Guide to the Republican Candidates

So you’re a Republican and you don’t know who to vote for. Which of the Republican candidates has the best plan for health care reform? This is what I will discuss today. If you are a Democrat, please read my “Guide to the Democratic Candidates” yesterday. Similarities Almost all the Republican candidate are in agreement…

Guide to the Democratic Candidates

So you’re a Democrat and you don’t know who to vote for. Which of the Democratic candidates has the best plan for health care reform? This is what I will discuss today. If you are a Republican, please read my “Guide to the Republican Candidates” tomorrow. Similarities All of the Democratic candidates support the following…

The Nanny State: Clean your room!

Libertarians often complain that the government intrudes too much in our lives.  Nanny State, a book by Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi, claims that the government is regulating what we do to an extent that it is becoming a surrogate parent.  “Why are we allowing politicians, bureaucrats, and social activists to dictate what we eat,…

Is the FDA Safe and Effective?

The Food and Drug Administration is one of the most important government agencies. The FDA has an interesting history and below I will review some important dates. 1938 Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. This law was enacted after the drug Elixer Sulfanilamide killed over 100 people. Firms were required to submit new drugs to…

Contracting for Government Services

Local governments provide a variety of services which are highly valued by their residents. From police protection to waste disposal, from snow plowing to utility meter reading, the local government is charged with providing the infrastructure necessary for a smooth functioning economy and a high level quality of life. But should local governments outsource these…

Legislating Medical Care

A press release from Senator Ron Wyden sent to me at 7am this morning states the following: Working to enhance screening and prevention of childhood type 2 diabetes, U.S Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) today announced that an amendment giving states $15 million to combat the disease has been included in the final conference version of…

Public Health vs. Medicine

What are the major differences between medicine and public health? What challenges do public health officials frequently ignore? On Tuesday, I attended a seminar by Dr. Richard Schieber. Dr. Schieber was a practicing pediatrician, however for the last fifteen years he has worked as a medical epidemiologist for the CDC. One of the major challenges…

Banzhof power index

Why do the Orthodox Jews have so much political power in Israel? Why are third parties in the U.S. so weak? These phenomenon can be explained by the Banzhof power index. The index is calculated as follows. Let us look at the Israeli election in 2003 for the Knesset. Here are the voting results of…

Rx: Cut U.S. medical spending in half!?!?!

A pair of interesting essays are available at Cato-Unbound. Robin Hanson argues that the best way to help patients is to cut U.S. medical spending in half. He argues that there has been little evidence that increasing medical spending increases health outcomes. The best evidence comes from the RAND Health Insurance Experiment. The RAND HIE…