For over three decades, CEI has advocated health care reforms that put more power in the hands of consumers to choose their health providers, treatment protocols, and scope of insurance coverage. We have advocated reform of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug and device approval process to allow for greater flexibility and patient choice. And in 2013, CEI organized the court challenges to Obamacare’s exchange subsidies that concluded with the Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell decision.
Healthcare Issue Areas
Featured Posts
DC Journal
Point: Medicaid Work Requirements Are a Common-Sense Reform
Medicaid is the government program that is supposed to help the poor afford health care. Its cost to taxpayers has skyrocketed in the last few…
Blog
Congress considers micromanaging PBM finances
With the first reconciliation bill behind it, Congress is now looking to reform other aspects of the health care system. Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM)…
Blog
Favorable selection in Medicare Advantage can’t be managed from the top
A previous post covered how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) attempts to mitigate upcoding have been unsuccessful. Another often-decried activity…
Search Posts
Op-Eds
Europe’s Dangerous Over-Precaution
European Union (EU) officials are deliberating on whether to apply the “precautionary principle” to nearly all chemicals in commerce within the EU—a move that could…
Products
December Edition of the Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Articles in this edition:…
Op-Eds
The Cow that Came Home to Roost
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Non-stories are common in the media around the holidays. Last year, we…
National Review
Finding Nemo, Losing Fear
Many thousands of children and their parents were entranced this year by Pixar's excellent movie Finding Nemo, whose combination of inventiveness, comedy, and emotion…
Op-Eds
Patent Nonsense on GMOs Should Be Debunked
It may now seem daring to say, but in a decade's time GM foods are likely to be as widely accepted in kitchens…
Op-Eds
Conko and Prakash Guest Editorial from BioScience News and Advocate
The use of bioengineering technology for the development of new plant varieties has been endorsed by dozens of scientific bodies, has increased crop…
Op-Eds
Eroding U.S. Sovereignty: POPs Implementation
Full article available as pdf. Article appeared originally in December 2003 edition of the Monthly Planet. In…
Products
October Edition of the Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Articles in this edition: “On…
Op-Eds
United Nations Day of Shame
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently declared that the global pursuit of scientific endeavors is marked by inequality. Noting that developing countries invest much…
Op-Eds
Vox Populi and Public Policy
“How can you tell whether a whale is a mammal or a fish?” a teacher asks her third-grade class. “Take a vote?” pipes…
Op-Eds
The Poor Suffer as UN Wages War on Science
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan recently declared that the global pursuit of scientific endeavors is marked by inequality. Noting that developing countries invest much less…
Op-Eds
Genetically Modified Foods Are Nothing New
Click on link above to obtain article in .pdf format.
Op-Eds
Children as Policy Pawns
Americans take nothing as seriously as the need to protect the health and safety of our children. Public concern about environmental harms has intensified…
Op-Eds
CEI Does Cancún
From September 10 through September 14, the World Trade Organization will hold its fifth Ministerial meeting in Cancún, Mexico. The Competitive Enterprise Institute will be…
News Release
Anti-Globalization Movement in Retreat in Cancún
The Anti-Globalization Movement is in retreat at the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Ministerial meeting; and advocates of open trade now have an opportunity to make…
News Release
Mientras manifestantes oponen la biotecnología, cuatro organizaciones donan dos toneladas de comidas a un pueblo en México
Cancún, México, Septiembre 11, 2003—Mientras manifestantes alrededor de la reunión de ministros de la Organización Mundial del Comercio (OMC) en Cancún, México protestan…
Op-Eds
‘I’m Mo Green!’
CANCUN, Mexico — “I’m Mo Green!” bellowed the casino owner, suggesting that his uninvited but insistent suitor Michael Corleone appreciate their relative stations in the…
News Release
As Protestors Debate Biotechnology, Four U.S. Groups Donate Two Tons of Food to Mexican Village
Cancún, Mexico, September 11, 2003—While demonstrators at the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancún, Mexico continue to protest the trade discussions, four U.S.
