Health

Time, Money and the Market for Drugs*

Americans spend more than $234 billion a year on legally purchased chemical entities. Although the expense is a small part of our nation's $1.8 trillion health care bill, the dollars involved are subs…
Patients' Right to Choose

These are turbulent times for the Food and Drug Administration. The almost daily barrage of headlines questioning the safety of marketed drugs is probably depleting regulators' personal stocks of aspi…
Health Care for Hurricane Victims

People displaced by hurricanes and floods in the Gulf Coast region will need health care. How will they get it? Right now, their options are limited.
Crisis of the Uninsured: 2005 Update

Despite claims that there is a health insurance crisis in the United States, the proportion of Americans without health coverage has changed little in the past decade. The increase in the number of un…
Patient Power: Over-the-Counter Drugs

Today's health consumers are taking a more active role in diagnosing and treating themselves. With new tools to assist them - from Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) that allow patients to control some th…
Health Insurance Choice

A citizen who lives in any one state can buy a toaster produced in any other state. The same citizen can also buy a lawnmower, a sofa, an automobile or virtually any other product — regardless of the…
The Legal Responsibility of Adult Children to Care for Indigent Parents

Currently, 30 states have filial responsibility statutes that establish a duty for adult children to care for their indigent elderly parents. When enforced, the statutes can require the adult child to…
Making HSAs Better

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are having an enormously beneficial effect on the design of health insurance in this country. Instead of an employer or insurer paying medical bills, more than one milli…