Is It Finally Time to Break Up the Ninth Circuit?
Ilya ShapiroNearly four years, I published a Wall Street Journal oped alongside Arizona attorney general Mark Brnovich arguing for splitting up the Ninth Circuit — but not because it’s liberal. Instead, it’s simply too big, covering 40% of the nation’s land mass and 20% of its population. As a result, it decides an extraordinary number of appeals — more than 11,000 a year, half again as many as the second ‐busiest circuit and nearly triple the average. It’s not good for access to justice or consistency in the law; Ninth Circuit judges don’t even have time to read their colleagues’ o...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 16, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Ilya Shapiro Source Type: blogs
Eight Reasons For Ending Joe Biden ’s Travel Bans
Ryan Bourne and Brad SubramaniamBack in July, Ioutlined why Joe Biden ’s crude COVID-19 travel bans on non-Americans coming from Europe, India, and a few other countries no longer made any sense from a public health perspective.Talk in Washington at the time was of lifting these restrictions by September. Well, here we are, mid-way through that month and the restrictions are going strong. Officials and diplomats now seem to think October or even Thanksgiving are the earliest potential dates for their removal. Some ponder whether the political incentives might point towards inactionuntil the mid-terms...which would mean b...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 16, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Ryan Bourne, Brad Subramaniam Source Type: blogs
Meet the New Boss
Thomas A. FireySome 18 months ago, then-president Donald Trump sent jaws dropping and tongues wagging byclaiming the Constitution gave him the power to close and open state economies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic." The authority is total, and that ’s the way it’s got to be, "he said of his supposed ability to overrule state shutdown orders.Of course, neither he nor any president has such authority, whatever the wisdom of the shutdowns. But it was one more example of Trump ’s belief that the Constitution gives presidents “the right to do whatever [they] want. ” Throughout his time in the White House, the ma...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 14, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas A. Firey Source Type: blogs
Policies, Techies, VCS: Musings From a Futurist
By IAN MORRISON
I should’ve been in Paris last week on vacation with my wife, instead I listened in to the Policies Techies VCS: What’s Next For Healthcare conference (I’ll explain why later). Matthew Holt and Jessica DaMassa did a magnificent job of assembling the Who’s Who of digital health tech to wax lyrical about what the new kids on the block were up to, where it is all headed, and what it will mean for the system. (Full disclosure Matthew and Jess are friends of mine, I hired Matthew from Stanford almost 30 years ago to join the Institute For The Future (IFTF) and have watched proudly as he ha...
Source: The Health Care Blog - September 14, 2021 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Health Policy Health Tech Futurists Ian Morrison Policies Techies VCs Source Type: blogs
Biden Proposes Government Price Controls on Prescription Drugs
Michael F. CannonPresident Biden ’s Department of Health and Human Services hasissued a report proposing to reduce the prices government pays for prescription drugs (good) and proposing government price controls on private drug purchases (bad).The optimal price government should pay for medical care, including prescription drugs, is $0.00. Lowering the prices government pays for drugs reduces government spending and the burden that Medicare and other government programs impose on taxpayers. Everyone who supports smaller government (read: Republicans) should support reducing the prices Medicare pays for prescription ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 9, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Michael F. Cannon Source Type: blogs
Our Unserious Congress
William YeatmanAfter midnight on July 31st, the federal government reached the$28.5 trillion debt limit, which is the amount of money Congress allows the Treasury Department to borrow to keep the government running. Since then, Treasury has relied on bookkeeping gimmicks —known in bureaucratese as “extraordinary measures”—to shuffle existing funds and thereby keep the government fiscally afloat. These extraordinary measures, however, are a stopgap. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen yesterdayestimated that incoming receipts will be insufficient to pay daily obligations sometime “during the month of October.”I...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 9, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: William Yeatman Source Type: blogs
Is There A Place For Facebook In Healthcare?
Data privacy scandals, help in rigging elections, spreading fake news on COVID and vaccines: Facebook has been through a lot and users are not happy with the social media giant’s performance. However, Mark Zuckerberg’s company does not only have a political and social impact, but it’s also getting quite relevant in healthcare.
We looked around what Facebook currently does in healthcare and evaluated whether those are viable ways to follow in the future.
Facebook: from trust issues to healthcare
The social media machine built on “sophisticated, computer-driven engines for extracting users’ person...
Source: The Medical Futurist - September 7, 2021 Category: Information Technology Authors: berci.mesko Tags: Bioethics Security & Privacy AI facebook future Health Healthcare Innovation social media technology VR fake news smart healthcare Mark Zuckerberg Source Type: blogs
Collapse
I ' m not an expert on Lebanon nor particularly on the category of crisis that land is experiencing right now, but I do think I understand it well enough to draw some broad lessons.The consequences for the Lebanese are horrific.If you have a NYT read left this month this by Lina Mounzer is hard to read. An excerpt:I begin my days in Beirut already exhausted.. . . .Every few days there ’s a new low to get used to. One recent morning I needed to exchange some dollars to buy groceries, chieflybread.. . .Once I had my money, I headed to the supermarket, and on my way I encountered a tiny old woman sitting on the pavement. I ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - September 4, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Coupons, PBM's ... oh my!