Op-Eds
Precaution without Principle
The European Parliament voted earlier this summer to change the way it regulates gene-splicing, or genetic modification (GM) technology, possibly opening the way…
News Release
World Focus on Trade Debate in Cancún
The Fifth World Trade Organization Ministerial meeting in Cancún, Mexico will begin this week, with tens of thousands of official delegates, non-profit representatives, and activists…
Products
September Edition of Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Articles in this edition: “The…
Op-Eds
EU Over-REACH
The latest mutation of the Precautionary Principle–which would heavily regulate, if not prohibit, any product, technology or activity that is in any way incomplete–is…
Op-Eds
Europe’s REACH Exceeds Its Scientific Grasp
European regulatory officials have raised hostility to technological innovation to an art form. Their current medium of choice is the Precautionary Principle, which holds…
Op-Eds
Stockholm Syndrome
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is a United Nations Environment Programme Convention, which bans or regulates industrial chemicals and pesticides. The…
Op-Eds
Brussels’ Bad Science Will Cost the World Dear
Regulatory officials in the European Union seem to be ignorant of the rule of holes: when you are in one, stop digging. Numerous analyses…
Op-Eds
The Brundtland Legacy
The five-year tenure of Gro Harlem Brundtland as head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has just come to an end. She leaves behind…
Op-Eds
Los Beneficios de la Biotecnologa
Click on pdf link above to obtain full article…
Op-Eds
The Benefits of Biotech
Click pdf link above for full text of article Ever since the publication of Rachel Carson’s…
USA Today
Republican Senator, Auto-Safety Advocate Form Unlikely Alliance
Op-Eds
Misfires in Biotech Trenches
Agricultural biotechnology suddenly is headline news—the focus of a vitriolic trans-Atlantic trade squabble, and even the subject of pointed public comments by President…
News Release
Drug Re-Importation Bill: Cheaper Drugs Today, But Fewer Medicines Tomorrow
Contact for Interviews: Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 or Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252 Washington, D.C., July 25, 2003—The vote by the U.S. House to allow the re-importation of…
Op-Eds
Much Ado About Nothing?
The last year has been a bad one for future AIDS victims. The U.N. AIDS conference in Barcelona was an activist circus. U.S. Secretary…
News Release
Senate Vote a Setback for Public Health
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., July 24, 2003—The U.S. Senate yesterday approved a measure that would allow the Food…
Op-Eds
West Nile Virus: A Public Health Crisis?
Full article available in pdf format Public health officials can only hope that this summer doesn't see a repeat of last year's…
Roll Call
Fireworks Fly
Op-Eds
Recent Research Suggests…
There has been a great deal of ballyhoo this week over the decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require food products…
News Release
Pharmaceutical Re-Imports Threaten Medical Innovation
Contact for Interviews: Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 Washington, D.C., July 18, 2003—The Competitive Enterprise Institute is opposing proposals to allow the re-importation of drugs from foreign…
Op-Eds
Rules May Save Fuel but Won’t Save Lives
When it comes to saving fuel, federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations are expensive, cumbersome and insidiously deadly. They force new technologies…
News Release
New! CEI’s Politically Correct Periodic Table Mousepad
Preview of the mousepad available in pdf format. Learn the “new” chemistry from this mousepad guide to…
Op-Eds
Biotech Woes…and the Culprits
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />America learned long ago that what's good for General Motors isn't necessarily good for the country.
News Release
Two Groups Sue Transportation Department over Fuel Economy Standards
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Click here for audio soundbites (mp3), soundbite 1; soundbite 2.
News Release
On 114th Anniversary of Turning Point in Chemistry, CEI Unveils Politically Correct Periodic Table
Contact: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252 Sam Kazman, 202.331.2265 …
Op-Eds
Biotech and Baby Food
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Warnings about one societal danger or another often portray children as the likeliest or…
Op-Eds
The EU’s Anti-Biotech Protectionist Weapon (Letter to the Editor)
America’s challenge to EU policies toward agricultural and food biotechnology is far more complex and subtle than is conveyed by U.S. Trade Representative Robert…
Op-Eds
OMB OTL? What good is a sleeping watchdog?
What would you do if federal lawmakers proposed increasing annual taxes by $8,000 per household? You, and many other taxpayers, would likely retaliate in…
Products
April/May edition of CEI’s Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Article in this edition:…
News Release
Two Groups Sue Transportation Department over Fuel Economy Standards
Contact for Interviews: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 The…
Op-Eds
West Nile Virus: Squashing those Myths Regarding Pesticide Spraying
With the mosquito-transmitted <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />West Nile virus in the news again, so too are many myths about…
News Release
Will West Nile Virus Spoil Another Summer?
