National Puppet Masters Pull Strings for Local Health Reform Groups0

• March 5, 2009

Ever wonder why health care “reforms” that have failed everywhere they’ve been tried still get attention?

Follow the money.

The annual “grassroots” Health Care Day of Action will take place on the Colorado state capitol steps on March 9. This year’s slogan is “demand healthcare reform” because “economic recovery begins with healthcare reform.” The Obama administration is using the same slogan, suggestion that these grassroots are pretty shallow.

Rationing Care: Oregon Changes Its Priorities0

• March 5, 2009

To our knowledge, the Oregon Health Plan is the first government health care program anywhere in the world that has drawn up a formal procedure for rationing. After comment from interested parties, this state health program for low-income people ranks treatment for various diseases and conditions, currently from 1 to 680, in order of priority. The health care dollars available determine which priorities are met. As program costs have grown, the list of covered procedures has become shorter.

Medicare: More Waste, Less Care0

• February 7, 2009

If “Medicare for all” gives you that intoxicating “government as nurturing parent” feeling, think again. The Camera reported that “thousands of patients” … “will have to find new doctors” because Boulder Community Internal Medicine is closing — in part because of the “low reimbursement rates of its Medicare patients.”

Why Kids Count Can’t Count0

• January 19, 2009

The Colorado Children’s Campaign says Colorado’s children are in trouble. In its 2008 KidsCount in Colorado! report, the Campaign claims that “poverty is the biggest obstacle to opportunity for children, and between 2000-2006, the number of children living in poverty in Colorado increased by 73 percent—the highest increase by far of any state in the nation.”

Liberty is Best Prescription for Health Care0

• January 5, 2009

At the recent Colorado Health Care Summit, Barack Obama’s Cabinet pick Tom Daschle said his boss’s “commitment to changing the health-care system remains strong and focused.” But in the wrong direction.

How to Provide Health Insurance for All0

• December 4, 2008

Providing health insurance for everyone who wants it doesn’t have to come with a high price tag. It doesn’t have to come with increased government control of your medical decisions, or less personal choice when it comes to choosing physicians or deciding on medical treatments, either.