Unbiased Analysis of Today's Healthcare Issues
How occupational licensing affects the cost of goods and services: “After Hurricane Katrina leveled the pine forest that had been their sole source of income, Benedictine monks in Louisiana wanted to support themselves by making and selling coffins. Unfortunately for the monks, in Louisiana only a licensed undertaker can sell coffins. It’s the law, enforced…
The Consumer’s Union used Medicare.gov to show that many people could save $3,500-$5,000 by switching to generics. Why don’t more people do so? One reason is the long delays for FDA approval of generics. The FDA’s Office of Generic Drugs is understaffed and thus generic drug approvals takes much longer than it should. Brand name…
The Economist notes that counterfeit drugs are a growing problem. “Counterfeit drugs can kill. Many are shoddily made, containing the wrong dose of the active ingredient. Taking them instead of the real thing can turn a treatable disease into a fatal one. It can also foster drug resistance among germs.” Do patents cause and increase…
An energy drink called Cocaine has received a lot of press. Texas has barred the sale of the drink in the state. The FDA made the manufacturers of Cocaine change the label so it looked less like white powder. To comply with FDA directives, the cans now declare “This product is not intended to be…
Conventional wisdom holds that economists advocate for reducing regulation on most policy arenas. Regulation imposes costs and businesses and is often ineffective. Further, as technology and market conditions change, regulations which were originally welfare enhancing can now become archane. The public generally views the FDA’s pre-approval as a worthwhile endeavor. The goal of FDA pre-approval…
With healthcare reform having passed, how will the health insurance market look a few years from now? Although Mitt Romney may (or may not) deny it, Massachusetts has been a model for President Obama’s health reform bill. In 2006, Massachusetts passed its own health reform and when the share of uninsured residents was at 14%. …
Before a drug can come to market, it must receive FDA approval. This involves 3 phases of testing with Phase I having 20-80 volunteers and Phase III often testing more than 1,000 people. Despite the FDA approval, patients can sue drug companies if they are injured by a drug. Patients can generally sue manufacturers under…
The USA Today writes that “the IRS has proposed a broad initiative that would require hundreds of thousands of tax preparers to register with the government, pass a competency exam and adhere to ethical standards.” This sounds like a good idea as it will safeguard individuals from unscrupulous tax preparers. But who will this truly…
A paper by Kowalski, Congdon and Showalter (2009) examines how state health insurance regulations affect the price of health insurance. The four regulations are the following: Community rating regulations limit premium differences across policies. The most stringent form requires insurers to offer the same premium to every individual, regardless of age, gender, or health status.…
“Despite the spectacular failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, some economists insist that Fannie and Freddie need to be kept in place but somehow, just made safer. This optimistic advocacy—which assumes that Fannie and Freddie are like airplanes that need better landing gear—is in spite of the fact that between 1992 and 2008 Fannie…