Sally C. Pipes

Commentary

There is a new Senate bill that targets PBMs

Break the Grip of Pharmacy Benefit Managers

A new Senate bill takes aim at one of the chief drivers of the high out-of-pocket drug costs that many consumers are experiencing — middlemen known as “pharmacy benefit managers.” Introduced in mid-June by a bipartisan group of senators including Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, ...
Commentary

Read the latest on drug price controls

Dems’ Drug Price Controls Would Mean Fewer Drugs And Fewer Jobs

Hundreds of lifesaving therapies will never be invented, and as many as 1.1 million jobs will be lost if Senate Democrats successfully expand their prescription drug price-fixing program, according to a major new study. The study, conducted by the research group Vital Transformation, modeled the effects of the SMART Prices Act. Sponsored ...
Commentary

Read the latest on the Inflation Reduction Act's drug pricing reforms

Merck Fighting for Rights, Market-based Health Care

Pharmaceutical giant Merck announced last week that it is taking the federal government to court over the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug pricing reforms. The lawsuit alleges that the law’s Medicare price negotiation program violates some of the most fundamental rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. “This is not ‘negotiation,'” the company says ...
Commentary

Americans' life expectancy is at a 20-year low

The US health system is not to blame for the decline in our life expectancy

Americans’ life expectancy is at a 20-year low. As a result, the gap in life expectancy between the United States and our global peers is progressively growing wider, according to a new report in the American Journal of Public Health. For years, progressives have blamed the lack of universal health coverage in the United States ...
Commentary

Nation Past COVID Emergency, Medicaid Needs to Do the Same

With the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency, states are finally able to remove people from Medicaid who are not eligible for the program under the law. Some are taking full advantage. A recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that at least 565,000 patients in 12 states have been ...
Commentary

Read the latest on the Veterans Health Administration

Veterans have waited long enough for health reform

Republicans in Congress are moving forward with a new bill that would enable veterans to seek medical care outside the Veterans Health Administration. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., introduced the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act earlier this month. The measure has already attracted the support of more than a dozen GOP ...
Commentary

Read Why Single Payer Health Care Is Bad For CA Patients

California’s ‘public option’ revival ends badly for patients

Once a rallying cry for pragmatic Democrats, the “public option” has fallen on hard times. Several recent attempts to create such a government-run insurance plan at the state level have proven unworkable, unpopular, or both. And despite the support of President Joe Biden, the prospects for a federal public option ...
Commentary

Take An X To The Public Health Insurance Option

There’s an old proverb—everything old is new again. That is certainly true for healthcare policy. Last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2023, the single-payer health plan the Vermont socialist has been pushing for years. President Biden will surely dust off his old proposal for a ...
Commentary

Read the latest on Sen Bernie's plan for Medicare for All

May We Never Know Dysfunction, Cruelty of Public Health Care

“The current health care system in the United States is totally broken,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said at a recent event on Capitol Hill. “It is totally dysfunctional, and it is extremely cruel.” His preferred fix remains Medicare for All — a sweeping government takeover of health insurance. His latest ...
Commentary

Implementing work requirements should be a legislative priority

Medicaid work requirements aren’t in the debt limit deal. They should’ve been

President Joe Biden signed a measure on Saturday that suspended the country’s debt limit after weeks of wrangling with Republicans in the House. The legislation averts a default on the nation’s debt. Democrats managed to keep Medicaid work requirements out of the final compromise . That’s a shame. The proposal would have helped rein in federal spending while ...
Commentary

There is a new Senate bill that targets PBMs

Break the Grip of Pharmacy Benefit Managers

A new Senate bill takes aim at one of the chief drivers of the high out-of-pocket drug costs that many consumers are experiencing — middlemen known as “pharmacy benefit managers.” Introduced in mid-June by a bipartisan group of senators including Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, ...
Commentary

Read the latest on drug price controls

Dems’ Drug Price Controls Would Mean Fewer Drugs And Fewer Jobs

Hundreds of lifesaving therapies will never be invented, and as many as 1.1 million jobs will be lost if Senate Democrats successfully expand their prescription drug price-fixing program, according to a major new study. The study, conducted by the research group Vital Transformation, modeled the effects of the SMART Prices Act. Sponsored ...
Commentary

Read the latest on the Inflation Reduction Act's drug pricing reforms

Merck Fighting for Rights, Market-based Health Care

Pharmaceutical giant Merck announced last week that it is taking the federal government to court over the Inflation Reduction Act’s drug pricing reforms. The lawsuit alleges that the law’s Medicare price negotiation program violates some of the most fundamental rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. “This is not ‘negotiation,'” the company says ...
Commentary

Americans' life expectancy is at a 20-year low

The US health system is not to blame for the decline in our life expectancy

Americans’ life expectancy is at a 20-year low. As a result, the gap in life expectancy between the United States and our global peers is progressively growing wider, according to a new report in the American Journal of Public Health. For years, progressives have blamed the lack of universal health coverage in the United States ...
Commentary

Nation Past COVID Emergency, Medicaid Needs to Do the Same

With the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency, states are finally able to remove people from Medicaid who are not eligible for the program under the law. Some are taking full advantage. A recent analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that at least 565,000 patients in 12 states have been ...
Commentary

Read the latest on the Veterans Health Administration

Veterans have waited long enough for health reform

Republicans in Congress are moving forward with a new bill that would enable veterans to seek medical care outside the Veterans Health Administration. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., introduced the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act earlier this month. The measure has already attracted the support of more than a dozen GOP ...
Commentary

Read Why Single Payer Health Care Is Bad For CA Patients

California’s ‘public option’ revival ends badly for patients

Once a rallying cry for pragmatic Democrats, the “public option” has fallen on hard times. Several recent attempts to create such a government-run insurance plan at the state level have proven unworkable, unpopular, or both. And despite the support of President Joe Biden, the prospects for a federal public option ...
Commentary

Take An X To The Public Health Insurance Option

There’s an old proverb—everything old is new again. That is certainly true for healthcare policy. Last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2023, the single-payer health plan the Vermont socialist has been pushing for years. President Biden will surely dust off his old proposal for a ...
Commentary

Read the latest on Sen Bernie's plan for Medicare for All

May We Never Know Dysfunction, Cruelty of Public Health Care

“The current health care system in the United States is totally broken,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said at a recent event on Capitol Hill. “It is totally dysfunctional, and it is extremely cruel.” His preferred fix remains Medicare for All — a sweeping government takeover of health insurance. His latest ...
Commentary

Implementing work requirements should be a legislative priority

Medicaid work requirements aren’t in the debt limit deal. They should’ve been

President Joe Biden signed a measure on Saturday that suspended the country’s debt limit after weeks of wrangling with Republicans in the House. The legislation averts a default on the nation’s debt. Democrats managed to keep Medicaid work requirements out of the final compromise . That’s a shame. The proposal would have helped rein in federal spending while ...
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