Wayne Winegarden
Business & Economics
Lewis Carroll and the Pricing of Pharmaceuticals
Imagine a pharmaceutical market designed by Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter. In contrast to almost every other market, he might begin by charging wholesale prices that are higher than retail prices. He would then make sure that the higher wholesale price goes, the lower retail prices can become. And finally, he ...
Commentary
Just Say No to Pay-fors
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was established in 1997—a program that gives states federal matching funds to provide health insurance to children from families that are too wealthy to qualify for Medicaid, but too poor to afford private insurance. However, current federal funding for CHIP expires on September 30th. ...
Business & Economics
Enriching Lawyers Is Not the Solution to the Opioid Crisis
Effective health care reforms must reduce the excessive costs imposed by frivolous lawsuits. Studies have shown that medical tort reform could reduce total health care premiums between 1 and 3 percent. As estimated by the American Action Forum, this could mean “roughly $15 billion” in savings from effective (but partial) ...
California
Reforms Should Improve the Efficiency of the Pharmaceutical Market
The refrain that pharmaceuticals are driving the health care affordability problem has been repeated so often that it is becoming an illusory truth – people believe it to be true simply because they have heard it repeated so often. Obviously, repeating the same incorrect statement over and over again does ...
Blog
Price Transparency Occurs in Markets, Not Government Offices
The wrong model, no matter how hard it is worked, always provides the wrong answer. And, so it is with a bill being considered in Sacramento (SB 17). SB 17 is supposed to address the problem of skyrocketing health care costs by requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to give 60-day notice for ...
Blog
U.S. Pharmaceutical Spending Is Below Average?
For the 30 nations that comprise the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which promotes policies to improve the well-being of people around the world, pharmaceutical spending comprised, on average, 16.9 percent of total health care spending as of 2015. The OECD defines pharmaceutical spending as the expenditures on ...
Blog
Beware of Tax Reform’s “Unintended Consequences”
There is little doubt that the U.S. needs comprehensive tax reform. The corporate income tax system is globally uncompetitive; the personal income tax system is so complicated that even the IRS can’t answer taxpayers’ questions. The right reform implements a simple flat tax system with globally competitive rates. What should ...
Business & Economics
Market Reforms To Improve Pharmaceutical Outcomes
The drama of “repeal and replace” resembled an unfunny version of a Monty Python skit, continuously claiming that it was “not dead yet”, and even that it was “getting better” only to be put out of its misery in the end. The end of repeal and replace will not end ...
California
Congress Should Beware of ‘Unintended Consequences’ Of Tax Reform
If the U.S. economy is ever going to regain its past economic mojo, then Congress must pass comprehensive tax reform. Consider how much has changed since the last major tax reform in 1986. Back then, Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas, Mike Tyson had just become the youngest heavyweight ...
Business & Economics
Federal Tax Proposal Could Raise Insurance Costs In Earthquake Country
California is called earthquake country for good reason. There are nearly 2,000 known fault lines crisscrossing the state, and scientists continue to discover new fault lines all the time. Nearly every Californian lives within 30 miles of an active fault line. The U.S. Geological Survey recently released a study identifying ...
Lewis Carroll and the Pricing of Pharmaceuticals
Imagine a pharmaceutical market designed by Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter. In contrast to almost every other market, he might begin by charging wholesale prices that are higher than retail prices. He would then make sure that the higher wholesale price goes, the lower retail prices can become. And finally, he ...
Just Say No to Pay-fors
The Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was established in 1997—a program that gives states federal matching funds to provide health insurance to children from families that are too wealthy to qualify for Medicaid, but too poor to afford private insurance. However, current federal funding for CHIP expires on September 30th. ...
Enriching Lawyers Is Not the Solution to the Opioid Crisis
Effective health care reforms must reduce the excessive costs imposed by frivolous lawsuits. Studies have shown that medical tort reform could reduce total health care premiums between 1 and 3 percent. As estimated by the American Action Forum, this could mean “roughly $15 billion” in savings from effective (but partial) ...
Reforms Should Improve the Efficiency of the Pharmaceutical Market
The refrain that pharmaceuticals are driving the health care affordability problem has been repeated so often that it is becoming an illusory truth – people believe it to be true simply because they have heard it repeated so often. Obviously, repeating the same incorrect statement over and over again does ...
Price Transparency Occurs in Markets, Not Government Offices
The wrong model, no matter how hard it is worked, always provides the wrong answer. And, so it is with a bill being considered in Sacramento (SB 17). SB 17 is supposed to address the problem of skyrocketing health care costs by requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to give 60-day notice for ...
U.S. Pharmaceutical Spending Is Below Average?
For the 30 nations that comprise the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which promotes policies to improve the well-being of people around the world, pharmaceutical spending comprised, on average, 16.9 percent of total health care spending as of 2015. The OECD defines pharmaceutical spending as the expenditures on ...
Beware of Tax Reform’s “Unintended Consequences”
There is little doubt that the U.S. needs comprehensive tax reform. The corporate income tax system is globally uncompetitive; the personal income tax system is so complicated that even the IRS can’t answer taxpayers’ questions. The right reform implements a simple flat tax system with globally competitive rates. What should ...
Market Reforms To Improve Pharmaceutical Outcomes
The drama of “repeal and replace” resembled an unfunny version of a Monty Python skit, continuously claiming that it was “not dead yet”, and even that it was “getting better” only to be put out of its misery in the end. The end of repeal and replace will not end ...
Congress Should Beware of ‘Unintended Consequences’ Of Tax Reform
If the U.S. economy is ever going to regain its past economic mojo, then Congress must pass comprehensive tax reform. Consider how much has changed since the last major tax reform in 1986. Back then, Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas, Mike Tyson had just become the youngest heavyweight ...
Federal Tax Proposal Could Raise Insurance Costs In Earthquake Country
California is called earthquake country for good reason. There are nearly 2,000 known fault lines crisscrossing the state, and scientists continue to discover new fault lines all the time. Nearly every Californian lives within 30 miles of an active fault line. The U.S. Geological Survey recently released a study identifying ...
