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]
Amid a toxic political climate fraught with controversy and warring factions, centrist Republicans in Congress facing election across the country increasingly worry about being defined by positions they must take on today’s most divisive issues. That’s particularly true where swing voters in their districts believe that Congress is accomplishing little of substance.
To overcome those perceived headwinds, such centrist Republicans should act now on popular, common-sense measures to assure skeptical voters that they can actually accomplish meaningful reform in sectors…