Regulatory Reform - May 2017

Famed Chicago School economist Milton Friedman had many strong opinions over the course of his lifetime. Many of those shaped the way we look at the world and the way we look at the economy. However, Friedman also dedicated a good amount of his time to criticizing government health policy, particularly the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Welcome to FreedomWorks Foundation’s second regulatory review of 2020! Our Regulatory Action Center proudly updates you with the latest regulatory actions from the swamp. We want to smash barriers between bureaucracy and the American people by delivering regulatory news straight to FreedomWorks activists. Check back next week for the next edition.

There has been some recent uproar over a regulation proposed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services designed to strengthen Medicaid, the government program that provides health insurance coverage for individuals below certain income levels. The regulation has sparked a curious bipartisan backlash from Capitol Hill and from state governments.

If you’ve spent enough time in a public school or listening to cable news, you are probably convinced to some extent that regulations exist to protect the American citizenry, whether physically or financially. However, if you’ve been paying attention to reality, you will recognize that it is quite the opposite. The regulatory state has been weaponized against everyday Americans.

FreedomWorks Foundation's Regulatory Action Center (RAC) submitted formal comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on their proposal regarding organ donation. This rule would create metrics by which organ procurement organizations (OPO) will be guided. As it stands now, there has been enormous amounts of waste, fraud, and abuse in this space and thousands have died as a result.

In today’s politically charged climate, it often seems that politicians aren’t taken seriously unless they spuriously claim that “people will die” if a certain course of action is or is not taken. The rhetoric has been elevated to such a point that only the threat of life or death seems to get the attention of the masses, regardless of whether or not the claim is true. That’s a shame, because an issue has finally come along that does have grave consequences for thousands of Americans.

One of the most significant regulatory wins of the Trump administration came just a little over two years ago, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) repealed stringent Title II regulations on the Internet. The repeal of the so-called “net neutrality” allowed the Internet to innovate and continue thriving with increased investment. However, the regulatory wins at FCC have not stopped there.