Galen Institute

A major investigative group recently released a report claiming that many doctors are being corrupted by payments from the pharmaceutical industry.The report, called "Dollars for Docs," was issued by the group ProPublica. It compiled a database of $257.8 million in payments to 17,700 doctors by seven drug companies. The payments, ProPublica concludes, "raise ethical issues."This study has some … [Read more...] about When A Major Medical Financing Study Gets It Wrong

The brouhaha over liberals demanding that members of Congress turn down their congressional health insurance if they campaigned against Obamacare is misguided, but it does provide a teaching opportunity that could be very helpful in advancing the right policy solutions.Members of Congress are employees of the federal government, and they get their health insurance through their jobs – just as 160 … [Read more...] about Should Congressmen Turn Down Health Insurance?

The extraordinarily expensive and time-consuming process of getting a new medicine approved by the Food and Drug Administration is becoming even more perilous. Take the case of Avastin. The FDA approved Avastin to fight late-stage breast cancer in 2008, but the agency has spent much of 2010 debating whether to reverse its decision.Medical researchers and patients are on hold until Dec. 17, when … [Read more...] about Drug Delays Hurt Research

The best way to get Medicare spending under control is to follow the model of a successful program that is actually costing less than expected: the Part D prescription drug benefit.Medicare Part D was projected to cost $111.2 billion in 2009 under original estimates. But the most recent Medicare Trustees’ Report found that the benefit actually cost the federal government $60.8 billion last … [Read more...] about Allow Real Competition in Medicare