Today’s Wall Street Journal profiles Dr. Devi Shetty, an Indian heart surgeon finding a way to deliver…
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Real Health Care Reform

Today’s Wall Street Journal profiles Dr. Devi Shetty, an Indian heart surgeon finding a way to deliver quality health care at lower prices.

Dr. Shetty, who entered the limelight in the early 1990s as Mother Teresa's cardiac surgeon, offers cutting-edge medical care in India at a fraction of what it costs elsewhere in the world. His flagship heart hospital charges $2,000, on average, for open-heart surgery, compared with hospitals in the U.S. that are paid between $20,000 and $100,000, depending on the complexity of the surgery.

The approach has transformed health care in India through a simple premise that works in other industries: economies of scale. By driving huge volumes, even of procedures as sophisticated, delicate and dangerous as heart surgery, Dr. Shetty has managed…[more]

November 21, 2009 • 01:11 pm

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Jester's CourtroomLegal tales stranger than stranger than fiction: Ridiculous and sometimes funny lawsuits plaguing our courts.
Notable Quotes
 
Regarding the Attack on Medical Specialists as Part of Health Care Reform:
 
 

"In President Obama's Washington, medical specialists are slightly more popular than the H1N1 virus. ... From Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus's health-care bill to changes the Administration is pushing in Medicare, Democrats are systematically attacking specific medical fields like cardiology and oncology. With almost no scrutiny, they're trying to engineer a 'cheaper' system so that government can afford to buy health care for all—even if the price is fewer and less innovative ways of extending and improving lives."

 
 
— The Editors, The Wall Street Journal
— The Editors, The Wall Street Journal
Posted October 06, 2009 • 10:48 am
 
 
On Cap-and-Trade Legislation:
 
 

"Manufacturers are making decisions about their future capital investments today. Whether or not Waxman-Markey is embraced by the U.S. Senate leadership is a critical decision, because America will lose opportunities to compete and create jobs in the future as long as the threat of an economy-crushing tax scheme like 'cap & trade' exists in the public debate."

 
 
— Brett Vassey, President and CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association
— Brett Vassey, President and CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association
Posted October 05, 2009 • 09:48 am
 
 
On President Obama's Foreign Policy:
 
 

"Barack Obama's foreign policy seems to be predicated on a boundless faith in his own persuasive powers and the naïve notion that our international antagonists are merely misunderstood. Not since Jimmy Carter has American foreign policy been so obsequious or short-sighted."

 
 
— Mark Hillman, Former Majority Leader of the Colorado Senate
— Mark Hillman, Former Majority Leader of the Colorado Senate
Posted October 02, 2009 • 09:52 am
 
 
On Government-Run Health Care:
 
 

"President Obama's promise that a government health care takeover is the key to almost every ill echoes 19th century charlatans selling elixirs that would cure everything from constipation to baldness. From controlling the growth of government to reining in private business expenditures, Mr. Obama's health reform potion is promised as a cure-all. It's hardly that...

"With everything from emergency-room care to chemotherapy riding on proposed health care legislation, mistakes may cost lives. The record of government-dominated health care offers a clear warning why America should not head in that direction."

 
 
— The Editors, The Washington Times
— The Editors, The Washington Times
Posted October 01, 2009 • 10:23 am
 
 
Regarding the Administration's Proposed Overhaul of Financial Regulations:
 
 

"The White House had proposed, and [Treasury Secretary Timothy] Geithner was ready to defend, such a radical expansion of government power that even Barney Frank, the ultra-liberal congressman from Massachusetts, felt compelled to object that it went too far.

"When Barney Frank thinks that you are too liberal, you better check your medications."

 
 
— Kevin Hassett, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow and Director of Economic Policy Studies
— Kevin Hassett, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow and Director of Economic Policy Studies
Posted September 30, 2009 • 09:16 am
 
 
On President Obama's Job Performance:
 
 

"Sooner or later it is going to occur to Barack Obama that he is the president of the United States. As of yet, though, he does not act that way, appearing promiscuously on television and granting interviews like the presidential candidate he no longer is. The election has been held, but the campaign goes on and on. The candidate has yet to become commander in chief… 

"Obama lost credibility with his [health care reform legislation] deadline-that-never-was, and now he threatens to lose some more with his posturing toward Iran. He has gotten into a demeaning dialogue with Ahmadinejad, an accomplished liar. (The next day, the Iranian used a news conference to counter Obama and, days later, Iran tested some intermediate-range missiles.) Obama is our version of a Supreme Leader, not given to making idle threats, setting idle deadlines, reversing course on momentous issues, creating a TV crisis where none existed or, unbelievably, pitching Chicago for the 2016 Olympics. Obama's the president. Time he understood that."

