December, contains language allowing prescription drug importation from Canada ... -
Evaluating the Pros and Cons of Importation
Opinion -Managing Editor’s note: On October 23, 2003, The Heartland Institute hosted a National Symposium on Drug Importation featuring elected officials from Illinois and policy experts from Canada and major U.S. think tanks. -
FDA: Cost of Enforcement Would Exceed Benefits of Importation
Opinion -As millions of Americans turn to Canada and even borderless Internet drug stores for less-expensive medicines, the FDA’s pharmacy affairs director, Tom McGinnis, said it would take hundreds of millions of dollars to set up a legal, safe program to
