Health Policy

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Tobacco Road

by Carol Hoenig on 4/26/2008 10:12:46 AM

Consider the following question:   SHOULD employers have the right to punish workers who smoke when they are not working?  You may have an immediate response, as I did. Instantly, I said a resounding “no!” How dare a place of employment have a say about an off-duty employee’s predilections? I’m not... Continue »

A Drug for Everything

by Carol Hoenig on 4/3/2008 8:36:36 AM

There was an editorial in yesterday’s New York Times concerning cholesterol drugs Vytorin and Zetia. It’s getting to the point that there is a drug for everything, or so the drug industry wants us to believe. When the companies for these prescription drugs began airing a plethora of commercials, all... Continue »

Are FDA rulings affected by special interests?

by Tall Paul on 10/23/2007 12:01:19 PM

I would say that its appears FDA rulings are influenced by special interests groups. The FDA is a powerful organization in this country. But the drug companies are a close second in the medical world and probably the top special interest group. One huge recent relationship exposed was the Vioxx d... Continue »

Is the FDA's drug approval process effective?

by Dick Brooks on 9/10/2007 4:26:22 PM

A candid answer to the issue question is that it is about as effective as can be expected, considering the enormous pressures faced by the agency. For openers, it is vital for the Congress and the public to understand that no medicines are risk free. None at all! As a corollary,even risky drugs may,... Continue »

Should the FDA ban aspartame?

by Dick Brooks on 9/9/2007 8:39:26 PM

On the surface, the answer seems like a no-brainer. I have yet to encounter any cogent statements from the FDA, as to why this dangerous product has not already been banned. My research has uncovered nothing but silence from the FDA. Aspartame is an artificial sweetener consisting of 3 chemicals. O... Continue »

Public Figures

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A CONVERSATION WITH AMERICA'S HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS.

by Ezra Klein on 11/20/2008 12:48:15 PM

I gave Robert Zirkelbach, AHIP's director of Strategic Communications, a call to talk through the proposal his organization released today and get more specifics on their stance towards community rating, public plans, and affordability questions. Our chat is transcribed below. For my earlier posts o... Continue »

Change

by Steve Benen on 11/20/2008 12:05:17 PM

CHANGE.... We're still quite a ways from knowing what Obama's entire team is going to look like, but this debate seems to be increasingly common. "I think several individuals are very frustrated to think that President-elect Obama may just cut... Continue »

IS CULINARY SCHOOL WORTH IT?

by Ezra Klein on 11/20/2008 11:50:31 AM

It's not often that food writing and education wonkery collide. But Ben Miller did a good job of it yesterday, when he pulled out "cohort default rates" -- a metric that "measures how many student loan borrowers from a graduating class default on their debt within two years of graduation" -- to figu... Continue »

WAXMAN WINS.

by Ezra Klein on 11/20/2008 10:51:03 AM

Secret Twitter sources say that Henry Waxman -- who, according to my Google image search, is shorter than Arianne Huffington by a startling margin -- just beat John Dingell for chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee by 15 votes. If you care about action on global warming, that's a very big deal ... Continue »

INSURERS MATTER (BUT NOT THAT MUCH).

by Ezra Klein on 11/20/2008 10:43:46 AM

As a follow-up to the post below, let me repeat an old point: Liberals pay too much attention to the insurance industry. I have a couple of hypotheses on why this is. The malign elements of the insurers' business model -- namely, denying specific people with sympathetic stories concrete care -- are ... Continue »