Medicare Stasi
Amid the ObamaCare fiasco, the latest is that physicians will be subject to streams of grubby government spies checking up on their Medicare patient intake. This isn’t Eurosocialist care anymore. This is the Soviet Union. In a front-page news story, the New York Times reported Monday that Obama administration officials intend to recruit a team
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Germs Lurking on Hospital Surfaces Can Kill You
By Betsy McCaughey If you’re visiting a friend or relative in the hospital, forget taking flowers or candy. Bring gloves and a canister of bleach wipes. Several new studies show that hospital patients are at significantly higher risk of getting an infection if they are placed in a room where a previous occupant had an infection. Room
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The IPAB- Congress’s ‘Good Deed’
By Henry J. Aaron, Ph.D. Among the most important attributes of legislative statesmanship is self-abnegation — the willingness of legislators to abstain from meddling in matters they are poorly equipped to manage. The law creating the Federal Reserve embodied that virtue. Congress recognized the abiding temptation to use monetary policy for political ends and realized
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There’s No ‘Average’ Cancer Patient
By Gregory Conko On June 28, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a hearing to decide the fate of Avastin, a drug taken by thousands of women fighting late-stage breast cancer. Many of these women have pleaded for continued access to the drug, which they consider a matter of life and death. But
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U.S. Halts New Applications for Waivers on Health Coverage Rule
By Noam Levi The Obama administration is ending a controversial program that allowed employers to avoid a key requirement of the new federal healthcare law. Beginning in September, employers that offer health coverage to their workers will no longer be able to seek a waiver from rules mandating that their plans provide at least $1.25
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How the Obama Health Law Destroys Your Privacy
By Betsy McCaughey Rep. Anthony Weiner announced this week that he’s seeking treatment for sexual “addiction” — mortifying in formation that a private person would want to keep to himself. But it soon may be difficult to keep any sensitive medical problem strictly between you and your doctor. The 2009 stimulus and the Obama health
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U.S. Approves Cancer Drugs Faster Than Europe
By Chris Fleming The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is often criticized as inefficient compared to its European counterpart, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), particularly in the field of oncology. However, a new study published online today by Health Affairs suggests otherwise: For new oncology drugs between 2003 and 2010, the median time for FDA approval was six
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Repealing and Replacing IPAB with Better Solutions
By Grace Marie Turner The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) was created by Congress as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) as a means of containing Medicare spending. The IPAB was designed to take difficult decisions about Medicare payment reductions out of the legislative process and delegate them to a panel
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New Medicare Efficiency Measures Deadly to Seniors
By Betsy McCaughey Everybody knows that if you don’t pay to maintain and repair your car, you limit its life. The same is true with human beings. We need medical care to avoid becoming clunkers — disabled, worn out, parked in wheelchairs and nursing homes. For nearly a half century, Medicare has enabled seniors to
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Obama’s IPAB Board Will Control Medicare Decisions
By Betsy McCaughey A toxic political strategy is spreading across the land, one that involves Medicare. It threatens to bamboozle voters and allow the 2012 election to turn on a lie. Democrats are making the obscenely false claim that they will “save Medicare as we’ve known it.” On Wednesday, Democrats used this deceptive strategy to
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