Sally C. Pipes
Commentary
States are eyeing a public option through rose-colored glasses
The Affordable Care Act will notch its 12th birthday later this month. To get the measure through Congress and to President Obama’s desk for his signature, Democrats had to cut one of progressives’ signature proposals—a public health insurance option. But the public option didn’t die all those years ago. President ...
Commentary
Light starts to shine on opaque drug pricing tactics
Late last month, the Federal Trade Commission announced it would seek public comments on the ways pharmacy benefit managers distort the prices of prescription drugs. PBMs deserve the scrutiny, as they’re to blame for much of the rise in prescription drug costs. Insurers hire PBMs to negotiate drug prices with ...
Blog
Why A Public Option Would Not Be Successful
Editor’s Note: Last week, PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes participated in a debate on the public option at the annual conference of the National Council of Insurance Legislators conference in Las Vegas. Nevada Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton moderated the debate. ...
Commentary
Mark Cuban shows how the free market helps patients
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban is known for his razzle-dazzle. Not only has he backed a long string of tech, media and cryptocurrency companies, he also owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and is a TV star on “Shark Tank.” Getting into discount drugs might not have seemed like an obvious ...
Commentary
Put Patients in Charge to Keep Healthcare Spending in Check
New research suggests health insurers could take some negotiating tips from people who pay for health care out of pocket. According to an analysis from HealthCareInsider, hospital costs for patients with insurance are higher than for those who self-pay. That flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Insurers are in the business ...
Commentary
Don’t Dam the Telehealth Flood
To say that Americans are anxiously awaiting the end of the COVID-19 pandemic would be an understatement. But for patients who have enjoyed the ease of attending doctor’s appointments virtually, a return to the way things were pre-pandemic might be bittersweet. That’s because onerous restrictions on telemedicine, which lawmakers relaxed ...
Commentary
High Healthcare Spending Doesn’t Bolster Case for Single-Payer
Does the United States spend too much on healthcare? A look at the lower levels of healthcare spending in peer countries like Canada and the United Kingdom would seem to indicate as much. But a closer look at those numbers reveals a far more complex story. Take the matter of ...
Commentary
Plan to Expand Medi-Cal is a Costly Step Towards Single-Payer
It’s budget season in Sacramento. Governor Gavin Newsom’s spending proposal is the largest in the Golden State’s history. There’s no shortage of expensive and misguided policies in his budget. Chief among them is his push to expand Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, to cover all undocumented immigrants. Doing so would ...
Commentary
COVID-19 tests come too late
Last week, the Biden administration announced that 67 million U.S. households ordered at-home COVID-19 tests through a government website in January. Ten million have yet to receive their tests — more than a month after the site launched. In many parts of the country, the omicron wave has already receded. Daily cases ...
Commentary
Stalled in D.C., the Single-Payer Fantasy Makes Its Way to Blue States
Despite the best efforts of progressives such as Senator Bernie Sanders (D., Vt.) and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), Medicare for All is off the table in Congress — for now, at least. But that doesn’t mean single-payer health care is dead. Like a zombie, the idea is being revived ...
States are eyeing a public option through rose-colored glasses
The Affordable Care Act will notch its 12th birthday later this month. To get the measure through Congress and to President Obama’s desk for his signature, Democrats had to cut one of progressives’ signature proposals—a public health insurance option. But the public option didn’t die all those years ago. President ...
Light starts to shine on opaque drug pricing tactics
Late last month, the Federal Trade Commission announced it would seek public comments on the ways pharmacy benefit managers distort the prices of prescription drugs. PBMs deserve the scrutiny, as they’re to blame for much of the rise in prescription drug costs. Insurers hire PBMs to negotiate drug prices with ...
Why A Public Option Would Not Be Successful
Editor’s Note: Last week, PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes participated in a debate on the public option at the annual conference of the National Council of Insurance Legislators conference in Las Vegas. Nevada Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton moderated the debate. ...
Mark Cuban shows how the free market helps patients
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban is known for his razzle-dazzle. Not only has he backed a long string of tech, media and cryptocurrency companies, he also owns the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and is a TV star on “Shark Tank.” Getting into discount drugs might not have seemed like an obvious ...
Put Patients in Charge to Keep Healthcare Spending in Check
New research suggests health insurers could take some negotiating tips from people who pay for health care out of pocket. According to an analysis from HealthCareInsider, hospital costs for patients with insurance are higher than for those who self-pay. That flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Insurers are in the business ...
Don’t Dam the Telehealth Flood
To say that Americans are anxiously awaiting the end of the COVID-19 pandemic would be an understatement. But for patients who have enjoyed the ease of attending doctor’s appointments virtually, a return to the way things were pre-pandemic might be bittersweet. That’s because onerous restrictions on telemedicine, which lawmakers relaxed ...
High Healthcare Spending Doesn’t Bolster Case for Single-Payer
Does the United States spend too much on healthcare? A look at the lower levels of healthcare spending in peer countries like Canada and the United Kingdom would seem to indicate as much. But a closer look at those numbers reveals a far more complex story. Take the matter of ...
Plan to Expand Medi-Cal is a Costly Step Towards Single-Payer
It’s budget season in Sacramento. Governor Gavin Newsom’s spending proposal is the largest in the Golden State’s history. There’s no shortage of expensive and misguided policies in his budget. Chief among them is his push to expand Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, to cover all undocumented immigrants. Doing so would ...
COVID-19 tests come too late
Last week, the Biden administration announced that 67 million U.S. households ordered at-home COVID-19 tests through a government website in January. Ten million have yet to receive their tests — more than a month after the site launched. In many parts of the country, the omicron wave has already receded. Daily cases ...
Stalled in D.C., the Single-Payer Fantasy Makes Its Way to Blue States
Despite the best efforts of progressives such as Senator Bernie Sanders (D., Vt.) and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), Medicare for All is off the table in Congress — for now, at least. But that doesn’t mean single-payer health care is dead. Like a zombie, the idea is being revived ...