 
 
— Richard Cohen, Nationally Syndicated Washington Post Columnist
— Richard Cohen, Nationally Syndicated Washington Post Columnist
Posted September 29, 2009 • 10:59 am
 
 
More on President Obama’s Job Performance:
 
 

“Despite his many words and television appearances, our elegant and eloquent president remains more an emblem of change than an agent of it. He's a man with an endless, worthy to-do list - health care, climate change, bank reform, global capital regulation, ... the Middle East, you name it - but, as yet, no boxes checked 'done.' This is a problem that style will not fix.”

 
 
— Howard Fineman, Newsweek Magazine Senior Editor and Deputy Washington Bureau Chief
— Howard Fineman, Newsweek Magazine Senior Editor and Deputy Washington Bureau Chief
Posted September 29, 2009 • 10:57 am
 
 
Regarding the Failure of the Administration’s Policy of “Soft” Diplomacy toward Iran:
 
 

"Mr. Obama may be the most puzzled of all. He went many thousands of miles out of his way to apologize for the sins of the evil country he's the president of, promising with servile humility to hector us to do better. For his efforts, he learns that the Iranians have not only not disbanded their nuclear-bomb factory, but have added another to enrich uranium, and dared Mr. Obama and the West to do anything about it. ‘We are going to respond to any military action in a crushing manner,’ boasts the chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Air Force, ‘and it doesn't make any difference which country or regime has launched the aggression.’ A teleprompter won't be much protection against an incoming nuclear missile."

 
 
— Wesley Pruden, Washington Times Editor Emeritus
— Wesley Pruden, Washington Times Editor Emeritus
Posted September 29, 2009 • 10:53 am
 
 
On Using the Public-Private University System to Sell the Public Option:
 
 

"It is bad that the President, demonstrating what can only be described as intellectual density, has chosen instead to compare his public option to our system of state colleges and universities. This is particularly ironic given the fact that the cost of higher education has been skyrocketing for years and has in fact outpaced that of healthcare. Even more ironic is that according to the College Board's annual tuition survey, the rate of growth of the price of public 4 year colleges has been faster than at private 4 year colleges; a trend that has persisted for 3 decades."

 

 
 
— Horace Cooper, Writer and Legal Commentator
— Horace Cooper, Writer and Legal Commentator
Posted September 28, 2009 • 09:30 am
 
 
On Pres. Obama's Lack of Candidness Regarding Health Reform Reform:
 
 

"[I]t would be unrealistic to expect complete candor from any president about the costs and risks of extending health insurance to 30 million more Americans. If Obama can meet the truthfulness test applied by Huckleberry Finn to his creator Mark Twain -- 'There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth' -- that would be good enough for me.

"But can he? Despite Obama's good intentions, I can't help thinking that the deviations from truth-telling identified by various critics go to the heart of his plan, compromise his credibility, and could accelerate health-cost inflation with ruinous consequences for the economy."

 
 
— Stuart Taylor, National Journal
— Stuart Taylor, National Journal
Posted September 25, 2009 • 10:56 am
 
Question of the Week   
Who was the first U.S. President to travel abroad while serving in office?
More Questions
Quote of the Day   
 
"A climate crisis of worldwide proportions is unfolding right before our eyes, and not even the most powerful world leaders can do anything to stop it. It looks like 2009 may very well turn out to be the fourth straight year of declining global temperatures at a time when carbon dioxide levels continue to rise - the opposite of what was predicted by vaunted climate models... For now, continuous falling…[more]
 
 
—Anthony J. Sadar, Author and Certified Consulting Meteorologist, and Susan T. Cammarata, Environmental Attorney
— Anthony J. Sadar, Author and Certified Consulting Meteorologist, and Susan T. Cammarata, Environmental Attorney
 
Liberty Poll   

Should Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alledged mastermind behind 9-11, be tried as a civilian in federal district court in New York or before a military tribunal?