Opinion
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10/2002 The Pulse
Opinion -Let’s rev up those engines by starting with a bit of hubris from academia. Grant Reeher is a poli-sci professor at the Maxwell School at Syracuse. -
Addicted to Tobacco Taxes
Opinion -Arizona’s politicians can’t make up their minds about tobacco. -
Maine Rx Price Controls Violate Medicaid Law
Opinion -Maine’s beleaguered prescription drug program is still under fire for violating Medicaid and interstate commerce laws. Although the bill was enacted by the state legislature in 2001, it has not yet taken effect. -
Executive Summary: Prescription Drug Security Plan (PDS)
Opinion -The program has two parts: 1. An up-front subsidy for routine drug expenses 2. -
Medicare Drug Follies
Opinion -Our senior citizens should have the life-saving medicines they need without going broke or giving up life’s other necessities in the process. However, we need to inject or infuse a dose of common sense into the treatment plan. -
IRS Ruling Expected to Increase HRA Participation
Opinion -A June 2002 ruling by the Internal Revenue Service may boost sales of defined-contribution plans by health insurance companies, but it’s debatable whether the decision will slow spending on health services. -
IRS Ruling Makes Patient Choice A Reality
Opinion -There is a saying I often think of when discussing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS): “Bureaucracy is the art of making the possible, impossible.” But every now and then even the IRS surprises me by doing the exact opposite. -
10/2002 The Galen Report
Opinion -The revolution in consumer-driven health care is indeed taking hold, if the responses to two speeches I gave in October are an indicator. I spoke in Ocean City to the annual convention of MedChi, the Medical Society of Maryland. -
Health Care Inflation 101
Opinion -On September 21, 2002 USA Today writers attempted to explain double-digit health care inflation. The news story (and I’m being generous here) was headlined: “Finger Pointers Can’t Settle On Who’s to Blame for Health Costs. -
Greens Suffer Setback at Johannesburg Summit
Opinion -In a stunning setback for the anti-market “Green” wing of the global environmental movement, delegates at the recently concluded World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa rejected calls for restricting poorer nations’ -
Bush Backs Greenhouse Gas Trading Scheme
Opinion -On February 14, 2002 President George W. Bush directed various agencies to transform the Department of Energy’s Voluntary Reporting of Greenhouse Gases program into a program awarding “transferable credits” for “voluntary” emission reductions. -
AIDS Activists Hinder Their Cause
Opinion -In September at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the head of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, told delegates he was upset that AIDS discussions were not higher up the agenda of the summit. -
Smallpox Vaccine Controversy Grows
Opinion -The Bush administration is about to announce a major shift in policy regarding vaccinating the general population against smallpox in case of a terrorist attack. -
Floridians Battle Bureaucrats to Save Their Homes, Property
Opinion -Ten years ago, Hurricane Andrew blasted the coast of Southeast Florida with the force of a Level Five hurricane, only one of three of that magnitude to hit the United States during the twentieth century. -
Global Warming: a Status Report
Opinion -The ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP-9) convenes in New Delhi in November 2002 to discuss implementation of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Where do things stand? The U.S. and Australia have opted out. -
Joint Letter on ANWR Drilling
Opinion -September 24, 2002 The Honorable Billy Tauzin Chairman Conference Committee on the Energy Policy Act of 2002 2125 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Tauzin: We write to express our support for the provision in the House -
Bush Picks His Man
Opinion -After a long delay, President George W. Bush nominated Dr. Mark McClellan, a senior White House health policy advisor, to serve as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). -
Smallpox Health Facts
Opinion -Smallpox spreads from person to person, primarily via droplets or aerosols expelled from the throat of infected persons, by direct contact, and via contaminated clothing and bed linens. It is fatal in perhaps a third of previously unvaccinated victims. -
Joint Letter on the Energy Policy Act of 2002
Opinion -September 24, 2002 The Honorable Billy Tauzin Chairman Conference Committee on the Energy Policy Act of 2002 2125 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Chairman Tauzin: We strongly support your efforts, as Chairman of the Conference -
Naturally Occurring Mutagens and Carcinogens Found in Foods and Beverages
Opinion -Acetaldehyde (apples, bread, coffee, tomatoes)—mutagen and potent rodent carcinogen Acrylamide (bread, rolls)—rodent and human neurotoxin; rodent carcinogen Aflatoxin (nuts)—mutagen and potent rodent carcinogen; also a human carcinogen -
Debunking the Solar Energy Myth
Opinion -The Solar Fraud: Why Solar Energy Won’t Run the World by Howard C. Hayden, PhD Vales Lake Publishing, paperback, 224 pages Howard Hayden, Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Connecticut, is the Mr. Wizard of alternative energy. -
Proposed Bush Medicare Reform Plan Anticipates State of the Union Address
Opinion -Where Congress failed, the Bush administration has succeeded: It has found a way to initiate Medicare reform and offer prescription drug coverage to senior citizens. The three-year demonstration project doesn’t require the approval of Congress. -
Should the Medicare Bureaucracy Manage a Drug Benefit?
Opinion -Many Members of Congress want the current Medicare bureaucracy to manage a new Medicare prescription drug benefit. But a major government-wide survey of federal managers, conducted by the U.S. -
Rx Reimportation: A Legislative History
Opinion -In the absence of any Congressional action on a Medicare prescription drug benefit, some states have focused instead on immediate, incremental measures such as drug discount cards and drug reimportation.