Healthcare

Kennedy Opening the Door to Subjugation

By Justin Katz | July 29, 2009 |

Writing on RIFuture, last week, Rep. Patrick Kennedy presented a frightening intention with an ease suggestive of an ignorance about its implications: I am also proud to have successfully worked on an amendment with my colleagues to ensure that screening for mental health and substance-use disorders are covered as a preventive service under this bill.…

Obesity: One Arm of the Healthcare Clamp on Freedom

By Justin Katz | July 28, 2009 |

The question is who should pay the premium for lifestyles that increase healthcare costs because of obesity? Obesity’s not just dangerous, it’s expensive. New research shows medical spending averages $1,400 more a year for an obese person than for someone who’s normal weight. Overall obesity-related health spending reaches $147 billion, double what it was nearly…

Health… of the Nation, of the State, and of the Town

By Justin Katz | July 23, 2009 |

On last night’s Matt Allen Show, Monique and Matt covered the travesty that is healthcare “reform,” the travesty that is underage exotic dancers in Rhode Island, and the travesty that is the Caruolo lawsuit in Woonsocket. (If I may interject: perhaps there’s a solution to be found, among these three issues, if the government requires…

The Disclaimers Are Always the Thing

By Justin Katz | July 22, 2009 |

It is definitely not our practice to run political ads for political reasons (or only for political reasons), but this one from the Republican National Committee on the healthcare legislation is funny enough to merit a few minutes of your time. As one might expect, the “side effects” disclaimer is the key.

America’s Elected Geniuses

By Justin Katz | July 22, 2009 |

John Stossel shows that it doesn’t take but a little of that common sense of the right-wing variety to produce an “oh” moment: It’s crazy for a group of mere mortals to try to design 15 percent of the U.S. economy. It’s even crazier to do it by August. Yet that is what some members…

Preventive Totalitarianism

By Justin Katz | July 19, 2009 |

Stated in passing — as an inarguable truism — is the most eerie part of President Obama’s recent healthcare remarks (video, at about minute two): We’re now at a point where most everyone agrees that we need to invest in preventive and wellness programs that can save us money and help lead healthier lives. Put…

Wasn’t This Guy Supposed to Be Smart, Moderate, and Temperate?

By Justin Katz | July 18, 2009 |

This bit of cynicism should be beneath the cool-headed genius whom we elected president: Obama countered yesterday that “if we step back from this challenge at this moment, we are consigning our children to a future of skyrocketing premiums and crushing deficits. If we don’t achieve health-care reform, we cannot control the costs of Medicare…

The Depression Is Coming! The Depression Is Coming!

By Justin Katz | July 15, 2009 |

It really is astonishing. With the economy flailing and the trends in job losses disappointing even the whiz kids of the Obama administration, despite its having whipped out the “stimulus” credit card, with “cap and trade” energy policy seeking to raise the cost of doing business (and of simply living), the Democrats are hitting the…

When the Last Bastion Falls

By Justin Katz | July 14, 2009 |

On healthcare, as on several other issues, it’s long been my contention that the touted (but debatable) successes of other nations are heavily dependent about the United States of America being its different self. That’s one of the points worth taking from Peter Morici’s op-ed on healthcare reform: Americans subsidize health care globally by paying…

An Image and a Corrective on Healthcare and the Economy

By Justin Katz | July 14, 2009 |

Ben Stein presents an excellent image: True, by many metrics, the economy has stopped falling drastically, but we are still in a painful recession, large by postwar standards. The bank crises seem to have abated for now and Wall Street is paying itself fantastically well again, thank heavens, after being rescued with taxpayer money. But…