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]
In campaign speeches, Barack Obama sermonizes endlessly against “giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans like me.”
According to his own IRS return, however, Obama himself gladly exploits them.
Alongside Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D – New York) and so many other champagne liberals, he apparently follows the motto “lower taxes for me, but not for thee.”
This week, Obama released his 2011 return, showing an adjusted gross income of $790,000 – which places him well within the top 1% bracket that he so often…