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.
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Blog
Missing the economists in FTC’s latest PBM study
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released its not-so-objectively titled interim report on Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs): Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The Powerful Middlemen Inflating Drug…
News Release
New FTC study on drug costs fails to conduct empirical analysis of market conditions
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) release a new study today claiming Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are responsible for higher drug costs. FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak…
Penn Live
Harrisburg is taking a wrong approach to drug pricing | PennLive letters
CEI’s Joel Zinberg was cited in a Penn Live article on Pharmacy Benefit Managers: Joel Zinberg from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) explains, “PBMs enhance…
Search Posts
Blog
Justice Kagan Should Recuse Herself from Obamacare Case
Only in Bizarro World can you claim someone is your attorney -- and thus shielded by attorney work-product privilege -- and then insist in the…
Blog
Michigan SEIU Scam the Product of Government Collective Bargaining
Proponents of government collective bargaining view it as a fundamental human right. The shameful actions of SEIU in Michigan, however, undermine this claim. In…
Citation
Can Brand Makers Be Sued for Generic Drug Injuries?
Trib Live
Criminal Competition
Blog
Doctors Grow Disenchanted With Obamacare’s Costs and Burdens; Health Care Law Arbitrarily Discriminates
69% of physicians are “pessimistic about the future of medicine” because of the 2010 healthcare law, notes Dr. Marc Siegel in USA Today. “Just…
Blog
Obama Administration to People Needing Bone Marrow Transplants: Drop Dead
In December, a federal appeals court ruled in Flynn v. Holder that the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 (NOTA)…
Blog
War on Drugs Keeps Badly Needed, Perfectly Legal Medicine Away from Sick People
Sick people, like those suffering from narcolepsy, are suffering from a manufacturing shortage of Adderall. That shortage was caused by the Drug Enforcement Agency,…
Blog
Price Fixing Causes Greek Medicine Shortage
Greece is rapidly degenerating into third-world status. The UK’s Daily Mail reports: Youngsters are being dumped by their parents who are struggling to make…
Blog
Obamacare Causes Layoffs in Medical Device Industry, Harms Medical Innovation
Ramesh Ponnuru writes about the layoffs and lost jobs resulting from Obamacare's new tax on medical devices at Bloomberg News: A year from…
Blog
Obamacare Stifles Job Creation, Causes Layoffs
At Bloomberg News, Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., explains how the 2010 healthcare law is preventing jobs from being created and resulting…
Western FarmPress
Mandatory GMO Food Labeling Implies Risks Where There Are None
This offering comes under the heading of “Wish I had written that.” In a recent issue of Forbes, Henry I. Miller and Gregory Conko wrote …
Blog
Businessmen: Obamacare Stops Them from Hiring
Journalist John Stossel describes how "three successful businessmen came on" his TV show last week "to explain how Obamacare is a reason that unemployment stays…
Western FarmPress
Stoking Fears About ‘No More Tears’
For as long as there have been cosmetics, they’ve been part of the holidays. They’re popular Christmas gifts and part of looking good at big…
Western FarmPress
The FDA vs. Commercial Speech
The ability of physicians to prescribe approved medicines for purposes not sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is one of the most important…
Blog
FDA Needs to Act on Internet and Social Media Policy
Way back in September 2009, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it would begin using the social media site Twitter to share news and other…
Blog
Over-The-Counter Plan B? What Would Jed Bartlet Do?
Back in March 2009, President Obama issued a memorandum on scientific integrity to the heads of executive branch agencies and departments.
