Sally C. Pipes
Commentary
A New Plan Brings Clarity To Healthcare Price Transparency–Finally
In health policy, there’s nothing quite as opaque as price transparency. Insurance companies and hospitals tend to say there’s no place for it in the healthcare sector, since medicine is more complicated than cars or groceries. Other skeptics say that implementing transparency rules is too hard. Hospitals have largely flouted a two-year-old ...
Commentary
Declaring a “Right’ to Healthcare Feel-Good Symbolism Only
Will Oregon’s voters declare a “right” to healthcare? Voters nationwide took to the polls this week not just to select a new Congress but to settle a number of healthcare policy questions, from curbs on medical debt in Arizona to regulations on dialysis providers in California. Oregonians were asked to amend the ...
Commentary
What might the new Congress do on healthcare?
The outcome of this week’s midterm elections is still unclear, but Republicans appear headed for a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Divided government means that legislation must have bipartisan appeal if it’s going to have any hope of advancing. On healthcare, there are a few policy initiatives that could attract ...
Commentary
Dems Pose Biggest Threat to Medicare — GOP Will Save It
In a last-minute bid for undecided voters in the run-up to the midterm elections, Democrats are loudly claiming that a Republican Congress will be bad for seniors. As President Joe Biden put it at a campaign rally this week, “They’re coming after your Social Security and Medicare, and they’re saying it ...
Commentary
Healthcare Competition Isn’t Just A Republican Messaging Point
The midterm elections are tomorrow. Polling suggests Republicans have a shot at winning back both the House and Senate, as voters are coalescing around the GOP’s ideas for reducing inflation and crime. While those ideas might lead to electoral victory, they’re not the only policy priorities on conservatives’ list. Republicans have also promised to ...
Commentary
Veteran suicides testify to a healthcare travesty
The Department of Veterans Affairs has said that preventing veteran suicides is a top priority. Unfortunately, a new inspector general report suggests the department is failing in its mission. The report found that more than 1 in 10 VA staffers hadn’t completed their mandatory suicide-prevention training. As the report put it, “Lack of training ...
Commentary
Ensure telehealth stays alive and well
The silver lining of COVID-19 has been the dawn of the telehealth era — the greatest exercise in deregulation and individual empowerment in the health sector in years. In response to the arrival of the pandemic in 2020, Congress and executive branch officials waived a number of rules governing access ...
Commentary
Insurance Market Requiring Gov’t Handouts Is Dysfunctional
Next week marks the beginning of open enrollment on the health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. According to one recent analysis of 72 exchange insurers, premiums are likely to increase by an average of 10%. In some cases, rate hikes could exceed 25%. Most consumers won’t feel these price ...
Commentary
Americans Don’t Want Single-Payer Revolution
America’s private health insurance system is beyond saving, we’re often told by advocates of Medicare for All. As they see it, the only path forward is to abolish private coverage and replace it with a single government-run program. But that radical proposal is divorced from reality. New polling data show ...
Commentary
Deceitful Proposition 209 goes way beyond medical debt. It’ll raise costs on us all
Next month, Arizonans will consider Proposition 209, a ballot initiative intended to alleviate a supposed “crisis” in medical debt. A look at the facts reveals there is no such crisis. If this ballot initiative passes, ordinary Arizonans could face higher interest rates on all kinds of debt, have fewer lenders to ...
A New Plan Brings Clarity To Healthcare Price Transparency–Finally
In health policy, there’s nothing quite as opaque as price transparency. Insurance companies and hospitals tend to say there’s no place for it in the healthcare sector, since medicine is more complicated than cars or groceries. Other skeptics say that implementing transparency rules is too hard. Hospitals have largely flouted a two-year-old ...
Declaring a “Right’ to Healthcare Feel-Good Symbolism Only
Will Oregon’s voters declare a “right” to healthcare? Voters nationwide took to the polls this week not just to select a new Congress but to settle a number of healthcare policy questions, from curbs on medical debt in Arizona to regulations on dialysis providers in California. Oregonians were asked to amend the ...
What might the new Congress do on healthcare?
The outcome of this week’s midterm elections is still unclear, but Republicans appear headed for a narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Divided government means that legislation must have bipartisan appeal if it’s going to have any hope of advancing. On healthcare, there are a few policy initiatives that could attract ...
Dems Pose Biggest Threat to Medicare — GOP Will Save It
In a last-minute bid for undecided voters in the run-up to the midterm elections, Democrats are loudly claiming that a Republican Congress will be bad for seniors. As President Joe Biden put it at a campaign rally this week, “They’re coming after your Social Security and Medicare, and they’re saying it ...
Healthcare Competition Isn’t Just A Republican Messaging Point
The midterm elections are tomorrow. Polling suggests Republicans have a shot at winning back both the House and Senate, as voters are coalescing around the GOP’s ideas for reducing inflation and crime. While those ideas might lead to electoral victory, they’re not the only policy priorities on conservatives’ list. Republicans have also promised to ...
Veteran suicides testify to a healthcare travesty
The Department of Veterans Affairs has said that preventing veteran suicides is a top priority. Unfortunately, a new inspector general report suggests the department is failing in its mission. The report found that more than 1 in 10 VA staffers hadn’t completed their mandatory suicide-prevention training. As the report put it, “Lack of training ...
Ensure telehealth stays alive and well
The silver lining of COVID-19 has been the dawn of the telehealth era — the greatest exercise in deregulation and individual empowerment in the health sector in years. In response to the arrival of the pandemic in 2020, Congress and executive branch officials waived a number of rules governing access ...
Insurance Market Requiring Gov’t Handouts Is Dysfunctional
Next week marks the beginning of open enrollment on the health insurance exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act. According to one recent analysis of 72 exchange insurers, premiums are likely to increase by an average of 10%. In some cases, rate hikes could exceed 25%. Most consumers won’t feel these price ...
Americans Don’t Want Single-Payer Revolution
America’s private health insurance system is beyond saving, we’re often told by advocates of Medicare for All. As they see it, the only path forward is to abolish private coverage and replace it with a single government-run program. But that radical proposal is divorced from reality. New polling data show ...
Deceitful Proposition 209 goes way beyond medical debt. It’ll raise costs on us all
Next month, Arizonans will consider Proposition 209, a ballot initiative intended to alleviate a supposed “crisis” in medical debt. A look at the facts reveals there is no such crisis. If this ballot initiative passes, ordinary Arizonans could face higher interest rates on all kinds of debt, have fewer lenders to ...
