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This Healthcare ‘Watchdog’ Is No Friend Of Coronavirus Patients

Finally, there’s a bit of good news in the fight against COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration issued an “emergency use authorization” for remdesivir, an anti-viral drug that could help coronavirus patients recover faster. The medicine isn’t a silver bullet, but it’s the first therapy that has shown success in clinical trials. Yet one self-styled healthcare watchdog seems determined to rain on the parade. The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, better known as ICER, routinely analyzes the “value” that new drugs provide. On the same day that the FDA ...

It’s Time To Sunset Federal Tax Credits For Wind, Solar

A decade ago, more than 50 percent of the electricity consumed in the United States came from coal-fired generating plants. But by 2016, coal’s No. 1 status had been replaced by natural gas. At the same time, the deployment of renewable energy sources has grown dramatically in recent years and now accounts for 20 percent of installed capacity nationwide. Wind energy, at 8.6 percent, actually passed hydropower this year while solar now accounts for 3.5 percent of installed generation. According to the Energy Information Administration, renewable electricity generation doubled ...

The Light Of The World

I took an unintentional hiatus from writing my column for a while. Life got a little hectic due to many things, including the pandemic we’ve all been living through, so I apologize for not writing sooner. I hope this finds you all safe and sound, dear readers. Over the past few months, we have endured a lot, haven’t we? The realization that something smaller that the eye can see can devastate countries, communities and individuals like nothing else. A new, socially distant reality that leaves us feeling lonely and closed off. The uncertainty of this lurking virus that has killed ...

Those Bad COVID Hoarders Were … Gulp!?

I remember walking into grocery stores back in April, seeing long gray lines of empty shelves in the paper goods section, and muttering, “Those stupid hoarders! “The world is going to hell in a hand basket and they scarf up a six-months supply of toilet paper when, in a true emergency, we could revert to what people did a century and more ago.” (Modern toilet paper was first available in 1857, says Google.) Anyway, back in April, I condemned toilet paper hoarders as “them.” “Them” is anyone who does something that upright, American, intelligent, patriotic and ...

Reopening The Schools

There was a recent editorial in our newspaper about the importance of reopening the schools. It touched on a couple of points that I thought should be repeated. First, this is probably the most important issue we will face during the coronavirus pandemic; and secondly, even if you don’t like the governor, his linking the matter of reopening schools to the spread of the disease makes sense. Let’s face it, getting kids back in school is more important than opening restaurants or bars. It is more important than whether the Bills or Sabres have a season. Our kids are suffering from ...

People Need To Wear Masks

Michelle Malkin’s rant, “ Mask Mandates Are A Public Health Menace” (Sunday, July 18-19 ) presents a new low for The Post-Journal’s opinion page. Not only is this piece by Malkin factually wrong, but it is also dangerous in that it tries to persuade people to go against all health experts’ advice. Malkin quotes Dr. William Schaffer, an infectious disease expert from Vanderbilt University, who in March said that there is not much evidence that a face mask would be effective against the COVID-19. That was in March, before we knew much about this virus. What Malkin ...