Western FarmPress
Labeling Of Biotech Foods Is Unnecessary And Unconstitutional
This piece was co-written with Henry Miller. Should the government require that labels on cans of marinara sauce contain information about whether the tomatoes in…
Blog
Good News/Bad News on Compensating Bone Marrow Donors
By now, there's been plenty of news highlighting last week's decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the National Organ…
Blog
Reforming Medical Malpractice Law: Interesting Discussion about Damage Limits in Malpractice Cases
Point of Law has an interesting debate over whether medical-malpractice noneconomic damage caps hurt consumers, between Ted Frank and Shirley Svorny. As…
Blog
Legalizing Kidney Sales Would Save Thousands of Lives, Save Taxpayers a Bundle
Kidney sales should be legal, explains kidney donor Alexander Berger in The New York Times. Berger is a research analyst for GiveWell, a nonprofit that…
Comment
Comments of the Competitive Enterprise Institute Regarding Food and Drug Administration and Food Safety Inspection Service Approaches to Reducing Sodium Consumption
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) appreciates the opportunity to submit these comments regarding the Food and Drug Administration’s and Food Safety Inspection Service’s Approaches to…
News Release
CEI Condemns Agency Plan to Restrict Salt Availability
Washington, D.C., November 29, 2011 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute today urged the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture to reject…
Western FarmPress
Obamacare Sequesters Your Flex Account
Attention Joe and Jane Citizen! Concerned about the fiscal future of your country and your family? Then please step away for five minutes from the…
Blog
Obamacare Attacks Your Flex Account — Minimize Damage in 2013 by Doubling Up for 2012
Hey Joe and Jane Citizen, concerned about the future of your country and your family. Please step away for five minutes from the nonstop TV coverage…
Blog
Sen. Hagan Bill Would Expand Accelerated Drug Approval
According to Bloomberg News, North Carolina Democratic Senator Kay Hagan is set to introduce a bill that would create new “progressive”…
Western FarmPress
The 510(k) Program Should Be Saved, Not Scorned
Blog
Supreme Court Grants Review in Case Challenging Obamacare as Unconstitutional
The Supreme Court today granted certiorari in the Obamacare cases brought by 26 states and the National Federation of Independent Business. The court allotted 5…
Blog
Obama Administration Contributes to Life-Threatening Drug Shortages Even as it Decries Them
In a recent column, Michelle Malkin explained how Obamacare price controls, FDA and DEA rules, and Obama administration policies have contributed to shortages of…
Western FarmPress
Economics at Heart of Drug Shortages
Western FarmPress
Competitive Enterprise Institute Pleased With PDUFA Recommendations
Daily Caller
Regulation Is This Halloween’s Goblin
American entrepreneurs and small business owners have good reason to be scared this Halloween. According to a new Gallup poll, small business owners consider…
Blog
Biotechnology’s 29th Anniversary!
Twenty-nine years ago tomorrow, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s and Genentech’s Humulin, making it the first ever fully…
Comment
CEI Comments to the Food and Drug Administration Regarding Medical Device Regulation
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute appreciates the opportunity to submit these comments regarding…
Comment
CEI Comments to the Food and Drug Administration Regarding PDUFA Reauthorization
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute appreciates the opportunity to submit these comments regarding…
Blog
Beware of Asking FDA to Change Itself
Every five years, Congress must reauthorize a piece of legislation called the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which gives the…
Daily Caller
Seeing Double Regulation
When asked to name the most controversial medical issues of the day, few people would pick eye care. However, in the past half-century, eye…
Daily Caller
Weekend Reading: The True Story of Cosmetics
Daily Caller
Do Cosmetics Really Cause Cancer?
Daily Caller
The EWG Provides Food for (No) Thought
Study
The True Story of Cosmetics
Many environmental groups want to rid the world of synthetic chemicals. Now they are at war with your makeup.
Daily Caller
Think Tank: More FDA 510(k) Oversight Needed, Driving Innovation Overseas
Daily Caller
Competitive Enterprise Institute Criticizes the FDA
Daily Caller
Conservative think tank report blasts FDA
Daily Caller
News Bites: Bachmann’s IPAB Claims Fall Flat
News Release
New Study Reveals Mismanagement of FDA Medical Device Reviews
Washington, D.C., October 12, 2011—The Food and Drug Administration’s 510(k) review process for medical devices has been severely mismanaged by agency officials, according to…
Study
Stifling Medical Device Innovation
The United States has long been the home to cutting-edge innovations in the medical device industry. However, increasingly burdensome regulatory policy is driving pioneering research…
Daily Caller
How To Create Shortages In An Abundant World
An old cold war joke asks a Russian, a Pole, an Israeli, and an American the following man-on-the-street question. “Excuse me, what is your opinion…
Blog
FDA Approves Device To Help Doctors Detect Skin Cancer
There's an unusual bit of good news out of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In March 2010 and again last November, the…
Blog
Obamacare Will Increase Health Insurance Premiums by 55 to 85 Percent in Ohio, Study Says
The Charleston Daily Mail’s Don Surber points to a recent study “that shows that 790,000 Ohioans will lose their private health insurance and premiums…
Blog
Flushing Oral Oncology Drugs Down the Toilet?
