“Is Big Oil ripping off consumers? Are Wall Street speculators manipulating oil markets? What should be done? Whether or not Big Oil is improperly restricting refinery capacity, whether or not Wall Street traders are driving up the traded price of oil to heights completely disconnected from supply-and-demand fundamentals, a few things are clear about gas […]
“The terrible devastation caused by the earthquake in Sichuan reminds us of the randomness of nature, the uncertainty of life and the compassion people have for those who suffer. But there is a more important, if less understood, lesson: countries with well-developed markets, private property rights and a vibrant civil society are much more able […]
“Republicans in Congress may be out of gas, but that doesn’t mean conservative ideas aren’t percolating elsewhere, and even on the supposedly Democratic stronghold of health care. Take the news from Florida, where GOP Governor Charlie Crist succeeded last week in moving an innovative reform through the state legislature. The Sunshine State has about 3.8 […]
“2009 is positioned to be a significant year in the annals of national health reform. All indicators are that healthcare is one of the top domestic issues for both the presidential and congressional races. … However, at the heart of the debate, will be principle and pragmatism. In principle, most Americans would like to provide […]
“Primary care is in crisis. Current primary care doctors are quitting, and medical students are pursuing other specialties. Primary care has lost its attractiveness as a profession because of poor compensation and plummeting job satisfaction. Primary care physicians are in short supply, and in Massachusetts, this problem has intensified in the wake of healthcare reform, […]
“‘Choice’ has long been a conservative buzzword (except when it comes to reproductive freedom) but the real policy question is rarely between whether or not we have choices, but whether our policies gives us good choices or bad choices. I’ve previously discussed how Sen. John McCain’s health care plan amounts to ‘No Choice At All.’ […]
“Today’s headlines are hard to miss: Child obesity rate in U.S. hits a plateau, Childhood obesity rates high, but leveling off, Childhood obesity rates stabilize . … This media buzz surrounds a newly released study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. The agency’s […]
“We had broken up, so I’d gone off the pill, a woman might say. Just this once, we skipped the condom. … I was still breastfeeding, so I thought I couldn’t get pregnant. … Though birth control is widely available, about half of the 6 million pregnancies in the United States each year are accidents. […]
“An FDA advisory panel has recommended stronger warnings on two influenza drugs after reviewing evidence linking them to neurological and psychiatric problems that have led to deaths in some cases. The current warning on Roche Laboratories’ Tamiflu (generic name oseltamivir) urges close monitoring of flu patients, particularly children, for ‘increased risk of self injury and […]
“The Kroger Co. said Thursday that it has made a ’significant investment’ in Brentwood-based The Little Clinic LLC to help speed up a nationwide rollout of walk-in medical clinics in its supermarkets. Already, The Little Clinic operates inside 26 Kroger stores, offering basic non-emergency medical care through a staff of registered nurse practitioners and physicians’ […]
