Sally C. Pipes
Commentary
It’s Time To Cure The FDA’s Regulatory Sclerosis
Late last month, the Food and Drug Administration advised COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to develop booster shots aimed at the omicron variant of the virus. Regulators hope the shots will be ready by the fall. That will probably be too late to stop BA.5, the highly transmissible subvariant that has quickly become the dominant strain in ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 19, 2022
Commentary
Improving Access to Paxlovid Long Overdue
The following op-ed has been authored by a non-clinician, it does not constitute medical advice. In an effort to boost access to the antiviral Paxlovid, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will now allow pharmacists to prescribe the medicine; the agency announced this last week, on July 6. Previously, patients seeking the ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 15, 2022
Commentary
‘Build Back Better’ would tear down patients’ hope for better medicines
Congressional Democrats are working to revive the multi-trillion-dollar spending package once dubbed “Build Back Better.” They intend to finance this wave of spending in part by siphoning money away from life-saving research on diseases like cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. That would be the chief consequence of a widely-discussed provision ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 15, 2022
Commentary
New price transparency rule will help patients
This month, a federal rule requiring certain private health plans to disclose the rates they pay providers for covered healthcare services takes effect. The Trump-era regulation, along with a similar rule requiring hospitals to publish their prices, is an example of the previous administration’s drive to make the healthcare system more transparent. Such transparency ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 11, 2022
Commentary
New price transparency rule will help patients
This month, a federal rule requiring certain private health plans to disclose the rates they pay providers for covered healthcare services takes effect. The Trump-era regulation, along with a similar rule requiring hospitals to publish their prices, is an example of the previous administration’s drive to make the healthcare system more transparent. Such transparency ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 11, 2022
Commentary
Nothing Curative About Dems Inflation, Higher Taxes and Prices
Congressional Democrats are one step closer to passing their trillion-dollar “Build Back Better” spending package. On July 6 U.S. Senate leaders hashed out a key proposal that would allow Medicare to “negotiate” with pharmaceutical companies over prescription drug prices. The effort is part of Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s, D- N.Y., drive ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 7, 2022
Commentary
Centennial State About to Discover Public Option’s Nightmare
Colorado is about to become the first state to implement a public health insurance option through Section 1332, a provision in Obamacare that allows states to waive many of the law’s regulations. The Biden administration approved the program, known as the Colorado Option, on June 23. The new state-sponsored health plan ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 5, 2022
Commentary
Government Drug Price Negotiations Offer A False Promise
With inflation rising and midterm elections just months away, Democrats are desperate for something they can pitch to voters as a reason to keep them in control of Congress. They’re hoping a watered-down version of their Build Back Better Act could do the trick. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., who helped shoot the bill ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 5, 2022
Commentary
Health Care Is Not a Right, No Matter What the Left Says
At the recent unveiling of his latest plan for Medicare for All, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., evoked a familiar theme. “Health care,” he said, “is a human right that all Americans, regardless of income, are entitled to.” But health care is neither a right nor a privilege. It’s an aggregate ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 30, 2022
Commentary
There’s no epidemic of medical bankruptcy
An estimated 100 million Americans have healthcare debt, according to polling released this month by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The problem is so dire, Kaiser says, that it’s pushing millions of people out of their homes or into bankruptcy. But a closer look at the data reveals that medical debt, while burdensome ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 29, 2022
It’s Time To Cure The FDA’s Regulatory Sclerosis
Late last month, the Food and Drug Administration advised COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers to develop booster shots aimed at the omicron variant of the virus. Regulators hope the shots will be ready by the fall. That will probably be too late to stop BA.5, the highly transmissible subvariant that has quickly become the dominant strain in ...
Improving Access to Paxlovid Long Overdue
The following op-ed has been authored by a non-clinician, it does not constitute medical advice. In an effort to boost access to the antiviral Paxlovid, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will now allow pharmacists to prescribe the medicine; the agency announced this last week, on July 6. Previously, patients seeking the ...
‘Build Back Better’ would tear down patients’ hope for better medicines
Congressional Democrats are working to revive the multi-trillion-dollar spending package once dubbed “Build Back Better.” They intend to finance this wave of spending in part by siphoning money away from life-saving research on diseases like cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. That would be the chief consequence of a widely-discussed provision ...
New price transparency rule will help patients
This month, a federal rule requiring certain private health plans to disclose the rates they pay providers for covered healthcare services takes effect. The Trump-era regulation, along with a similar rule requiring hospitals to publish their prices, is an example of the previous administration’s drive to make the healthcare system more transparent. Such transparency ...
New price transparency rule will help patients
This month, a federal rule requiring certain private health plans to disclose the rates they pay providers for covered healthcare services takes effect. The Trump-era regulation, along with a similar rule requiring hospitals to publish their prices, is an example of the previous administration’s drive to make the healthcare system more transparent. Such transparency ...
Nothing Curative About Dems Inflation, Higher Taxes and Prices
Congressional Democrats are one step closer to passing their trillion-dollar “Build Back Better” spending package. On July 6 U.S. Senate leaders hashed out a key proposal that would allow Medicare to “negotiate” with pharmaceutical companies over prescription drug prices. The effort is part of Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer’s, D- N.Y., drive ...
Centennial State About to Discover Public Option’s Nightmare
Colorado is about to become the first state to implement a public health insurance option through Section 1332, a provision in Obamacare that allows states to waive many of the law’s regulations. The Biden administration approved the program, known as the Colorado Option, on June 23. The new state-sponsored health plan ...
Government Drug Price Negotiations Offer A False Promise
With inflation rising and midterm elections just months away, Democrats are desperate for something they can pitch to voters as a reason to keep them in control of Congress. They’re hoping a watered-down version of their Build Back Better Act could do the trick. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., who helped shoot the bill ...
Health Care Is Not a Right, No Matter What the Left Says
At the recent unveiling of his latest plan for Medicare for All, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., evoked a familiar theme. “Health care,” he said, “is a human right that all Americans, regardless of income, are entitled to.” But health care is neither a right nor a privilege. It’s an aggregate ...
There’s no epidemic of medical bankruptcy
An estimated 100 million Americans have healthcare debt, according to polling released this month by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The problem is so dire, Kaiser says, that it’s pushing millions of people out of their homes or into bankruptcy. But a closer look at the data reveals that medical debt, while burdensome ...