Reason Foundation

Recent Research and Commentary

My Body, Their Choice

Turning health care over to the government inevitably limits individual freedom.

November 18, 2009

Peter Suderman

"My body, my choice" has long been a rallying cry for abortion-rights advocates on the left, many of whom have recently been vocal supporters of the Democratic health care reform agenda. But as abortion advocates are now discovering, abortion rights aren't as easily compatible with health care reform as they might have once thought. Turns out the more government gets involved in health care, the more difficult it becomes to truly retain choices about one's body.

Menu Mandate's Missing Math

You can show people calorie numbers, but you can't make them count.

November 18, 2009

Jacob Sullum

The most conspicuous effect you will see from President Obama’s health care overhaul won’t be at your doctor’s office or the hospital. It will be at your local Burger King.

That’s assuming the Senate goes along with a provision, already approved by the House, that requires restaurant chains with 20 or more locations to display calorie counts on their menus. Although supporters claim such mandates have the power to make people thinner and prevent obesity-related disease, New York City’s experience suggests they have little or no impact, possibly because customers who are interested in nutritional information can already obtain it.

How Republicans can Kill ObamaCare

November 18, 2009, 1:21pm

Shikha Dalmia

That Darn Mandate

Will Americans be forced to buy health insurance?

November 18, 2009

Shikha Dalmia

By insisting on the removal of the public option—instead of the individual mandate—as the price of doing business, Republicans have missed a major opportunity to put Democrats on the defensive and change the terms of the debate.

Kiss Your Freedoms Goodbye If Health Care Passes

Why we cannot afford to sit out this fight

November 16, 2009

Andrew Napolitano

When I recently asked Congressman James Clyburn, the third ranking Democrat in the House, to tell me "Where in the Constitution the federal government is authorized to regulate everyone's healthcare," he replied that most of what Congress does is not authorized by the Constitution, but they do it anyway. There you have it. Congress recognizes no limits on its power. It doesn't care about the Constitution, it doesn't care about your inalienable rights, it doesn't care about the liberties protected by the Bill of Rights, it doesn't even read the laws it writes.

America, this is not an academic issue. If this health care bill becomes law, life as you have known it, freedom as you have exercised it, privacy as you have enjoyed it, will cease to be.

Universal Coverage: A Big Feast for Big Pharma

November 12, 2009, 9:34pm

Shikha Dalmia

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