Twelve Ways to Increase the Cost of Health Insurance
By Richard E. Ralston
December 22, 2009
Health care legislation now being debated in the Senate will do nothing to make health care more affordable but quite a lot to make it more expensive. It serves the purpose of a massive and permanent expansion of the size and power of government and the political class as an end in itself. . . . [ full article ]
The Destruction of an Industry
By Richard E. Ralston
December 2, 2009
What passes for "reform" in Congress would eliminate health insurance firms. Why? Because, we are told, it is immoral for anyone to make a profit providing health insurance. Virtue, in this view, is restricted to those who impose government insurance on everyone through the force of law. . . . [ full article ]
How Our Rights Are Destroyed
By Richard E. Ralston
November 23, 2009
The most effective means of destroying the rights of individual Americans is by replacing those rights with new powers for the government. Then, instead of the right to the pursuit of happiness, the political class declares that everyone has the right to be supplied with happiness by the government, which must then be granted new power to define, seize, control, regulate and provide us with whatever happiness it decides we should want. Thus the clear intent of the founders and writers of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights is reversed and thwarted. . . . [ full article ]
The Medical State of the Union
By Richard E. Ralston
September 10, 2009
President Obama is an intelligent and eloquent speaker. He understands the advantages of making an argument on a complicated and unpopular subject to a room that will provide a standing ovation once every minute. . . . [ full article ]
Shrugging Off Government Health Care
By Richard E. Ralston
August 30, 2009
Nearly a century ago, the Federal Reserve Board was created to eliminate the supposed economic problems of a free market. A century of inflation, recessions, one or two depressions, huge expansion in government debt, and wild swings in unemployment tells us the system may not be working. . . . [ full article ]
The New War on Physicians
By Richard E. Ralston
August 18, 2009
The debate on health care reform is starting to turn ugly. Those who want to increase government power to rule American medicine are adding physicians to their list of "enemies of the people." We hear frequently that insurance companies and drug companies are inefficient and greedy businesses that must be replaced by efficient, enlightened and compassionate government bureaucracies. Now doctors are coming under attack for daring to resist government attempts to tell them how they must practice medicine. . . . [ full article ]
A Public Option That Destroys All Options
By Richard E. Ralston
August 5, 2009
George Orwell is alive and writing new fiction about Congress legislating expanded government control of health care. Or at least it seems that way. . . . [ full article ]
Government Health Care: One Noose for One Neck
By Richard E. Ralston
July 29, 2009
Before I developed a detailed interest in government management of health care, I was unwillingly introduced to the subject after I was badly injured in a head-on collision in a taxi to LaGuardia Airport in New York City in 1993. To my everlasting regret, the ambulance took me to a hospital run by the city of New York. . . . [ full article ]
Our Fascist Health Care System
By Richard E. Ralston
July 8, 2009
Public health authorities in California have for years spent many millions of dollars on television commercials that are supposed to help people quit smoking. Perhaps that is better than spending income from tobacco settlements and taxes intended for that purpose on completely unrelated government programs, as is the case in many states. The curious thing about almost all of these commercials is that they provide no guidance whatsoever about how to stop smoking. Smokers watching these commercials would not know if anyone involved with public health in California cares if they live or die. . . . [ full article ]
Politics Supersedes Public Health
By Richard E. Ralston
June 10, 2009
Public health authorities in California have for years spent many millions of dollars on television commercials that are supposed to help people quit smoking. Perhaps that is better than spending income from tobacco settlements and taxes intended for that purpose on completely unrelated government programs, as is the case in many states. The curious thing about almost all of these commercials is that they provide no guidance whatsoever about how to stop smoking. Smokers watching these commercials would not know if anyone involved with public health in California cares if they live or die. . . . [ full article ]
It's Time to Nationalize Grocery Stores
By Richard E. Ralston
April 26, 2009
One of the great scandals of our age is the fact that America spends more on food than any other nation. Many political leaders are now calling for urgent reform to bring spending on food under control. While food spending is rapidly increasing and many Americans are overweight, some do not have enough to eat. . . . [ full article ]
Death and Taxes and the Motive of Government-Managed Health Care
By Richard E. Ralston
April 8, 2009
When you file your taxes this year, consider this certainty: As an ever-increasing amount of our taxes are appropriated for government spending on health care, tax policy ultimately has little to do with attempting to improve the quality and affordability of health care. It is the other way around: Government involvement in our health is usually an excuse to serve a completely different political agenda. . . . [ full article ]
Federal Health Board Hazardous to Your Health
By Richard E. Ralston
March 23, 2009
Nearly a century ago, the United States Federal Reserve Bank was established. The stated purpose was to eliminate boom and bust and other fluctuations in the U.S. economy. Federal government control of banking and the money supply was declared to be absolutely necessary to eliminate recessions, panics, depressions, inflation and deflation. Federal Reserve banks were set up in major cities across America under the governance of a Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. It was explained that the Federal Reserve Board would be "independent." All of its "independent" members were appointed by the President with the consent of the Senate (that is, politicians). One wonders what selection process would have made them "dependent." . . . [ full article ]
Medical Progress Requires Freedom of Information
By Richard E. Ralston
March 6, 2009
Sometimes drugs developed to treat a specific condition can have unanticipated results for the treatment of other conditions. Sometimes this is discovered by patients and their physicians as an accidental byproduct of monitoring the effectiveness of the medication. . . . [ full article ]
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