Drug Reformation: End Government’s Power to Require Prescriptions
U.S. law grants the Food and Drug Administration the power to make consumers get a prescription before purchasing certain drugs. The rationale behind government‐imposed prescription requirements is consumer safety—that is, the idea that some drugs are too dangerous for consumers to use without physician supervision. In a new study, Cato scholars Jeffrey A. Singer and Michael F. Cannon argue that government‐imposed prescription requirements violate the rights of individuals to access the medicines they want, and actually make patients less safe, not more.
Reform Regulation of Health Care Providers
The COVID-19 crisis has dramatically underscored the importance of being able to rapidly shift practitioners to areas of acute need. When state governments suspended state licensing requirements, Cato adjunct scholar Jeffrey A. Singer notes, it was a tacit admission that clinician licensing laws block access to care. In this issue of Pandemics and Policy, Singer explains why states should not return to the status quo ante.
Doctors with Borders: Embracing the Potential of Immigrant Doctors
The COVID-19 pandemic made state and federal lawmakers acutely aware of how state‐based regulation of clinicians contributes to the overall shortage of health care providers and obstructs their rapid response to public health emergencies. Governors tacitly acknowledged this when they issued executive actions temporarily suspending most of these regulations. Policymakers should learn from this. States should reform health care practitioner licensing laws to allow providers to move more quickly to areas where they are needed, which will allow patients better access to health care. State medical licensing laws block a large pool of experienced and motivated health care practitioners from other countries who are eager to come to America and provide health care. On August 5th, join the conversation online in our policy forum.
Experts
