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]
In 2008, Barack Obama immodestly cited Ronald Reagan as the type of “transformative” president he intended to become. “Ronald Reagan,” he said, “changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not, that Bill Clinton did not.”
Bold words, but what’s equally notable is that Obama highlighted Nixon as a comparatively futile president. Today, Obama ties Nixon for the lowest public approval at this point in a presidency in Gallup’s recorded history.
In fact, even that comparison doesn’t capture the…