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]
By now it's apparent that majorities in Congress consider ObamaCare too precious to repeal and replace.
So why does Congress itself remain immune from the law it passed under ignominious circumstances, and insists on sustaining?
If Congress demands that other Americans endure ObamaCare and its provisions, under what concept of fairness can it conspicuously receive a "get out of jail free" exemption for its own members and employees?
The story behind the exemption offers a classic tale of Washington, D.C., duplicity, and its outrageousness speaks not only to the sheer…