Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute
Physician; Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care
PROFILE
David Gratzer
Guest
FROM David Gratzer
Which Way, L.A.?
Obama Crosses the Border, Canada's Single-payer Health Plan Barack Obama crossed into Canada today on his first foreign trip as President. But he spent just a few hours and made no public appearances. Canada’s single-payer system is a model for many US healthcare reformers, but some of the major players in Washington have declared that it’s “off the table.”
To the Point
Canada's Single-payer Health System The major players in Washington’s healthcare debate -- businesses, hospitals, doctors, labor unions, insurance companies and the members of Congress – have agreed that a “single-payer” system is “off the table.” That’s infuriated many Americans. Presidential candidate Barack Obama campaigned for “ universal healthcare ,” calling for unprecedented government intervention while preserving the employer-based insurance system. Obama’s visit to Canada provides the occasion for a debate that’s not happening in Washington on a so-called “single payer” system like those in Europe and Canada.
To the Point
Michael Moore, Insurance Companies and 'Socialized Medicine' Michael Moore 's latest film Sicko dramatizes the sometimes deadly shortcomings of America's health care system. When people who have insurance are denied payment by a profit-oriented bureaucracy, they either pay the bills and go bankrupt or go without medical treatment that could save their lives. Sicko advocates abolishing insurance companies and regulating the drug industry. It also embraces a Canadian-style, government-run health care system, the kind that advocates of the status quo denounce as "socialized medicine."
Recommended
Left, Right & Center
How was the trip? President Trump's travels got less fun as he went from the Middle East to Europe.
To the Point
Who's to blame for the opioid crisis? Some of the lawyers who took on Big Tobacco are now going after Big Pharma. It’s all about the deadly epidemic of opioid use. Are the drug companies to blame? What about the users? Later, on today’s Talking Point: making sense of Britain’s upset election.
Left, Right & Center
President Trump: US to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord Trump says he was elected to serve Pittsburgh, not Paris.
To the Point
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.