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]
Even though the United States Senate refused to adopt Rand Paul’s amendment to the Gang of Eight’s immigration bill, his ‘Trust But Verify’ idea is one that conservatives should keep an eye on as the debate moves to the House of Representatives.
Already growing in popularity among House Republicans, Paul’s proposal would require Congress to vote annually on whether the border is actually secure, instead of shifting responsibility to faceless bureaucrats with an institutional bias against enforcement. If successful, the reform could go a long way to restoring Congress’…