As Senate Finance Committee Convenes on Healthcare Costs, First Do No Harm
As the United States Senate Finance Committee convenes today for a meeting entitled "The Rising Cost of Health Care: Considering Meaningful Solutions for All Americans," the enduring adage of medical care applies: Do no harm.
Specifically, as we've detailed at CFIF, we must especially avoid potentially catastrophic ideas like drug price controls (whether through so-called "Most Favored Nation" (MFN) programs or any other) and violations of patent and intellectual property (IP) protections in which the United States leads the world. Indeed, our more free-market approach explains why America leads the world in lifesaving healthcare innovation, accounting for an astonishing two-thirds of all new drugs introduced to the world each year:
The reasons that MFN schemes would only exacerbate…[more]
WARNING: Parts of this column may bear strong resemblance to my earlier columns when Michael Bloomberg toyed with running for president, because with Bloomberg, history has a way of repeating itself.
Every four years, Michael Bloomberg hears something virtually no other American hears: a groundswell of support for a Michael Bloomberg presidential candidacy. Now, as the 2020 Democratic primaries rapidly approach, he's hearing it again.
Bloomberg, a fairly successful mayor of New York and a fabulously successful businessman, has an estimated net worth of $52 billion. Without that fortune, nobody…