Contact for Interviews:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Jody Clarke, 202.331.2252 <?xml:namespace prefix =…
Op-Eds
Consensus Cons
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> It is a regrettable fact that most of the public is ignorant about science—not…
Study
Rethinking the Regulation of Bioengineered Crops
Full Document Available in PDF U.S. State Department conference, Agricultural Biotechnology and Developing Countries, May 21,…
Roll Call
Trade War Looms as US Launches Challenge Over Transgenic Crops
Op-Eds
Mad-Cow Madness: What We Now Know about Mad-Cow Disease Shows the Folly of Excessive Precaution
When Oprah Winfrey stated on her show in 1996 that she'd never eat another hamburger, she was reacting to the remarks of Humane Society…
Op-Eds
Supporting a Risky Water Policy
As <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />U.S. environmentalists push policies to phase out use of chlorine gas at water-treatment plants, humanitarians…
Study
Spam, That Ill O’ The ISP
Full Document Available in PDF Most public attention has been focused on…
Op-Eds
Time for the GM Moratorium to Go
After months of anticipation, the U.S. government is expected to file a formal complaint today with the World Trade Organization against the European Union’s five-year…
News Release
Biotech Trade Challenge a Boon for Developing World
Washington, D.C., May 13, 2003—The Competitive Enterprise Institute applauds today’s announcement by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative that it, along with Canada, Argentina,…
News Release
Scientists Urge European Union to End Biotech Food Ban
Contact for Interviews: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” /> Richard Morrison, 202.331.2273 <?xml:namespace prefix…
Op-Eds
Utopian Policymaking: The Inherent Dangers of “Inherently Safer Technology”
What would you say if the federal government proposed phasing out large commercial airplanes? After all, they could argue that using only small planes with…
News Release
Should FDA Force Switching of Rx Drugs to OTC?
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” /> Contact for Interviews: <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />…
Op-Eds
New Challenges, New Failures: The U.N.
The way in which scientific endeavors are pursued globally is marked by clear inequalities, said United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in a recent…
News Release
Federal Auto Regulations Getting Deadlier
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., April 2, 2003—New federal fuel economy rules announced yesterday will make Americans less safe…
Op-Eds
Pediatric drug testing may be unhealthy
Even by Capitol Hill’s standards, last Tuesday’s press conference was an exceptionally self-congratulatory event. The occasion was the unveiling of the Pediatric Research Equity…
News Release
Pediatric Drug Testing Bill Could Prove Unhealthy
Washington, D.C., March 17, 2003—A controversial pediatric drug-testing bill will be unveiled at a Senate news conference tomorrow, but according to a…
CEI Planet
February Edition of CEI Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Articles in this edition:…
News Release
Pediatric Drug Testing Bill Could Endanger Lives
Washington, D.C., February 26, 2003—A controversial pediatric drug-testing bill will soon be introduced in the Senate, but according to a public interest…
News Release
New Federal Rule on Alcohol Ads and Public Health
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Washington, D.C., February 28, 2003—Today the U.S. Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (formerly…
News Release
East Coast Snowstorm Shows Usefulness Of SUVs
Washington, D.C., February 20, 2003—Instead of being attacked for their vehicles, SUV owners this week heard only calls for help. From Virginia…
News Release
Boost Your Environmental IQ Online
Washington, D.C., February 7, 2003—The Competitive Enterprise Institute is launching a new online feature, the "e-class" quiz, this week. The quiz, developed by CEI’s…
News Release
Senators Introduce Deadly New Proposal
Washington, D.C., January 30, 2003 — Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) today proposed increasing the severity of one of the…
News Release
Success Of New Book Shows: Many Americans Don’t Believe Gloom And Doom Theories
Washington, D.C., January 14, 2003—The Competitive Enterprise Institute is celebrating the success of its latest book on environmental issues,…
News Release
SUV Owners Under Assault Again
Washington, D.C., January 8, 2003— A new campaign attacking SUVs and linking them to terrorism through our dependence on foreign oil is farcical…
Products
January Edition of CEI Monthly Planet
Full Document Available in PDF Articles in this edition: “The Grim Green…
News Release
Environmental, Other Regulations Under Scrutiny
Washington, D.C., December 20, 2002—From energy conservation standards for washing machines to labels on genetically modified food, many federal regulations are coming…
News Release
Deadly Auto Regulations May Get Worse
Washington, D.C., December 12, 2002—The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is today announcing that it will propose an increase in the fuel economy standards…
Products
November/December 2002 Edition of CEI Update
Full Document Available in PDF Articles in this edition: “FDA’s Pediatric Rule…
Washington Post
Judge Rejects Drug Testing on Children
Op-Eds
West Nile Wakeup Bites
It became common in Washington’s parks during the summer to see mothers rubbing their children’s arms, faces, and legs with wipes pulled from…
Op-Eds
Measure 27 Clouds Otherwise Clear Choices
Full Policy Brief Available In PDF Format Summary Picture yourself in a grocery store.
