California Health Care: What's Next?
By Richard E. Ralston
November 20, 2006
It is unlikely that any significant improvements in health care policy will come out of the U.S. Congress in the next two years. However, major changes might develop at the state level—especially in California—for two reasons. . . . [ full article ]
Health Care Questions for Election Day
By Richard E. Ralston
October 23, 2006
Voters base their decisions in the voting booth on many issues and on the perceived character of the candidates. Sound health care policy, based on individual freedom and personal choice, should pay an increasingly important role in the political process, and voters need to think through health care issues as an important component of their decisions. . . . [ full article ]
Why the AMA Is Wrong About Medicare
By Scott Holleran and Arthur Astorino, Jr., MD
October 21, 2006
The American Medical Association (AMA) is now engaged in an irrational effort to prevent cuts in Medicare payments to doctors. The campaign, which included a "fly-in" where AMA members personally appealed to members of Congress in Washington D.C., is fundamentally flawed. . . . [ full article ]
American Health Care: The Best in the World
By Richard E. Ralston
September 19, 2006
In the run up to the November elections, as in most recent elections, we are hearing a lot about how America is supposedly suffering from bad health care. The debate is normally divided between those who want to wipe out the entire system and replace it with government micro-management of every detail of your health care, and those who want only to vastly increase government spending on what is left of "private" health care. Both usually ignore what is, or should be, unique about American health care—a foundation in individual rights and limited constitutional government. Usually, the argument carefully avoids this moral and political context entirely. . . . [ full article ]
Universal Freedom on the Fourth of July
By Richard E. Ralston
July 4, 2006
"Universal Health Care" is the increasing drumbeat of advocates who want Americans to place all responsibility for their health care in the hands of government. They say health care needs require us to put aside such considerations as personal choice and individual freedom as outmoded ideology that should be dispensed with. First drop the context of individual rights, private property and privacy—then the government is liberated to micromanage every detail of the medical treatment you are allowed to have. . . . [ full article ]
Mandatory Health Insurance: Health Care by Force
By Richard E. Ralston
June 26, 2006
When the United States of America got its start, the general idea was that individuals should be left free to carve out their own lives free of government interference, based on the principles of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Gradually over the last two hundred and thirty years, our public discourse has turned those principles on their head in favor of just one idea . . . [ full article ]
Health Care and Political Hypocrisy About Privacy
By Richard E. Ralston
May 15, 2006
In response to the National Security Agency's acquisition of private telephone call databases, a lot of politicians—even those who were given frequent briefings about the program for more than four years—claim to be deeply shocked about this government intrusion into our private lives. . . . [ full article ]
Health Care on Tax Day: How Government Spending Damages Your Health
By Richard E. Ralston
April 15, 2006
When you file your tax return on April 15, know that even more of your taxes will be eaten up by government spending on health care. You should also ask why so much of the income you have left is spent on health care and health insurance. The two questions are related. . . . [ full article ]
California's Danger to Health
By Richard E. Ralston
February 1, 2006
The California Department of Insurance issued a press release and a new report on January 31 calling attention to an imminent danger to our health. Is it the threat of a bird flu pandemic that has drawn the attention of Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi? Or HIV and AIDS? . . . [ full article ]
The State of the Union's Health
By Richard E. Ralston
February 1, 2006
In his State of the Union Address to Congress, President Bush devoted a paragraph to health care. While we might agree with the ideas that we must "confront the rising cost of care" or "strengthen the doctor-patient relationship," more could be said about those issues. . . . [ full article ]
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