Experts across the political spectrum have questioned how much society should be willing to pay for new and expensive treatments, especially if another treatment exists with a proven track record. Although it often escapes policymakers, the heart of this debate should be medical efficacy. For both the new treatment and the old, do they work? How … Continue reading
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Drug Administration (FDA) have infringed upon my economic liberties. Collectively, these government bodies created an inefficient marketplace that burdens contact lens retailers and consumers. In hopes of curtailing market power granted to contact lens prescribers by FDA regulation, the FTC designed the Fairness to Contact Lens Consumer Act … Continue reading
Today, technology seems to be involved and assist in every aspect of human life. Very few realms of society lack total involvement in new technologies that optimize or create more efficient models for everyday life and industry. Most methods of communication utilize technological platforms to reach broader audiences and improve global connectivity. Health care, while … Continue reading
Earlier last week, Politico leaked a chapter from a recent draft of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free-trade agreement granting intellectual property protection for pharmaceutical drugs. Unfortunately, for trade negotiators, the leaked information does little to quell the loud harangues and controversy surrounding international intellectual property rights (IPR). Developing countries and proponents for the global poor, labor unions, … Continue reading
In light of several media reports detailing grim projections of physician shortages, it is startling that just 35 years ago, the Graduate Medical Education National Advisory Committee (GMENAC) published a report that included over 100 recommendations to reduce the growing surplus of physicians. Unlike between 1970 and 1990 however, the U.S. is now experiencing a deficit in physicians, or … Continue reading
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of March 2010 spurred many changes in the U.S. health care marketplace. The regulation intended to encourage optimization of care, increased access, and reduced costs. Interestingly, the private market has had its own economic response to increased regulation – mergers and acquisitions. Evidently, the shifts in the … Continue reading
Cancer. What does that one word spark in you? For many, it conjures a feeling of anguish over a loved one who passed away. For others, that feeling of anguish is present but overridden with one of anxiety. This anxiety is due to an array of factors, the most common often that of the cost … Continue reading
What would you say a physician does? Chances are, your response would have something to do with healing people who are sick. Would you think about describing doctors as people who readily expedite death for their patients? There are currently three states that have legalized physician assisted suicide (PAS), and there are at least twenty-two … Continue reading
The Federal Government’s role as a safety net for the vulnerable has been growing steadily since the passage of the New Deal in the wake of the Great Depression, when President Roosevelt introduced such novel concepts as Social Security. Follow-up legislation in the 1960s established Medicare, which continues to help senior citizens remain independent as … Continue reading
What is it? The 340B Drug Pricing Program requires drug manufacturers to provide outpatient drugs to eligible health care organizations at substantially discounted prices ranging from 25 to 50 percent off a drug’s average wholesale price. Who’s eligible? In order to be eligible for 340B, a provider must either be a nonprofit with particular federal … Continue reading
Policy Interns 
You must be logged in to post a comment.