Comparative Effectiveness Research—Will the Risks as Well as the Benefits Be Considered?

According to the FDA News, a bill to establish a comparative effectiveness research institute is scheduled for introduction in the Senate. The Comparative Effectiveness Research Act of 2008, sponsored by Sens. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Max Baucus (D-MT), would evaluate the effectiveness of different drugs and medical devices that exist for the same treatment. The […]

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Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research

Columnist George Will in the January 29 issue of the Washington Post first noted that “The stimulus legislation creates a council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. This is about medicine but not about healing the economy. The CER would identify (this is language from the draft report on the legislation) medical ‘items, procedures, and interventions’ that […]

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Wall Street Journal Article on Alternative Medicine Provokes Angry Response

The January 9 issue of the Wall Street Journal published an article by Deepak Chopra, MD, Dean Ornish, MD, Andrew Weill, MD, and Rustum Roy, PhD.  “‘Alternative’ Medicine is Mainstream” made the case that an integrative, diet-and-lifestyle approach can curb our sky-high medical bills and cure our costly medical ills.

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The Economy Is Tanking. Is This Good News for Herbal and Natural Meds?

A recent report in the Wall Street Journal said that healthcare spending grew at its lowest rate in nearly a decade in 2007, yet it swallowed an ever bigger portion of our country’s gross national product, not to mention the budgets of American families. Because of a trend toward generic medications, prescription drug spending was […]

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More News from the Women’s Health Initiative—Synthetic, Prescription HRT Shrinks the Brain

In the December 23, 2008, issue of Pulse of Health Freedom, we reported on new data from the government-funded Women’s Health Initiative. Now, two studies from the arm of the WHI Study that favors using synthetic hormone replacement therapy by prescription have been published in the January 13 issue of Neurology. The studies sought to […]

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The Battle is Not Over for Our Iraqi War Vets—Traumatic Brain Injury Has Long-Lasting Consequences

The latest issue of Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development focuses on identifying which combat veterans with traumatic brain injury might need more intensive treatment. As Pulse of Health Freedom pointed out in its October 7 issue, concussions or traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are common among veterans serving in the Iraq war. TBI has been […]

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A Legal Challenge to Forcing Seniors into Medicare

Freedom of healthcare choice has long been an issue when dealing with government-funded healthcare plans like Medicare and Medicaid. For instance, the Watson-Burton legislation attempted to address economically disadvantaged persons who rely on Medicaid for health insurance because they were given no dental freedom of choice. For most families on Medicaid, the choice is either […]

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