Wesley J. Smith

Ezekiel Emanuel, one of President Obama’s premier health care advisers—and the brother of his chief of staff—insists that rationing based on age isn’t invidious discrimination. Oh no? Check out this story from Sweden that illustrates how wrong he is. From the story:An . . . . Continue Reading »

A bill has been filed in the U.S. Senate that would create a federal long term care insurance plan. It would cost $50-$75 a month, but pay $50-$75 a day in benefits. Being voluntary, it can’t possibly work from an underwriting perspective—thereby guaranteeing even more harvesting from . . . . Continue Reading »

Betsy McCaughey has been pounding the drum about the dangers of Obamacare.  Today, she warns about the beliefs of two key Obama Administration health care advisers in an opinion column (“Deadly Doctors”) in the New York Post. From the column:Yet at least two of President . . . . Continue Reading »

Perhaps we won’t be lemmings and destroy the world’s economy in the name of stopping global warming, after all. India has rejected some of the “science”—read computer program projections—of global warming and is refusing to thwart its own prosperity tilting at the . . . . Continue Reading »

As if we aren’t already spending enough money, legislation has apparently been filed to create a federal long term care insurance plan.  From the storyIt creates a national insurance trust that people can voluntarily participate in. It’s a publicly sponsored insurance plan, to make . . . . Continue Reading »

Gil Kerlikowske, President Obama’s drug czar, like those of Clinton and Bush before him, claims that marijuana has no medicinal value. From the story: “Legalization is not in the president’s vocabulary, and it’s not in mine,” he said. Kerlikowske said he can understand . . . . Continue Reading »

A bill in Congress would outlaw invasive medical research on chimpanzees. This is folly. Chimps are highly intelligent and social creatures, and we should not use them in research blithely. But chimps are the closest genetically to humans in the natural world, meaning that in limited circumstances . . . . Continue Reading »

President Obama does not know what he is talking about on health care.  During last night’s press conference, he both accused physicians of performing unnecessary surgery because of the money—which if true, his reforms wouldn’t fix—and exhibited a profound cluelessness . . . . Continue Reading »

President Obama’s attack on the alleged venality of physicians last night was both unwarranted and boneheaded at the same time. Here is what he said:  Right now, doctors a lot of times are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that’s out there. ... The . . . . Continue Reading »

Penn bioethicist Art Caplan and I have had our differences, although sometimes we agree—as with most organ transplant issues.  Today, he has a piece out, what he calls “a reform reality check.” As do most bioethicists, he justifies rationing, and I think it is an inadequate . . . . Continue Reading »