Over the past few years, my coverage of coupon-generating websites/apps has increased by a lot in this blog because those have emerged as a critical way for patients to get prescriptions at lower, PBM-negotiated prices even if they have yet to satisfy an annual insurance deductible or they have no insurance at all. In general, coupon-generating websites/apps offer consumers access to the deeper pharmacy benefits manager ( " PBM " )-negotiated prices on prescription drugs, at prices which are often substantially less than the prices you could otherwise attain as a consumer without the benefit of a commercial healthcare...
Source: Scott's Web Log - September 1, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: CGM CGMS coupon-generating websites apps Dexcom insulin Libre PBM test strips Source Type: blogs
Coupons, PBM's ... oh my!
Over the past few years, my coverage of coupon-generating websites/apps has increased by a lot in this blog because those have emerged as a critical way for patients to get prescriptions at lower, PBM-negotiated prices even if they have yet to satisfy an annual insurance deductible or they have no insurance at all. In general, coupon-generating websites/apps offer consumers access to the deeper pharmacy benefits manager ( " PBM " )-negotiated prices on prescription drugs, at prices which are often substantially less than the prices you could otherwise attain as a consumer without the benefit of a commercial healthcare...
Source: Scott's Web Log - September 1, 2021 Category: Endocrinology Tags: CGM CGMS coupon-generating websites apps Dexcom insulin Libre PBM test strips Source Type: blogs
The Yongbyon Reactor Restart and Biden ’s Fading North Korea Prospects
Eric GomezNorth Korea restarted a reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear complex according toa new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The reactor, which has been dormant since December 2018, produces plutonium for North Korea ’s nuclear weapons. The amount of plutonium the reactor will eventually produce is currently unclear, but a resumption of activity at the Yongbyon nuclear complex should not come as a surprise.North Korea has not been a major foreign policy concern thus far in the Biden administration ’s tenure. This is understandable given the administration’s efforts to ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 30, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Eric Gomez Source Type: blogs
Federal Spending Ratchets Up
Chris EdwardsDemocratic leaders in the House and Senate are hoping to pass a $1 trillion bill to fund infrastructure and a $3.5 trillion bill to fund new and expanded entitlement programs. The bills would entrench a substantial increase in the size and scope of the federal government.The chart below shows past and projected domestic program spending if the Democratic plans pass, measured as a percent of gross domestic product. Projected spending is as proposed in the Democratic budget resolution less defense and interest outlays.Domestic program spending almost tripled from 5 percent to 14 percent of GDP from the mid...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 25, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Chris Edwards Source Type: blogs
Just so we're clear . . .
A higher percentage of Black and Latino Americans have been vaccinated than white Americans. Who isn ' t getting vaccinated? White Republicans, and particularly Dump voters.All adults: 69 percentMen: 67 percentWomen: 71 percent18-34: 63 percent35-49: 58 percent50-64: 71 percent65+: 86 percentWhites: 66 percentBlacks: 76 percentLatinos: 71 percentUrban residents: 79 percentSuburban residents: 67 percentRural residents: 52 percentWhite evangelicals: 59 percentDemocrats: 88 percentIndependents: 60 percentRepublicans: 55 percentRepublicans who support Trump more than party: 46 percentRepublicans who support party more than Tru...
Source: Stayin' Alive - August 24, 2021 Category: American Health Source Type: blogs
Two Things President Biden ’s Speech Missed
Sahar KhanYesterday, President Joe Bidenaddressed the nation as the Taliban took over Kabul. In his remarks, he stood firmly by his decision to leave Afghanistan, saying,I ’m now the fourth American President to preside over war in Afghanistan — two Democrats and two Republicans. I will not pass this responsibly on — responsibility on to a fifth President.He also said:I cannot and I will not ask our troops to fight on endlessly in another — in another country’s civil war, taking casualties, suffering life-shattering injuries, leaving families broken by grief and loss.This is not in our national security interest....
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 17, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Sahar Khan Source Type: blogs
FAQ on Biden ’s Extension of the Eviction Moratorium
William YeatmanHow did the eviction moratorium come about? In early 2020, as part of the first major pandemic stimulus, Congress passed a 120-day eviction moratorium for rental properties receiving federal assistance. After the moratorium expired, President Trumpannounced that “unlike the Congress, I cannot sit idly and refuse to assist vulnerable Americans in need.” So heordered his administration to “do all that it can to help vulnerable populations stay in their homes.” Accordingly, the Center for Disease Control (CDC)promulgated an eviction moratorium more restrictive than the one enacted by Congress. Whereas ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - August 5, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: William Yeatman Source Type: blogs
