Sally C. Pipes
Commentary
An overly cautious FDA costs lives by not hastening vaccine authorization
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel is set to meet on Thursday to consider an emergency use authorization, or EUA, for the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and German company BioNTech. Despite newly reported deaths nationwide topping a thousand per day, the FDA doesn’t seem to have been in ...
Commentary
Don’t Lower the Medicare Eligibility Age
President-elect Joe Biden wants Congress to lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60. That’s long been a goal of Democrats. But even 7 in 10 Republicans have expressed support for expanding Medicare in the direction Biden has suggested, according to polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Opening up ...
Commentary
Officials ignore their own stay-at-home COVID-19 restrictions — it’s infuriating
Many elected officials have told Americans for months to stay home and forego everything from religious gatherings and team sports to holiday dinners and even funerals to stem the spread of the coronavirus. And yet we keep seeing news reports about officials flouting their own rules with a nice dinner ...
Commentary
Republicans and Democrats missing the point on prescription drug costs
Bashing drug companies, long a bipartisan pastime, reached a fever pitch when President Trump recently announced a new federal rule aimed at slashing the prices Medicare pays for some lifesaving medications. Republicans and Democrats alike are stuck on the idea that the best way to reduce our nation’s health care bill is ...
Commentary
COVID-19 Is No Excuse For An Assault On Intellectual Property
Since this country’s founding, the United States USM -0.5% has maintained strong protections for intellectual property. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Unfortunately, a few members of ...
Commentary
Three Healthcare Achievements To Be Thankful For
Thanksgiving is this Thursday. It may seem hard to believe, but even in this year unlike any other, there’s still plenty to be thankful for—including some notable developments in healthcare policy. *** 1. Individual health insurance premiums have stabilized and declined. Open enrollment on the HealthCare.gov exchanges run by the ...
Commentary
AOC’s ‘path forward’ on healthcare is just a giant step back
On Wednesday, Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Katie Porter, and Pramila Jayapal joined former insurance industry executive and now “Medicare for all” advocate Wendell Potter in an online strategy session to “chart the path forward” for health reform under a Biden administration. The trio of liberal lawmakers pressed ahead with their demand for ...
Commentary
Trump wrongly attacks life-saving drug companies on coronavirus vaccines and more
President Trump announced Friday that he will proceed with his plans to peg the prices of certain drugs prescribed largely at doctors’ offices under Medicare Part B to the lower prices that other developed nations pay for those drugs. That may sound good at first glance, but in reality, the move will slow ...
Commentary
What uninsured crisis?
Roughly 30 million Americans lack health insurance, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. But there’s more to that 30-million figure than meets the eye. The majority are more or less uninsured by choice. Getting those folks covered can be done for a lot less than the hundreds of ...
Commentary
Big Pharma’s Hot Streak — and What Could Stop It
The pharmaceutical industry is on a bit of a hot streak. Last Monday, Pfizer announced promising results for its coronavirus vaccine. Later that day, Eli Lilly received emergency-use authorization from the FDA for its antibody treatment, which may prevent COVID-19 from growing serious in patients who contract the coronavirus and ...
An overly cautious FDA costs lives by not hastening vaccine authorization
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory panel is set to meet on Thursday to consider an emergency use authorization, or EUA, for the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and German company BioNTech. Despite newly reported deaths nationwide topping a thousand per day, the FDA doesn’t seem to have been in ...
Don’t Lower the Medicare Eligibility Age
President-elect Joe Biden wants Congress to lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60. That’s long been a goal of Democrats. But even 7 in 10 Republicans have expressed support for expanding Medicare in the direction Biden has suggested, according to polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Opening up ...
Officials ignore their own stay-at-home COVID-19 restrictions — it’s infuriating
Many elected officials have told Americans for months to stay home and forego everything from religious gatherings and team sports to holiday dinners and even funerals to stem the spread of the coronavirus. And yet we keep seeing news reports about officials flouting their own rules with a nice dinner ...
Republicans and Democrats missing the point on prescription drug costs
Bashing drug companies, long a bipartisan pastime, reached a fever pitch when President Trump recently announced a new federal rule aimed at slashing the prices Medicare pays for some lifesaving medications. Republicans and Democrats alike are stuck on the idea that the best way to reduce our nation’s health care bill is ...
COVID-19 Is No Excuse For An Assault On Intellectual Property
Since this country’s founding, the United States USM -0.5% has maintained strong protections for intellectual property. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power “to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” Unfortunately, a few members of ...
Three Healthcare Achievements To Be Thankful For
Thanksgiving is this Thursday. It may seem hard to believe, but even in this year unlike any other, there’s still plenty to be thankful for—including some notable developments in healthcare policy. *** 1. Individual health insurance premiums have stabilized and declined. Open enrollment on the HealthCare.gov exchanges run by the ...
AOC’s ‘path forward’ on healthcare is just a giant step back
On Wednesday, Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Katie Porter, and Pramila Jayapal joined former insurance industry executive and now “Medicare for all” advocate Wendell Potter in an online strategy session to “chart the path forward” for health reform under a Biden administration. The trio of liberal lawmakers pressed ahead with their demand for ...
Trump wrongly attacks life-saving drug companies on coronavirus vaccines and more
President Trump announced Friday that he will proceed with his plans to peg the prices of certain drugs prescribed largely at doctors’ offices under Medicare Part B to the lower prices that other developed nations pay for those drugs. That may sound good at first glance, but in reality, the move will slow ...
What uninsured crisis?
Roughly 30 million Americans lack health insurance, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. But there’s more to that 30-million figure than meets the eye. The majority are more or less uninsured by choice. Getting those folks covered can be done for a lot less than the hundreds of ...
Big Pharma’s Hot Streak — and What Could Stop It
The pharmaceutical industry is on a bit of a hot streak. Last Monday, Pfizer announced promising results for its coronavirus vaccine. Later that day, Eli Lilly received emergency-use authorization from the FDA for its antibody treatment, which may prevent COVID-19 from growing serious in patients who contract the coronavirus and ...
