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]
With all the attention centered on the fallout in the federal budget should President Barack Obama and Congressional Republicans fail to cut a deal that avoids the fiscal cliff, it’s easy to forget that the budgets of most state governments will be heavily impacted as well.
To recap, Congress and the President are facing two separate yet related issues. The first is the expiration of the Bush era tax cuts, as well as a temporary reduction in the payroll tax. Congressional Republicans want to extend the cuts for all taxpayers, and would probably be willing to extend the payroll…