An interesting article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (via yesterday's Jerusalem Post) argues that the U.S. Food and…
Breitbart
Breathless: FDA Bans Asthma Medication
Remember when Barack Obama – with the dignity and off-prompter grace, evincing deep understanding of the issues and the eloquence for which he is fawned…
News Release
Think Tanks Urge Supreme Court to Reject Abstract Process Patents
Washington, D.C., September 15, 2011 – The Competitive Enterprise Institute, Cato Institute, and Reason Foundation have submitted an amicus curiae brief…
Breitbart
Colorado Cantaloupes Prompt Warning After Multi-State Listeria Outbreak
Breitbart
How to Transcend Post-9/11 Homeland Insecurity
Is “Elevated” worse than “High,” or is it the other way around? Hell, I can’t remember. Need the iPhone app for that I guess.
Reason
Mandating Condoms?
Reason
Wanted: Alcoholic Truck Drivers
Reason
Feds to Trucking Company: You Cannot Fire Alcoholic Drivers
Reason
Obama Administration: Employers Must Hire Alcoholics as Truck Drivers Despite Liability
Reason
Do We Really Need a National Weather Service?
As Hurricane Irene bears down on the East Coast, news stations bombard our televisions with constant updates from the National Hurricane Center. While Americans ought…
Washington Times
Questionable Motives Behind Supplement Bill
Washington Times
Medical Magellans
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules are supposedly intended to ensure the safety and efficacy of new drugs and medical devices. It is FDA’s technology…
Reason
The High Cost of Low Fuel Bills
Blog
Weird Healthcare Regulation of the Day: No Coverage for Men With Breast Cancer
"Disease does not discriminate, but apparently Medicaid coverage does. A 26-year-old South Carolina tile-layer has found himself with breast cancer and out of luck for…
Fox Business
Deadly Regulations
Blog
Obamacare Costs Additional $50 Billion a Year More Than Predicted, Based on Yet Another False Assumption in Calculating its Costs
“Federal payments required by President Barack Obama’s health care law are being understated by as much as $50 billion per year because official budget forecasts…
Washington Times
Mislabeling Supplements Does a Disservice
Products
Gregory Conko Discussing Cloning Translating Into Big Business and Safety Issues on CNNfn
CNNfn: Money & Markets (c) 2003 Federal Document Clearing House. All Rights Reserved. Friday, October 31, 2003 Business Cloning Translating Into Big Business and Safety…
Products
Fred Smith and Michael Jacobson discuss proposed legislation to fight obesity on CNBC Capital Report
BODY: GLORIA BORGER, co-host: And welcome back to CAPITAL REPORT. The FDA is looking for ways to combat the exploding rate of obesity in…
Study
Safety, risk and the precautionary principle: rethinking precautionary approaches to the regulation of transgenic plants
Full Document Available in PDF Ever since completion of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety in…
Washington Times
Government in Your Car
CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman discusses the unintended consequences of government mandates for auto manufacturers. CAFE fuel effciency standards result in smaller, lighter cars, which…
Comment
Response to Citizen Petition Requesting Certain Prescription Allergy Medication be OTC
Commenters believe that the FDCA, read as an integrated whole, generally leaves the determination whether prescription drug or OTC drug labeling should be proposed for…
Legal Brief
Memorandum Opinion in Association of Physicians and Surgeons vs US FDA
Comment
Comments Regarding the Constitutionality of FDA Treatment of Product Information
This request for comments represents a welcome departure from FDA’s prior treatment of First Amendment concerns in the context of product advertising, labeling, and promotions.
