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]
It's tax season again, and all across the country, taxpayers and tax accountants are feeling the effects of filing a return or an extension so they don't end up on the wrong side of the IRS, get audited or, worse, get put in prison. It's never easy, but this year is even more painful than ever.
The U.S. tax code has become so complicated that taxpayers have a hard time figuring out how to even comply with the whole thing. This has a terrible cost in terms of time, money and mental anguish. According to my colleagues Jason Fichtner and Jacob Feldman, "tax code complexity costs Americans anywhere…