The global urgency to vaccinate people against Covid-19 is facing two big hurdles, both of which can be attributed to faulty government decisions. First, U.S. officials have halted administration of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine pending an investigation about six women who developed a rare blood clot disorder after receiving the vaccine, one of whom has died. All … [Read more...] about Not even penny wise
Grace-Marie Turner
Escaping Silos
Sometimes we need to step away from an immediate problem to see a better solution. So it is with gun control, as award-winning journalist Carl Cannon wrote yesterday in his weekly “Morning Note” newsletter. Is the solution putting more restrictions on law-abiding citizens, which President Biden announced yesterday he plans to do through executive … [Read more...] about Escaping Silos
Education, not indoctrination
Pollster Frank Luntz convened a virtual focus group recently with “vaccine-hesitant Trump voters” intended to represent 30 million Republicans who say they don’t plan to get a coronavirus shot. “Without these people, you’re not getting herd immunity,” Luntz told The Washington Post. By the end of the session, all 19 participants at the end said they were more likely to get … [Read more...] about Education, not indoctrination
Eleven Long Years
Eleven years ago next Tuesday, Obamacare was signed into law, beginning a decade of distortions to our health sector that doubled premiums, caused millions of people to lose their policies and doctors, and dramatically reduced choices for Americans purchasing health insurance in the individual market. House Democrats are celebrating with a hearing on Tuesday, offering nearly … [Read more...] about Eleven Long Years
Other People’s Money
These are discouraging times indeed for those of us who believe in freedom of choice, private competition, and individual liberty in our health sector, and that government’s key role should be providing a strong safety net for the needy. But liberal health policy is in the ascendancy, with a huge new influx of deficit spending to further expand government’s role in the health sector and … [Read more...] about Other People’s Money
A Truly Awful Bill
It is hard to imagine a worse piece of legislation than the so-called Covid response bill that has passed the House and now is being debated in the Senate. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, demanded that the 628-page bill be read in its entirety on the Senate floor yesterday and last night, but few of his colleagues stayed to listen. Here’s a little of what they would have … [Read more...] about A Truly Awful Bill
On the Verge
The House is on the verge of ramming through its destructive and pork-laden $1.9 trillion relief bill, with Senate Democratic leaders eagerly awaiting its arrival next week. Galen Senior Fellows Brian Blase and Doug Badger have been prolific in helping policymakers see how regressive, wasteful, and destructive the ill-conceived health spending provisions in the bill are, as you have seen from … [Read more...] about On the Verge
The New Push to Expand Government’s Role in Health Care Won’t Work
The following is an open letter from 68 leaders participating in the Health Policy Consensus Group. The full list of signatories follows the letter. Democrats in Congress have proposed a COVID-19 relief bill that includes provisions to dramatically increase government subsidies for health care coverage for millions of people who already have insurance while further expanding … [Read more...] about The New Push to Expand Government’s Role in Health Care Won’t Work