Comment
Comments on the ATF Proposed Rule Regarding Health Claims in Labeling Alcohol Beverages
ATF’s notice of proposed rulemaking seeks to prohibit what it deems misleading statements about the health benefits of alcohol consumption from appearing on alcoholic beverage…
Legal Brief
Petition for Review of an Order of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Legal Brief
CEI’s CAFE Litigation
Full Document Avalible in PDF In the 1980s, CAFE was the subject of several lawsuits by the Center for Auto Safety and…
Legal Brief
Oral Argument in CEI and CA vs. Paul O Neill and Bradley Buckles
Study
Hidden Truth: The Perils and Protection of Off-Label Drug and Medical Device Promotion
Full Document Available in PDF What can you do if you learn you have a life-threatening…
Blog
The Limits of Government-Funded Psychology: 9/11 Counseling Backfires
After school shootings, psychologists fan out and provide “grief counseling” to student bodies, but it’s far from clear that this does any good. Critics say…
News Max
Now Gov’t Trying to Ban Sale of Your Supplements
News Max
The Coming War on Vitamins
A consumer walking down the aisle of a local drugstore can choose from a wide variety of supplements, vitamins and nutrients for his or her…
Study
Rule Forcing Tests for Safer Air Bags Expected Today
Blog
More Confusion on Breast Cancer Screening
When the federal government's Preventive Services Task Force recommended in November 2009 that most women under age 50 should stop having regular…
Blog
The President’s Health Care Fables
The president pushed the health care bill through Congress using a series of fables -- health insurance horror stories…
News Max
The USDA’s Anti-Science Activism
Full Document Available in PDF U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack must…
Blog
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Obamacare’s Individual Mandate in Divided 2-to-1 Vote
The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the individual mandate contained in the 2010 healthcare law by a 2-to-1 vote, claiming that…
News Release
CEI Slams FDA Vote on Avastin
Washington, D.C., June 29, 2011 — An FDA advisory committee voted today to revoke the approval for breast cancer treatment from the drug Avastin.
Blog
Double Trouble Not Double the Fun with Medicare and Medicaid
There are 9.7 million people that use both Medicare and Medicaid for their health care expenses, according to a June 27 article in The Wall…
News Max
Greg Conko on FDA Approval for Avastin
CEI Senior Fellow Greg Conko discusses the FDA's pending decision on whether or not to withdraw its approval of Avastin as a treatment for breast…
Comment
CEI Submits Comments on the Proposed Inspection System for Catfish
Full Document Available as a PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute…
The Wall Street Journal
Why Your New Car Doesn’t Have a Spare Tire
Auto makers comply with fuel economy mandates by making cars lighter and more dangerous. Fewer tires, higher taxes. That may be what’s in store for…
Blog
Meet Your New Mom: Kathleen Sebelius and Cigarette Warnings
Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius recently made a revealing statement on how she perceives the role of government and her place within…
The Wall Street Journal
There’s No ‘Average’ Cancer Patient
On June 28, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a hearing to decide the fate of Avastin, a drug taken by thousands…
Blog
Yet Another Way That Obamacare Is Unconstitutional: The Arguments in Florida v. HHS
In the Washington Examiner, I discuss the brief I recently filed on behalf of Minnesota and North Carolina legislators challenging Obamacare, which…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 31, 2011: FDA Rescinds Approval of Breast Cancer Drug
Conko believes this battle boils down to one question: who decides which treatments patients can use? Will it be the FDA, or doctors and patients?…
Blog
200 More Obamacare Waivers Granted
204 more waivers of Obamacare’s onerous mandates have been issued over the past month, bringing the total to at least 1,372. As…
Blog
Republicans Filibuster Left-Wing Lawyer’s Nomination to Key Appeals Court; Block Confirmation of Goodwin Liu
"Goodwin Liu's nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals appears to be done for" thanks to a Republican filibuster, says David Freddoso of…
Blog
CEI Files Another Amicus Brief Challenging Obamacare
Debate over the constitutionality of the massive health care law passed in 2010 has focused on its "individual mandate": the requirement that individuals buy health…
Legal Brief
Brief Amici Curiae of Minnesota Legislators and North Carolina Legislative Leaders in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellees/Cross-Appellants
Full Document Available in PDF Court below correctly found that the ACA…
The Wall Street Journal
Oregon’s Anti-BPA Packaging Legislation May Jeopardize Public Health
The Oregon Senate recently voted in favor of SB 695, which would ban BPA use for children’s food containers, baby bottles and sippy cups…