Sally C. Pipes
Commentary
Medicare ‘buy-in’ proposals would lead to single-payer system, long waits, care rationing
Many Democratic politicians, including those seeking the party’s presidential nomination, believe bigger government is the solution to America’s health care woes. But a handful of centrist Democrats worry full-fledged “Medicare for all” will spook independents. So they have unveiled several seemingly moderate plans that would allow people to buy into Medicare ...
Sally C. Pipes
April 16, 2019
Commentary
Blocking Medicaid Work Requirements Is Unwise
Medicaid expansion in Kentucky and Arkansas could be on life support. Late last month, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the two states’ attempts to require able-bodied adults to work as a condition of receiving Medicaid coverage. Last week, the federal Department of ...
Sally C. Pipes
April 15, 2019
Commentary
Bernie Sanders took his terrible ‘Medicare for all’ idea and made it a disaster
On Wednesday, 2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., released his updated “Medicare for all” bill. The plan is even more disastrous than its original 2017 iteration. The new bill is not all that different from the one he introduced two years ago. It would still force virtually every person to swap ...
Sally C. Pipes
April 11, 2019
Commentary
Britain’s Version Of ‘Medicare For All’ Is Collapsing
Nearly a quarter of a million British patients have been waiting more than six months to receive planned medical treatment from the National Health Service, according to a recent report from the Royal College of Surgeons. More than 36,000 have been in treatment queues for nine months or more. Long waits for care are endemic ...
Sally C. Pipes
April 1, 2019
Commentary
End partisan attacks on short-term health plans
House Democrats this week introduced legislation that would neuter short-term health plans. These policies don’t have to comply with Obamacare’s many cost-inflating mandates, so they’re less expensive than the plans available through the exchanges. Democrats despise them. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., has called them ” junk insurance.” But by declaring their opposition ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 29, 2019
Commentary
Middlemen Are Ripping Off State Medicaid Programs
Kentucky’s Democratic attorney general just launched an investigation to determine if middlemen in the prescription drug supply chain are ripping off the state’s Medicaid program. He’s almost certainly onto something. These middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, administer drug benefit plans for Medicaid, Medicare Part D, and private insurers. In theory, ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 27, 2019
Commentary
Keep counterfeit drugs out of Florida
Florida’s House budget panel this week greenlit a bill that would allow the state to buy drugs from Canada. Lawmakers are poised to debate a companion bill in the Senate in the coming weeks. If the bill becomes law, officials would almost certainly need permission from the U.S. Department of Health ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 20, 2019
Commentary
A $44,000 Surgery Can Cost Just $16,000 Somewhere Else for One Reason: Competition
A hip replacement in Maine can run north of $44,000. Down the coast in Boston, it’s a different story. There, the same procedure costs just more than $16,000, a fraction of the price. Knee surgeries follow the same pattern. They cost up to $13,500 in Maine, but as little as $3,900 ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 20, 2019
Commentary
Here’s a prescription for mid-sized businesses providing workers with health care
Small businesses and large corporations have been spared some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations. Small firms are exempt from the employer mandate requiring them to offer coverage. Large ones don’t have to adhere to the law’s essential health benefits mandates. Mid-sized businesses haven’t been so lucky. These firms, which typically ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 19, 2019
Commentary
Medicare for All Won’t Result in Better Health Outcomes
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker claims Medicare for All would “save lives.” Vermont’s own Senator Bernie Sanders promises it would end “the disgrace of tens of thousands of Americans dying every year from preventable deaths.” But a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds little evidence to support those assertions. The authors examined ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 18, 2019
Medicare ‘buy-in’ proposals would lead to single-payer system, long waits, care rationing
Many Democratic politicians, including those seeking the party’s presidential nomination, believe bigger government is the solution to America’s health care woes. But a handful of centrist Democrats worry full-fledged “Medicare for all” will spook independents. So they have unveiled several seemingly moderate plans that would allow people to buy into Medicare ...
Blocking Medicaid Work Requirements Is Unwise
Medicaid expansion in Kentucky and Arkansas could be on life support. Late last month, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the two states’ attempts to require able-bodied adults to work as a condition of receiving Medicaid coverage. Last week, the federal Department of ...
Bernie Sanders took his terrible ‘Medicare for all’ idea and made it a disaster
On Wednesday, 2020 candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., released his updated “Medicare for all” bill. The plan is even more disastrous than its original 2017 iteration. The new bill is not all that different from the one he introduced two years ago. It would still force virtually every person to swap ...
Britain’s Version Of ‘Medicare For All’ Is Collapsing
Nearly a quarter of a million British patients have been waiting more than six months to receive planned medical treatment from the National Health Service, according to a recent report from the Royal College of Surgeons. More than 36,000 have been in treatment queues for nine months or more. Long waits for care are endemic ...
End partisan attacks on short-term health plans
House Democrats this week introduced legislation that would neuter short-term health plans. These policies don’t have to comply with Obamacare’s many cost-inflating mandates, so they’re less expensive than the plans available through the exchanges. Democrats despise them. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., has called them ” junk insurance.” But by declaring their opposition ...
Middlemen Are Ripping Off State Medicaid Programs
Kentucky’s Democratic attorney general just launched an investigation to determine if middlemen in the prescription drug supply chain are ripping off the state’s Medicaid program. He’s almost certainly onto something. These middlemen, known as pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, administer drug benefit plans for Medicaid, Medicare Part D, and private insurers. In theory, ...
Keep counterfeit drugs out of Florida
Florida’s House budget panel this week greenlit a bill that would allow the state to buy drugs from Canada. Lawmakers are poised to debate a companion bill in the Senate in the coming weeks. If the bill becomes law, officials would almost certainly need permission from the U.S. Department of Health ...
A $44,000 Surgery Can Cost Just $16,000 Somewhere Else for One Reason: Competition
A hip replacement in Maine can run north of $44,000. Down the coast in Boston, it’s a different story. There, the same procedure costs just more than $16,000, a fraction of the price. Knee surgeries follow the same pattern. They cost up to $13,500 in Maine, but as little as $3,900 ...
Here’s a prescription for mid-sized businesses providing workers with health care
Small businesses and large corporations have been spared some of Obamacare’s most burdensome regulations. Small firms are exempt from the employer mandate requiring them to offer coverage. Large ones don’t have to adhere to the law’s essential health benefits mandates. Mid-sized businesses haven’t been so lucky. These firms, which typically ...
Medicare for All Won’t Result in Better Health Outcomes
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker claims Medicare for All would “save lives.” Vermont’s own Senator Bernie Sanders promises it would end “the disgrace of tens of thousands of Americans dying every year from preventable deaths.” But a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds little evidence to support those assertions. The authors examined ...