The Heartland Institute

On June 20, the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) released a report written by two Vermont assistant attorneys general titled "Addressing the Cost and Benefits of Prescription Drugs." The report contains background information and edited transcripts of eight presentations made at a conference held in Chicago in January ...

On May 9, Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Representatives Sam Johnson (R-TX), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Paul Ryan (R-WI), and J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) introduced bills S. 978 and H.R. 1872, the Healthcare Tax Relief for the Uninsured Act of 2005, to enact into law key elements of President George W. Bush’s health care agenda. The ...

To understand what lies at the heart of the failure of our current health care financing system, imagine, if you can, what the world would be like if we tried to buy food the same way we buy health care services. You could go to work tomorrow morning and hear your boss tell you the following: The company has decided ...

The environmental advocacy group Resources for the Future (RFF) has long proclaimed itself a " moderate" voice in the debate over environmental policy. Its supposed neutrality and authority enabled the Washington, DC-based think tank to raise $8.7 million last year from many of the country's largest corporations, including American ...

Conrad Meier, Heartland senior fellow and founding editor of Health Care News , passed away at 11:00 a.m. on March 18 with his family at his side. He was 70 years old. Conrad was a big man who liked to embrace others, funny, an extrovert, and smart. Though not a native of Missouri he sounded like he was, with that slightly ...

Anyone who watches television or reads popular magazines knows the amount of money spent on advertising for prescription drugs has increased dramatically in the past few years. We are practically inundated with ads for the latest new drugs for heartburn, allergy and pain relief, and what we've all learned to call " erectile ...

At a January meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) in Chicago, critics of the prescription drug industry unleashed a barrage of attacks on the way the industry prices its product. Most of the criticism was off the mark. At the meeting, invited speakers Marcia Angell, author of The Truth About the ...

A new Web site purporting to "help consumers and their doctors identify the most effective and affordable medicines" is marred by a pro-generics agenda and bias against newer and more expensive drugs. Unfortunately, few visitors to the site will be aware of this bias, leading some of them to choose the wrong drugs for ...

How much of the science in State of Fear is accurate, and how much is fiction? Here is a summary of the scientific claims about global warming that appear in the book. most of the warming in the past century occurred before 1940, before CO2 emissions could have been a major factor (p. 84); global temperatures fell between ...

In December 2004, the National Commission on Energy Policy (NCEP) released a report titled " Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy to Meet America's Energy Challenges." The group claims to have established " a constructive center in the often polarized debate over national energy policy." The report contains some good ...

Michael Crichton, author of best-selling books and blockbuster movies such as The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park , has published a new best-selling book. That much is hardly noteworthy, given his track record of literary success. What is noteworthy, even earth-shaking, is the book's accurate and tenacious presentation of the ...

On November 2, 2004, voters in Illinois Tri-Cities (Batavia, Geneva, and St. Charles) voted down referenda to approve a municipal broadband plan. It was the second time in as many years voters rejected the proposal. I produced studies of the Tri-Cities proposals in November 2002 and again in October 2004. The conclusions of ...

In July, the two largest membership organizations for state elected officials in the U.S. adopted resolutions advocating major deregulation of the telecommunications industry--evidence that a national consensus is emerging over what was once a divisive and volatile issue. The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the ...

Pfizer Inc., the nation's largest manufacturer of prescription drugs, has announced plans to substantially reduce prices for its drugs for all people without health insurance, regardless of income or age. Millions of uninsured Americans will be eligible to get Pfizer drugs either free or at discounts of up to 50 percent. The ...

“Binding Arbitration” Brings Down Soft-Core Film-Maker The female star of such cinematic bondage masterpieces as “Asses in the Air” successfully sued her employer, Slave Labor Productions, for injuries she suffered while bound and hanging from ropes several feet off the ground during a filming. Since she also was gagged ...

On March 2, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected the latest attempt by the Federal Communications Commission to set forth rules determining when telephone companies--called incumbent local exchange carriers, or ILECs--must share their lines and equipment with competitors. The District Court’s decision ...

Should VoIP be taxed and subject to the same fees as conventional wireline telephone service? If you say yes, you may be calling for a substantial extension of state and local regulatory authority over a promising new telecommunications technology. But if you say no, you may be supporting unfair competition with incumbent telephone ...

On February 5, two U.S. Senators, Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), introduced legislation allowing the federal government to directly negotiate drug prices with private drug companies. The legislation, called the “Medicare Enhancements for Needed Drugs Act,” also takes steps to legalize the importation of drugs ...

Goody, Now I Can Go Buy a Stick of Gum Citibank recently settled a class-action lawsuit dealing with the manner in which the company assessed late fees on its credit cards. Seems the bank charged consumers a late fee if their payments arrived after 10 a.m. on the date the bill was due. The bank agreed to move the ...

Managing Editor’s note: On October 23, 2003, The Heartland Institute hosted a National Symposium on Drug Importation featuring elected officials from Illinois and policy experts from Canada and major U.S. think tanks. Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute (publisher of Health Care News), delivered concluding remarks ...