Last week, the Supreme Court ended a long-standing debate over whether or not doctors-in-training, better known as medical residents, are "students" or "employees." The nation's high court, in its misguided wisdom, concluded residents should not be classified as students. With as much as $700 million annually in tax revenue at stake, the classification has never been just semantics. Among the … [Read more...] about Medical Residency Ruling Will Hurt Hospitals, Care
Valuing What's Right about Health Care in America
The tragic shootings last Saturday in Tucson created a backlash of hurtful and harmful accusations as people tried to find someone to blame for this incomprehensible slaughter. All evidence indicates that Jared Lee Loughner is mentally ill and is not a right- or left-wing extremist, as too many people charged. Psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey explained in an important commentary in The Wall Street … [Read more...] about Valuing What's Right about Health Care in America
ObamaCare Will Increase the Deficit and Kill Jobs
The House is planning to vote next Wednesday on a full repeal of ObamaCare, and the administration is defending the law with a long list of Alice-in-Wonderland claims. The White House says it will "provide Americans with more freedom and control in their health care choices" and that it is "good for the economy and good for jobs." And it warns newly elected Republicans that voting to repeal the … [Read more...] about ObamaCare Will Increase the Deficit and Kill Jobs
On the Road to Rationing
In the summer of 2009, town hall meetings erupted as people voiced fears about greater government control over health care decisions. The fears were sparked by a small provision in an early version of the health bill involving end-of-life care.People sensed a potential conflict of interest if the federal government was paying doctors for end-of-life counseling and also paying for end-of-life care. … [Read more...] about On the Road to Rationing
America Comes First
Pollster Frank Luntz interviewed about 20 newly elected House Republicans on Fox News Tuesday night. These are the men and women who put themselves forward in 2010 to run for office, get elected, and produce the strong majority in the 112th Congress that has given Rep. John Boehner the speakership.A telling moment came when Sean Hannity asked the members whether they were Republicans first or … [Read more...] about America Comes First
A doctor is a doctor is a nurse
A recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report calls for expanding the authority of nurses to practice medicine and for increasing their pay. Besides helping a loyal unionized constituency, the report claims that allowing nurses to do more can alleviate the physician shortage. In reality this will likely have the exact opposite effect by disincentivizing individuals from becoming medical doctors in … [Read more...] about A doctor is a doctor is a nurse
Pro & Con: Is health care reform a ‘government takeover’? YES: The law gives government the power to determine ‘essential’ services.
PolitiFact.com, the online oracle of all things true and untrue in America's political debate, is wrong in saying it is the "lie of the year" to call "Obamacare" a government takeover of health care.The proclamation shows that its editors need a Truth-O-Meter of their own. Obamacare is a uniquely American government takeover of health care. Its 2,801 pages of legislation and insidious regulatory … [Read more...] about Pro & Con: Is health care reform a ‘government takeover’? YES: The law gives government the power to determine ‘essential’ services.
ObamaCare’s Unraveling Begins
U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson's ruling last month that Obamacare's individual mandate is unconstitutional was a huge rebuke of the president's health law – but it was just the beginning.And in another federal courtroom in Florida the same week, U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson also was skeptical about the federal government's authority to require everyone to purchase government-approved health … [Read more...] about ObamaCare’s Unraveling Begins