Study
Eat, Drink, And Be Merry: Why Mandatory Biotech Food Labeling Is Unnecessary
Full Document Available in PDF…
Op-Eds
To Beat West Nile, Kill The Carrier
It is common in Washington’s parks these days to see mothers rubbing their children’s arms, faces and legs with wipes pulled from brightly…
Op-Eds
GM In Perspective
View the full Spiked debate forum on GM crops. 'If the field trials are allowed to progress unmolested, Britons…
Op-Eds
Europe’s Forgotten Promise
Delegates to this week's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, will have to confront several stark ironies. Their lavish, $50 million soiree…
Op-Eds
Precautionary Principle May Do More Harm Than Good
Residents of a city facing a permanent threat from earthquakes know how important it is to exercise caution. Thus, it may seem reasonable for city,…
Op-Eds
Hormone Replacement Therapy Truth: It’s Not All Bad
Hormone Replacement Therapy has been all over the news since a recent trial revealed that HRT comes with some significant health risks. The trial,…
Op-Eds
EU Ratifies Biosafety Protocol
The European Union took yet another step away from the rational regulation of genetically modified crop plants and foods in late June, when it…
Op-Eds
Science vs. Presumption In Assessing Risk
Full Chapter Available in PDF Format On September 22, 2000, California Governor Gray Davis signed into…
Op-Eds
European move will stifle GMOs
Regulatory officials in the European Union seem to be ignorant of the Rule of Holes: When you're in a hole, stop digging. Repeated analyzes…
Op-Eds
Blessed Are The Poor With Spirit
This year's UN-sponsored World Food Summit just concluded with a grim reminder that the goal of cutting world hunger in half by 2015 set six…
Op-Eds
Biotech Critics Find A Little Goes A Long Way
In the fictional world of James Bond, the criminal group SPECTRE made a big business out of misusing technology to disrupt commerce, make money, and…
Comment
Are Risk Assessment And The Precautionary Principle Equivalent?
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following paper was prepared for the June 20-21, 2002 International Society of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology workshop on the Precautionary Principle,…
Comment
The Precautionary Principle: Protectionism and Environmental Extremism by Other Means
The Precautionary Principle: Protectionism and Environmental Extremism by Other Means …
Op-Eds
Want to Avoid GM Foods? This Regulation Won’t Help
Yesterday, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee voted to expand the EU’s labelling requirement for Genetically Modified foods. The measure, in the form of…
Op-Eds
Worrying About Frankenstein’s Monster
A specter is haunting Europe—called the “precautionary principle”. As generally defined, the precautionary principle states that a product or technology can be banned even if…
Washington Post
Cancer Doctors on the FDA
Op-Eds
Battling Hunger With Biotechnology
Needless restrictions on agricultural biotechnology would harm the world's ability to battle hunger in the 21st century, say Gregory Conko and C.S. Prakash, co-founders…
News Release
FDA Too Slow to Approve New Medical Drugs and Devices
A new nationwide poll of cancer specialists sponsored by the Competitive Enterprise Institute finds many of them believe the FDA is too slow in approving…
Study
A National Survey of Oncologists Regarding The Food And Drug Administration
Full Document Available in PDF A National Survey…
News Release
Will California’s Senate Follow Assembly’s Lead And Pass Costly Auto Regulations?
Washington, D.C., April 26, 2002 — The California State Assembly has passed new regulations that could increase the cost of new cars and…
Washington Post
