State Budget
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) ...
Wayne Winegarden
September 13, 2017
California
Don’t let California prove how single-payer fails patients
Is single-payer health care dead in California? There were a lot of headlines to that effect in late June, after Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon shelved the Healthy California Act, which would have abolished private insurance and established the state as the sole provider of health coverage in California. But advocates ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 20, 2017
Commentary
Beware The Trojan Horses For Single-Payer Health Care
Republicans left Washington this month having failed to repeal and replace Obamacare. Many Democrats and their ideological allies are using the congressional recess to crow about the GOP’s defeat — and dream about replacing Obamacare with a bonafide single-payer system. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has promised to introduce a single-payer ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 14, 2017
Business & Economics
Despite Budget Action, Much Work Remains to Solve State’s Pension Crisis
Anyone worried about an earthquake plunging California into the sea should be more concerned about what is really sinking the state: the cost of public-employee pensions. In the just-enacted 2017-18 state budget, about $8 billion of the state government’s $183 billion spending package will go to the California Public Employees’ Retirement ...
Kerry Jackson
July 7, 2017
California
Is The Horror Story Of Single-payer Health Care Coming Soon To A Theater Near You?
Hollywood loves a sequel. This summer, studios are releasing a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean, a third edition of the Despicable Me franchise, and yet another Spiderman. But warmed-over ideas are not the sole province of the film industry. Progressive lawmakers are launching a reboot of their own — Single-Payer ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 2, 2017
California
Single-Payer Health Care Is Dead — For Now. Californians Shouldn’t Let It Come Back
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, has shelved Senate Bill 562. The bill aims to create a government-run, single-payer health care system in California. But, as Rendon noted, “This action does not mean SB562 is dead.” The California Legislature is still in the first half of a two-year session. The Senate ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 29, 2017
California
California’s ‘Free’ Health Care Won’t Come Cheap
(Note: After the column went to print, SB 562 passed the State Senate on June 1 by a vote of 23 to 14.) Democrats in California’s state Senate spent Thursday hemming and hawing over Senate Bill 562, the Healthy California Act. When this column went to print, the Democratic caucus ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 2, 2017
California
Sally Pipes on Single Payer Vote
SAN FRANCISCO – Pacific Research Institute President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes today issued the following statement in response to the State Senate’s passage of single-payer health care legislation (Senate Bill 562): “Lawmakers today voted to move forward a $400 billion-a-year single-payer ...
Pacific Research Institute
June 1, 2017
California
Lawmakers Release Details On Universal Health Care Bill
SACRAMENTO — Following last week’s failed effort by House Republicans to replace the Affordable Care Act, and wary of future GOP attempts to chisel away at the 2010 healthcare law, two state lawmakers on Thursday released details about legislation to create universal health coverage for every California resident. Similar to ...
Tracy Seipel
March 3, 2017
Commentary
Oregon’s Drug Price Bill Is Hard To Swallow
President Donald Trump is not the only politician saying he is going to work to get drug prices down. Oregon lawmakers are already patting themselves on the back for tackling drug prices. Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland) says the measure, Oregon House Bill 2387, could be a model for national reform. ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 2, 2017
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) ...
Don’t let California prove how single-payer fails patients
Is single-payer health care dead in California? There were a lot of headlines to that effect in late June, after Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon shelved the Healthy California Act, which would have abolished private insurance and established the state as the sole provider of health coverage in California. But advocates ...
Beware The Trojan Horses For Single-Payer Health Care
Republicans left Washington this month having failed to repeal and replace Obamacare. Many Democrats and their ideological allies are using the congressional recess to crow about the GOP’s defeat — and dream about replacing Obamacare with a bonafide single-payer system. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has promised to introduce a single-payer ...
Despite Budget Action, Much Work Remains to Solve State’s Pension Crisis
Anyone worried about an earthquake plunging California into the sea should be more concerned about what is really sinking the state: the cost of public-employee pensions. In the just-enacted 2017-18 state budget, about $8 billion of the state government’s $183 billion spending package will go to the California Public Employees’ Retirement ...
Is The Horror Story Of Single-payer Health Care Coming Soon To A Theater Near You?
Hollywood loves a sequel. This summer, studios are releasing a fifth Pirates of the Caribbean, a third edition of the Despicable Me franchise, and yet another Spiderman. But warmed-over ideas are not the sole province of the film industry. Progressive lawmakers are launching a reboot of their own — Single-Payer ...
Single-Payer Health Care Is Dead — For Now. Californians Shouldn’t Let It Come Back
Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, has shelved Senate Bill 562. The bill aims to create a government-run, single-payer health care system in California. But, as Rendon noted, “This action does not mean SB562 is dead.” The California Legislature is still in the first half of a two-year session. The Senate ...
California’s ‘Free’ Health Care Won’t Come Cheap
(Note: After the column went to print, SB 562 passed the State Senate on June 1 by a vote of 23 to 14.) Democrats in California’s state Senate spent Thursday hemming and hawing over Senate Bill 562, the Healthy California Act. When this column went to print, the Democratic caucus ...
Sally Pipes on Single Payer Vote
SAN FRANCISCO – Pacific Research Institute President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes today issued the following statement in response to the State Senate’s passage of single-payer health care legislation (Senate Bill 562): “Lawmakers today voted to move forward a $400 billion-a-year single-payer ...
Lawmakers Release Details On Universal Health Care Bill
SACRAMENTO — Following last week’s failed effort by House Republicans to replace the Affordable Care Act, and wary of future GOP attempts to chisel away at the 2010 healthcare law, two state lawmakers on Thursday released details about legislation to create universal health coverage for every California resident. Similar to ...
Oregon’s Drug Price Bill Is Hard To Swallow
President Donald Trump is not the only politician saying he is going to work to get drug prices down. Oregon lawmakers are already patting themselves on the back for tackling drug prices. Rep. Mitch Greenlick (D-Portland) says the measure, Oregon House Bill 2387, could be a model for national reform. ...