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]
This week, we passed a new presidential milestone.
According to the periodic NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey, Barack Obama plummeted to an all-time low of 42% in public approval. While that alone constitutes a notable event, it’s actually not the most important aspect of the survey, since peaks and troughs are cyclical realities of any presidency.
Rather, four additional aspects add particular significance.
First, as highlighted by the Journal, “more Americans now view Mr. Obama negatively than positively, for the first time since he emerged as a national…