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]
Back in May, with ISIS ascendant, the Obama Pentagon ordered U.S. military bases here at home to raise their force protection condition status (FPCON) to "Bravo" amid a "general increase in the threat environment."
FPCON is the military's security posture to protect troops, their families, civilian employees, information, equipment and facilities against terrorist threats. FPCON Bravo — the third-highest threat level on a five-tier scale used by the Department of Defense -- signals a climate in which "increased and more predictable threat[s] of terrorist activity"…