Followup: The Company That Took The FTC To Court
Readers who watched the Cato forum last November on prosecutorial fallibility and accountability, or my coverage at Overlawyered, may recall the story of how a Federal Trade Commission enforcement action devastated a thriving company, LabMD, following a push from a spurned vendor. Company founder and president Mike Daugherty, who took part on the Cato panel, wrote a book about the episode entitled The Devil Inside the Beltway: The Shocking Expos é of the U.S. Government’s Surveillance and Overreach into Cybersecurity, Medicine and Small Business.Last month two separate federal appeals courts issued rulings offerin...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 12, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Pro-business? Wilbur Ross Channels Hillary Clinton
On Wednesday members of the Senate Finance Committee questioned Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross about the costs to American businesses of the administration ’s tariffs.Ross was unsympathetic:When Thune warned that the drop in soybean prices (caused by China ’s retaliatory tariffs) was costing South Dakota soybean farmers hundreds of millions of dollars, Ross responded by saying he heard the price drop “has been exaggerated.”…Ross told Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) that he ’s heard the rising cost of newsprint for rural newspapers “is a very trivial thing,” and he told Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) that it’s...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 21, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: David Boaz Source Type: blogs
South Dakota v. Wayfair: A Taxing Decision
Today, the Supreme Court handed the states a victory in their battle to collect taxes on online sales, but, in doing so, dealt a heavy loss to the national market, small businesses, and the people at large.South Dakota v. Wayfair ’s focus was on whether to overturnQuill Corp. v. North Dakota, which held that states could not impose tax collection obligations on businesses with no physical presence in the state. In a bizarrely split 5-4 decision –with Justice Kennedy writing the majority joined by Thomas, Ginsburg, Alito, and Gorsuch and Chief Justice Roberts writing the dissent joined by Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan–...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 21, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Trevor Burrus, Matthew Larosiere Source Type: blogs
Trump's AHPs Rule: a Generally Lousy Idea that Would Reduce Premiums for Some and Make ObamaCare's Costs More Transparent
The Trump administration hasreleased its final rule expanding so-called association health plans. The rule would allow many consumers to avoid some of ObamaCare ’s unwanted regulatory costs. But the rule also highlights both the destructive power of ObamaCare and Republicans’ utter lack of imagination when it comes to health care.As originally proposed, the idea behind association health plans was to allow small businesses that purchased health insurance through a member-organization (i.e., an association) to enjoy the same federal exemption from insurance regulation that large businesses have traditionally (if unwisel...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 19, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Michael F. Cannon Source Type: blogs
Teens Explore Science and Health through Game Design
Educators often struggle to teach teens about sexual and reproductive health. Hexacago Health Academy (HHA) , an education program from the University of Chicago, leverages the fun activity of gameplay to impart these lessons to young people from Chicago’s South Side community. Funded by the Student Education Partnership Award (SEPA), part of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), in 2015, HHA assists teachers in their goal of helping teen students gain awareness and control over their health and also learn about careers in STEM and health fields.
Melissa Gilliam, founder of Ci3. Credit: Anna Knott...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - June 13, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Juli Rose Tags: Computers in Biology Infectious Disease Training Source Type: blogs
Sonavex ’s EchoMark Soft Tissue Markers Receive FDA 510(k) Clearance
One year ago, we spoke with Sonavex CEO David Narrow about the Baltimore medical startup’s recent round of investment and ongoing development of its EchoMark and EchoSure products. At the time, David mentioned that the company was, “…preparing to submit our regulatory clearance materials.” This week, the company announced that it had secured FDA 510(k) clearance to market both EchoMark and EchoMark LP (low profile) soft tissue markers.
This is the first product from Sonavex to receive FDA clearance and represents an important inflection point for the business. “Regulatory clearance is a signi...
Source: Medgadget - June 7, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Michael Batista Tags: Emergency Medicine Ob/Gyn Radiology Surgery Source Type: blogs
Time to Bury the Kafkaesque Process for Vindicating Property Rights
Property rights shouldn ’t be relegated to second-class status. Yet 30 years ago, in Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank, the Supreme Court pronounced a new rule that a property owner must first sue in state court to ripen a federal takings claim. As illustrated by Knick v. Township of Scott, this radical departure from historic practice has effectively shut property owners out of federal courts without any firm doctrinal justification.Rose Knick owns 90 acres in Scott Township in western Pennsylvania, a state known for its “backyard burials.” In 2012 a new ordinance required all “cem...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 5, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Ilya Shapiro, Trevor Burrus, Meggan DeWitt Source Type: blogs
A Public-Private Partnership to Fix Health Care
By BILL ROSENBERG
The Administration proposal that would enable small employers to band together to purchase health insurance by forming Association Health Plans has several good features. Large companies do pay about 15% less, apples-to-apples, for health insurance than small businesses because they negotiate lower administrative fees, get larger discounts on health care prices and avoid premium taxes and risk charges by self-insuring. Allowing small business to replicate what boils down to volume discounts also appeals politically to many as a market-based alternative to government intervention. Reliance on Association H...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 11, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Matthew Holt Tags: OP-ED Trump's Health Bill Rosenberg Medicare public-private partnerships Source Type: blogs
Opioid Class Action Suit Filed in Five States
On May 2, 2018, three law firms filed class action lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors on behalf of individuals and businesses who have been handed higher insurance costs as a result of the opioid epidemic. The law firms filed suits on behalf of plaintiffs in five different federal courts: California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. The complaints all charge major opioid manufacturers and distributors with fraudulent and deceptive marketing practices, negligence in distributing opioids into the marketplace, and other violations of state and federal law.
