Sally C. Pipes
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 ...
Commentary
Obamacare Open Enrollment Brings Election Day “Gift” To Voters
We’re about a week away from two notable dates on America’s civic calendar. On November 1, open enrollment begins on Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges. One week later, voters head to the polls for the midterm elections. Democrats have been aware of this reality for months. It was one of the reasons they ...
Commentary
Simple Fix for Healthcare: Give Patients More Responsibility
Health costs have been rising at an astounding rate. Insurers believe that overuse of medical care and poor individual health habits are big reasons why, according to a new study from insurance advisory firm Willis Towers Watson. That conclusion runs counter to the narrative common among progressives that patients are hapless victims ...
Commentary
Market-based Principles Bring Us Quality Healthcare
A new poll from West Health and Gallup paints a grim picture of health care in the United States. Among the survey’s most striking findings is that three-quarters of the country grades the cost of care at either a D or an F. Critics of our nation’s market-based health system are sure ...
Commentary
Hospitals are still hiding costs
Hospitals aren’t complying with a nearly 2-year-old federal rule requiring them to publish their prices, according to new research from PatientRightsAdvocate.org. Their willingness to flout the law is understandable. They make more money when people don’t know how much the medical services they consume cost. But patients and payers shouldn’t stand for ...
Commentary
Canada Single-Payer Healthcare Is Unsafe, Grossly Inefficient
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the first provincial single-payer health insurance plan in Canada — and the 50th anniversary of the extension of single-payer across our northern neighbor. And yet, across the border in the United States, Medicare for All seems like a progressive pipe dream. What gives? Or, ...
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 ...
Obamacare Open Enrollment Brings Election Day “Gift” To Voters
We’re about a week away from two notable dates on America’s civic calendar. On November 1, open enrollment begins on Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges. One week later, voters head to the polls for the midterm elections. Democrats have been aware of this reality for months. It was one of the reasons they ...
Simple Fix for Healthcare: Give Patients More Responsibility
Health costs have been rising at an astounding rate. Insurers believe that overuse of medical care and poor individual health habits are big reasons why, according to a new study from insurance advisory firm Willis Towers Watson. That conclusion runs counter to the narrative common among progressives that patients are hapless victims ...
Market-based Principles Bring Us Quality Healthcare
A new poll from West Health and Gallup paints a grim picture of health care in the United States. Among the survey’s most striking findings is that three-quarters of the country grades the cost of care at either a D or an F. Critics of our nation’s market-based health system are sure ...
Hospitals are still hiding costs
Hospitals aren’t complying with a nearly 2-year-old federal rule requiring them to publish their prices, according to new research from PatientRightsAdvocate.org. Their willingness to flout the law is understandable. They make more money when people don’t know how much the medical services they consume cost. But patients and payers shouldn’t stand for ...
Canada Single-Payer Healthcare Is Unsafe, Grossly Inefficient
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the first provincial single-payer health insurance plan in Canada — and the 50th anniversary of the extension of single-payer across our northern neighbor. And yet, across the border in the United States, Medicare for All seems like a progressive pipe dream. What gives? Or, ...
