Healthcare
In advance of President Obama’s speech tonight about healthcare, I have one simple question – If a government-run option is such a good idea for all of the rest of us, why do Obama and the Congress refuse to sign up for it themselves? On a related note, Ponnuru discusses the Left’s disregard for truth.…
Congress is back after a 40 day recess. A lot has happened–namely, bi-partisan “comprehensive health care reform” looks dead–but there will be much discussion over the next few weeks. The Washington Post (h/t) oofers a summary and preview, including this helpful bit from Republican Congressman Mike Pence: House Republicans, who held hundreds of their own…
Michael Kinsley has argued that, when it comes to rationing, healthcare reform would only make explicit something that the system does inherently: In practice, people die all the time because some effective treatment is too expensive. But whenever an issue gets drawn into the political system and becomes explicit, it becomes harder. That is what…
I have yet to hear back from Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s office regarding my inquiry about the meaning of “screening” when it comes to mental illness and addiction, with specific reference to an amendment to the healthcare “reform” bill in the House. Sometimes, though, when you’ve this sort of thought filed in the back of your…
Does anybody else see imaginary warning signs whenever news media convey urgency related to the swine flu and its predicted resurgence with the resumption of school? Parents and non-parents alike do well to pay attention to developments on the H1N1 front, but before leaping onto the latest and greatest protections, all should seek context like…
Since the pre-Anchor Rising days of Dust in the Light, I’ve found it to be among the great puzzles of Rhode Island media that somebody is actually willing to pay Froma Harrop a living wage to write political opinion pieces. The young writer might be tempted to find encouragement in the apparent height of the…
Could it all be as simple as getting folks to think through their arguments? That’s an encouraging thought, but probably overly optimistic. Consider (emphasis added): In Amsterdam, where I spend part of the year, every time I go the pharmacy and take out cash to pay for a prescription, the pharmacist and all the well-insured…
I heard yesterday that the Obama Administration held a celebratory press conference about getting a couple billion dollars out of Pfizer for some thing or other. Except, as Glenn Reynold’s pointed out, it was the Bush Administration that actually extracted the dough. The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion to settle civil and…
I’m not sure whether or not this constitutes a “death panel,” but it’s certainly got the “death” part: In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, a group of experts who care for the terminally ill claim that some patients are being wrongly judged as close to death. Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help…
On August 19, I attended the Town Hall Meeting called by Representative James Langevin for what was said to be an opportunity for him to gauge the pulse of his district during the summer recess. There was little doubt in anyone’s mind that Topic A for the evening’s exchange would be the proposed changes to…