In each of the lawsuits...
Source: Policy and Medicine - May 11, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Finally, Welcome Relief from the Unnecessary Burdens of Dodd-Frank
Congress looks set to passlong-awaited changes to the Dodd-Frank Act that would relieve small and medium-sized banks from some of the onerous burdens of the post-crisis financial legislation package,the Hill reports:The Senate in March passed a bipartisan bill to exempt dozens of banks from the stricter Federal Reserve oversight under Dodd-Frank and scores more from lending restrictions and reporting requirements. The deal, sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), passed by a 67-31 vote with support from more than a dozen Democrats.A deal between the House and Senate would clear the way for Cong...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 9, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: Diego Zuluaga Source Type: blogs
Save the Date for Brainnovations Pitch Contest on December 5th
Given the success of the first Brainnovations Pitch Contest last year (details here), the 2018 SharpBrains Virtual Summit will host a second Brainnovations edition, for 12 selected startups to pitch their innovative solutions to to all Summit participants and to our distinguished Judges –our very own “Sharp Tank”:
Dr. Hagit Alon, VP Scientific Affairs at Joy Ventures
Dr. David Barash, Chief Medical Officer at the GE Foundation
Nichol Bradford, Co-Founder and ED of the Transformative Tech Lab
John Cammack, Angel Investor
Ariel Garten, Founder and Chief Evangelism...
Source: SharpBrains - April 18, 2018 Category: Neuroscience Authors: SharpBrains Tags: Cognitive Neuroscience Health & Wellness Technology brain-tech Brainnovations Neurotechnology Pitch Contest Source Type: blogs
6 Habits That Will Help You on Days When You Just Feel Like Giving Up
“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.”
William Shakespeare
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Some days are light and filled with inspiration. Some days are simply routine.
And on some days you may feel like just giving up on…
Your new habit of working out or eating healthier.
Your own small business or blog because you haven’t had the results you expected or wanted.
Truly...
Source: Practical Happiness and Awesomeness Advice That Works | The Positivity Blog - April 4, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Henrik Edberg Tags: Happiness Personal Development Relaxation Success Source Type: blogs
Small Marijuana Growers Squeezed Out by Legalization and Regulation
It ’s often been noted that regulations can imposelarger relative costs on small businesses and can serve toprotect incumbent firms from new competitors. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfeinnoted that new regulations created a “moat” around his firm:That all industries are being disrupted to some extent by new entrants coming in from technology. We, again, being, you know, technology-oriented ourselves, try to disrupt ourselves and try to figure out what ’s the new thing, and come up with new platforms, new forms of distribution, new products. But in some ways, and there are some parts of our business, where it ’s ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - March 19, 2018 Category: American Health Authors: David Boaz Source Type: blogs
Your Last Warning - The Data Breach Penalty Regime Is Now Operational And Coming For You!
This appeared last week and carries a rather ominous warning …Data breach law: 60% of businesses 'unaware of basics' 20 February 2018 Written by Sam Varghese Nearly 60% of Australian businesses are not aware of the details of the data breach law that takes effect on Thursday, a survey by GfK Australia for imaging solutions provider Canon claims.Additionally, the survey, named the Business Readiness Index, found that small businesses, in particular, were seen to be least concerned about data security, stemming from a lack of awareness where only one in five (19%) were conscious of, and prepared for, the new regula...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - March 1, 2018 Category: Information Technology Authors: Dr David More MB PhD FACHI Source Type: blogs
Analysis of occupational therapy leadership statements on student debt and the doctoral mandate
The occupational therapy profession is joining thecredential inflation bandwagon through the mandate of its membership organization AOTA and its educational accrediting subgroup ACOTE. Proposals are in place toadvance the entry level for occupational therapists to the doctoral level. A companion proposal to advance the entry level for occupational therapy assistants to the baccalaureate level has been made but isin temporary abeyance.It is important to analyze the statements of the leaders and future leaders of these groups in order to understand their positions on these topics. Additionally, it is import...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - February 24, 2018 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT Education Source Type: blogs
