Wayne H Winegarden
Blog
Spending Watch
May Revise Preview: Sacramento Should Learn Lessons from the 2009 Budget Crisis
May Revise Preview: Sacramento Should Learn Lessons Wayne Winegarden May 2024 Governor Newsom is finalizing the May Revision for his 2024-25 budget plan this week. As he does, the parallels between California’s 2009 budget crisis and today’s budget difficulties are too compelling to ignore. Sacramento policymakers should heed the ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Consumers, Not ‘Polluters’, Would Be Hard Hit by New Climate Tax Legislation
Consumers, Not ‘Polluters’, Would Be Hard Hit by New Climate Tax Legislation Wayne Winegarden May 2024 SB-1497, the Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act of 2024, purports to “require fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage caused by the sale of their products…to relieve a ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain Wayne Winegarden April 2024 SB 1434 would dramatically expand unemployment insurance benefits to current eligible workers. If implemented, it would expand benefits by over 55 percent, raise the number of workers who qualify for maximum benefits, increase the benefits for ...
Coronavirus
NEW BRIEF: Regulatory Roadblocks Hinder Development of New COVID-19 Treatments for the Immunocompromised
The current federal regulatory process to develop monoclonal antibodies to treat mutating strains of COVID-19 imposes unnecessary hurdles that hinder the creation and approval of effective treatments for the immunocompromised, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Reparations: A Financially Unrealistic Proposal That Will Bankrupt California
Reparations: A Financially Unrealistic Proposal That Will Bankrupt California Wayne Winegarden February 2024 With the introduction of its first set of reparations bills, the California legislature is officially considering the recommendations of the California Reparations Report from the state Reparations Task Force.1 Given these introductions, it is imperative to understand ...
Health Care
NEW BRIEF: End Anti-Market Distortions in Current PBM System Would Lower Patient Costs, Increase Access to Life-Saving Drugs
SACRAMENTO – Fixing the current broken system that incentivizes pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to enact policies that benefit themselves and insurers at the expense of patients would lead to lower patient drug costs, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan ...
Drug Innovation
NEW BRIEF: Cash-Based Support Would Empower Vulnerable to Buy Private Health Insurance, Create More Effective Safety Net
Click to download the brief “Tens of millions are stuck in a flawed government-run healthcare system that provides sub-par care to patients, imposes huge taxpayer costs, and harms the broader healthcare system,” said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and the series author. “By providing cash-based ...
Blog
Many cities are zoning people out of their homes
Many cities are zoning people out of their homes By Wayne Winegarden A growing housing unaffordability problem is now plaguing cities across the country. The roots of this crisis are errant monetary and fiscal policies that, before they stoked our current bout of inflation, incentivized a surge in housing prices. ...
Drug Prices
NEW STUDY: 340B Providers Reap Big Profits, Should Be Reformed to Ensure At-Risk Patients Receive Affordable Care
SACRAMENTO – The broken 340B program, designed to provide affordable care for at-risk patients, creates massive profits for providers without necessarily improving patient health outcomes and should be reformed, finds a new issue brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. ...
Featured
NEW BRIEF: Establishing An Efficient Health Insurance Market
DOWNLOAD THE BRIEF Cultivating an efficient health insurance market requires reforms that empower patients over payers, which can be achieved by: Making health expenditures and health insurance expenditures tax deductible; Broadening the availability and usability of tax-free saving accounts to help patients cover the deductibles and out of pocket ...
Spending Watch
May Revise Preview: Sacramento Should Learn Lessons from the 2009 Budget Crisis
May Revise Preview: Sacramento Should Learn Lessons Wayne Winegarden May 2024 Governor Newsom is finalizing the May Revision for his 2024-25 budget plan this week. As he does, the parallels between California’s 2009 budget crisis and today’s budget difficulties are too compelling to ignore. Sacramento policymakers should heed the ...
Spending Watch
Consumers, Not ‘Polluters’, Would Be Hard Hit by New Climate Tax Legislation
Consumers, Not ‘Polluters’, Would Be Hard Hit by New Climate Tax Legislation Wayne Winegarden May 2024 SB-1497, the Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act of 2024, purports to “require fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage caused by the sale of their products…to relieve a ...
Spending Watch
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain
Expanding Unemployment Insurance Benefits – All Pain for No Gain Wayne Winegarden April 2024 SB 1434 would dramatically expand unemployment insurance benefits to current eligible workers. If implemented, it would expand benefits by over 55 percent, raise the number of workers who qualify for maximum benefits, increase the benefits for ...
NEW BRIEF: Regulatory Roadblocks Hinder Development of New COVID-19 Treatments for the Immunocompromised
The current federal regulatory process to develop monoclonal antibodies to treat mutating strains of COVID-19 imposes unnecessary hurdles that hinder the creation and approval of effective treatments for the immunocompromised, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. ...
Spending Watch
Reparations: A Financially Unrealistic Proposal That Will Bankrupt California
Reparations: A Financially Unrealistic Proposal That Will Bankrupt California Wayne Winegarden February 2024 With the introduction of its first set of reparations bills, the California legislature is officially considering the recommendations of the California Reparations Report from the state Reparations Task Force.1 Given these introductions, it is imperative to understand ...
NEW BRIEF: End Anti-Market Distortions in Current PBM System Would Lower Patient Costs, Increase Access to Life-Saving Drugs
SACRAMENTO – Fixing the current broken system that incentivizes pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to enact policies that benefit themselves and insurers at the expense of patients would lead to lower patient drug costs, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan ...
NEW BRIEF: Cash-Based Support Would Empower Vulnerable to Buy Private Health Insurance, Create More Effective Safety Net
Click to download the brief “Tens of millions are stuck in a flawed government-run healthcare system that provides sub-par care to patients, imposes huge taxpayer costs, and harms the broader healthcare system,” said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and the series author. “By providing cash-based ...
Many cities are zoning people out of their homes
Many cities are zoning people out of their homes By Wayne Winegarden A growing housing unaffordability problem is now plaguing cities across the country. The roots of this crisis are errant monetary and fiscal policies that, before they stoked our current bout of inflation, incentivized a surge in housing prices. ...
NEW STUDY: 340B Providers Reap Big Profits, Should Be Reformed to Ensure At-Risk Patients Receive Affordable Care
SACRAMENTO – The broken 340B program, designed to provide affordable care for at-risk patients, creates massive profits for providers without necessarily improving patient health outcomes and should be reformed, finds a new issue brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. ...
NEW BRIEF: Establishing An Efficient Health Insurance Market
DOWNLOAD THE BRIEF Cultivating an efficient health insurance market requires reforms that empower patients over payers, which can be achieved by: Making health expenditures and health insurance expenditures tax deductible; Broadening the availability and usability of tax-free saving accounts to help patients cover the deductibles and out of pocket ...
