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]
“Washington DC does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.” With those words Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) voted against the New Year’s Day fiscal cliff deal that raised tax rates but failed to cut federal spending. As he heads back home to become Governor of Indiana, Pence leaves Washington the way he may one day return to it – as a consistent conservative ready to lead.
Like most Republicans, Pence has a strong record against spending increases pushed by President Barack Obama. But unlike many of his colleagues, Pence spent the…