Wayne H Winegarden
Commentary
Why reforming PBMs is the key to lowering drug costs
If lawmakers want to make pharmaceuticals more affordable, they should look past populist policies like price controls that will only make matters worse and set their sights on reforming the Pharmacy Benefit Manager market. PBMs manage the drug benefits for insurers and negotiate discounts with drug manufacturers. You probably use ...
Commentary
How Competition Drives Healthcare Innovation & Affordability
Making healthcare more affordable requires reforms that strengthen competitive markets, as I outlined in a recent Pacific Research Institute1 paper. Unfortunately, as we’re seeing in California and elsewhere, the trend in government is away from competition and toward fewer choices, hurting patients and increasing costs. When applied to other industries, ...
Commentary
From Obamacare To Credit Cards, Price Controls Don’t Work
The House of Representatives just passed a resolution condemning the “horrors of socialism” by a 285 to 98 margin. All the no votes were cast by Democrats indicating that a majority of the members from the left side of the aisle fail to recognize socialism’s overwhelming failures. Thus, despite the ...
Commentary
Congress Should Embrace Competition To Promote Affordability
Joining the Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives is now taking up the problem of skyrocketing healthcare costs. Democrats have proposed extending the expanded subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (aka, Obamacare or ACA), but this will not address the problem of rising costs. Promoting greater healthcare affordability requires reforms ...
Commentary
PBMs’ Evolving Business Model Continues To Raise Costs On Patients
The conclusion of the longest government shutdown in history and rising political acrimony rightly receives a great deal of attention but this focus makes it easy to overlook areas where beneficial legislation is politically possible. The broad political agreement that it is necessary to reform how pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) ...
Business & Economics
Consumers Benefit When Mergers Create Stronger Competitors
Kimberly-Clark is betting $40 billion that, despite the HHS Secretary’s unwarranted accusations about Tylenol, purchasing Kenvue will create synergies that will turn the combined company into a stronger competitor in the consumer health and consumer products sectors. Regardless of whether these gains are ultimately achieved, it is important that they are given the opportunity ...
Drug Prices
ISSUE BRIEF: Stronger Reforms Needed to Fix Medicare Competitive Bidding Problems
SACRAMENTO – Proposed reforms to fix the problems with the current Medicare bidding process for acquiring prosthetics, CPAP machines, wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment don’t go far enough to fix the fundamental flaws in the process, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and ...
Commentary
Restricting Capital Investment Is A Losing Energy Strategy
The U.S. energy grid stands at a crossroads. It is facing an unprecedented rise in electricity demand driven in no small part by the growth of artificial intelligence and high-tech manufacturing. Simultaneously, supply is being curtailed by growing power plant retirements. It doesn’t take an advanced degree in economics to ...
Commentary
The Compounding Pharmacy Loophole Threatens Safety And Innovation
The new class of GLP-1 medicines exemplifies both the potential of pharmaceutical innovation and the risks to future advancements from ill-considered government policies. The incredible benefits from GLP-1’s are clear – they significantly improve our health and well-being. Risks arise because current federal policies enable activities that jeopardize patient safety ...
Commentary
Lousy Medicare Insurance Is Worsening Outcomes For All Patients
Medicare’s long-term financial outlook is in dire straits. While spending is already historically high, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that, without fundamental reform, things will only get worse. According to the CBO, total government spending will grow from 23.3% of GDP in 2025 to 26.6% in 2055. Almost two-thirds ...
Why reforming PBMs is the key to lowering drug costs
If lawmakers want to make pharmaceuticals more affordable, they should look past populist policies like price controls that will only make matters worse and set their sights on reforming the Pharmacy Benefit Manager market. PBMs manage the drug benefits for insurers and negotiate discounts with drug manufacturers. You probably use ...
How Competition Drives Healthcare Innovation & Affordability
Making healthcare more affordable requires reforms that strengthen competitive markets, as I outlined in a recent Pacific Research Institute1 paper. Unfortunately, as we’re seeing in California and elsewhere, the trend in government is away from competition and toward fewer choices, hurting patients and increasing costs. When applied to other industries, ...
From Obamacare To Credit Cards, Price Controls Don’t Work
The House of Representatives just passed a resolution condemning the “horrors of socialism” by a 285 to 98 margin. All the no votes were cast by Democrats indicating that a majority of the members from the left side of the aisle fail to recognize socialism’s overwhelming failures. Thus, despite the ...
Congress Should Embrace Competition To Promote Affordability
Joining the Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives is now taking up the problem of skyrocketing healthcare costs. Democrats have proposed extending the expanded subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (aka, Obamacare or ACA), but this will not address the problem of rising costs. Promoting greater healthcare affordability requires reforms ...
PBMs’ Evolving Business Model Continues To Raise Costs On Patients
The conclusion of the longest government shutdown in history and rising political acrimony rightly receives a great deal of attention but this focus makes it easy to overlook areas where beneficial legislation is politically possible. The broad political agreement that it is necessary to reform how pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) ...
Consumers Benefit When Mergers Create Stronger Competitors
Kimberly-Clark is betting $40 billion that, despite the HHS Secretary’s unwarranted accusations about Tylenol, purchasing Kenvue will create synergies that will turn the combined company into a stronger competitor in the consumer health and consumer products sectors. Regardless of whether these gains are ultimately achieved, it is important that they are given the opportunity ...
ISSUE BRIEF: Stronger Reforms Needed to Fix Medicare Competitive Bidding Problems
SACRAMENTO – Proposed reforms to fix the problems with the current Medicare bidding process for acquiring prosthetics, CPAP machines, wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment don’t go far enough to fix the fundamental flaws in the process, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and ...
Restricting Capital Investment Is A Losing Energy Strategy
The U.S. energy grid stands at a crossroads. It is facing an unprecedented rise in electricity demand driven in no small part by the growth of artificial intelligence and high-tech manufacturing. Simultaneously, supply is being curtailed by growing power plant retirements. It doesn’t take an advanced degree in economics to ...
The Compounding Pharmacy Loophole Threatens Safety And Innovation
The new class of GLP-1 medicines exemplifies both the potential of pharmaceutical innovation and the risks to future advancements from ill-considered government policies. The incredible benefits from GLP-1’s are clear – they significantly improve our health and well-being. Risks arise because current federal policies enable activities that jeopardize patient safety ...
Lousy Medicare Insurance Is Worsening Outcomes For All Patients
Medicare’s long-term financial outlook is in dire straits. While spending is already historically high, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that, without fundamental reform, things will only get worse. According to the CBO, total government spending will grow from 23.3% of GDP in 2025 to 26.6% in 2055. Almost two-thirds ...
