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 seems you can’t go anywhere these days without hearing the refrain: America is suffering … and it’s because of the wealthy. Barack Obama rails against fat-cat bankers and employers sitting on money. Liberal protestors bewail the influence of money in politics in the wake of the Supreme Court’s campaign finance rulings.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid takes to the floor for daily denunciations of Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who’ve financed many conservative and libertarian causes.
Of course, there are some ironies at work here.…