Health Care Innovation
Commentary
America’s Healthcare System Has Never Been Better At Keeping Patients Alive
American life expectancy has hit an all-time high. According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, life expectancy at birth in 2024 was 79 years. Americans are living longer thanks to significant declines in death from things like cancer, heart disease and stroke. This progress is ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 23, 2026
Commentary
Don’t undermine the system that incentivized GLP-1 development
A left-leaning pressure group recently sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking his agency to rescind the patent rights earned by the developers of GLP-1 drugs. Some 12% of U.S. adults have taken these medications. Rescinding the patents is a dangerous idea that ...
Wayne H Winegarden
March 16, 2026
Commentary
The Legislature shouldn’t decide what vaccines to make illegal
A bill currently making its way through the Idaho Legislature could put the health of countless people at risk. Idaho’s Senate Health Committee recently atdvanced legislation that would impose a two-year moratorium on certain human gene therapy products and ban the use of mRNA vaccines for children and pregnant women ...
Sally Pipes and Wayne Winegarden
March 11, 2026
commentar
Hospitals Turn a Safety-Net Program Into an ATM
Washington, D.C. is finally taking a hard look at one of the most abuse-ridden federal health programs — the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Last week, the Trump administration released a request for information exploring ways to bring more transparency and accountability to the program. It’s about time.
Sally C. Pipes
February 23, 2026
Commentary
How Trump’s ‘Prior Authorization’ Deal Puts Patients Ahead of Paperwork
Americans increasingly need a permission slip from their insurance company before they can get medical care. And it’s driving them crazy. According to one recent survey, nearly three-quarters of patients find delays and denials of treatment by insurers to be a major problem with our health-care system. Fortunately, a new ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 23, 2026
Commentary
An anti-science FDA is a threat to our health and prosperity
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration supposedly “implements gold standard science.” Yet the agency appears to relish obstructing scientific progress. Earlier this month, Vinay Prasad, the director of FDA’s vaccine division, rejected Moderna’s application for a new mRNA flu vaccine for adults 50 and older on dubious grounds. The FDA ...
Wayne H Winegarden
February 20, 2026
Commentary
Medicare’s ‘efficiency’ cut will reduce access, not costs
Many physicians received another pay cut this year, courtesy of Medicare. Under the program’s new physician fee schedule, Medicare reimbursement for the vast majority of physician-provided services will effectively decline by 2.5%. Medicare officials justify the change as an “efficiency adjustment.” The theory is that doctors have gotten more productive ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 20, 2026
Commentary
Drop ‘Bigger Subsidies’ Narrative for Better Insurance Options
The federal government is covering a smaller share of Obamacare enrollees’ premiums this year. That has Democrats warning of a surge in the number of uninsured, as people struggle to shoulder more of the cost themselves. But recent reporting on some of those losing their enhanced premium subsidies reveals that ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 17, 2026
Commentary
Arizona Republicans should stop trying to ban mRNA vaccines
Despite Democratic Governor Hobbs’ past efforts to expand Arizonans’ access to cutting-edge medicines, the state Legislature continues to propose harmful anti-mRNA bills. The latest example is House Bill 2332, which, if enacted, would deny Arizonans access to promising technologies that could cure cancer and minimize the health consequences from deadly ...
Sally Pipes and Wayne Winegarden
February 11, 2026
Commentary
Proposed Patent Tax Threatens the Research That Powers Growth
Is federally funded science really a raw deal for taxpayers? Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seems to think so. “If we fund it and they invent a patent,” he recently said, “the United States of America taxpayer should get half the benefit.” Lutnick is proposing a 50% excise tax on the ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 10, 2026
America’s Healthcare System Has Never Been Better At Keeping Patients Alive
American life expectancy has hit an all-time high. According to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, life expectancy at birth in 2024 was 79 years. Americans are living longer thanks to significant declines in death from things like cancer, heart disease and stroke. This progress is ...
Don’t undermine the system that incentivized GLP-1 development
A left-leaning pressure group recently sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking his agency to rescind the patent rights earned by the developers of GLP-1 drugs. Some 12% of U.S. adults have taken these medications. Rescinding the patents is a dangerous idea that ...
The Legislature shouldn’t decide what vaccines to make illegal
A bill currently making its way through the Idaho Legislature could put the health of countless people at risk. Idaho’s Senate Health Committee recently atdvanced legislation that would impose a two-year moratorium on certain human gene therapy products and ban the use of mRNA vaccines for children and pregnant women ...
Hospitals Turn a Safety-Net Program Into an ATM
Washington, D.C. is finally taking a hard look at one of the most abuse-ridden federal health programs — the 340B Drug Pricing Program. Last week, the Trump administration released a request for information exploring ways to bring more transparency and accountability to the program. It’s about time.
How Trump’s ‘Prior Authorization’ Deal Puts Patients Ahead of Paperwork
Americans increasingly need a permission slip from their insurance company before they can get medical care. And it’s driving them crazy. According to one recent survey, nearly three-quarters of patients find delays and denials of treatment by insurers to be a major problem with our health-care system. Fortunately, a new ...
An anti-science FDA is a threat to our health and prosperity
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration supposedly “implements gold standard science.” Yet the agency appears to relish obstructing scientific progress. Earlier this month, Vinay Prasad, the director of FDA’s vaccine division, rejected Moderna’s application for a new mRNA flu vaccine for adults 50 and older on dubious grounds. The FDA ...
Medicare’s ‘efficiency’ cut will reduce access, not costs
Many physicians received another pay cut this year, courtesy of Medicare. Under the program’s new physician fee schedule, Medicare reimbursement for the vast majority of physician-provided services will effectively decline by 2.5%. Medicare officials justify the change as an “efficiency adjustment.” The theory is that doctors have gotten more productive ...
Drop ‘Bigger Subsidies’ Narrative for Better Insurance Options
The federal government is covering a smaller share of Obamacare enrollees’ premiums this year. That has Democrats warning of a surge in the number of uninsured, as people struggle to shoulder more of the cost themselves. But recent reporting on some of those losing their enhanced premium subsidies reveals that ...
Arizona Republicans should stop trying to ban mRNA vaccines
Despite Democratic Governor Hobbs’ past efforts to expand Arizonans’ access to cutting-edge medicines, the state Legislature continues to propose harmful anti-mRNA bills. The latest example is House Bill 2332, which, if enacted, would deny Arizonans access to promising technologies that could cure cancer and minimize the health consequences from deadly ...
Proposed Patent Tax Threatens the Research That Powers Growth
Is federally funded science really a raw deal for taxpayers? Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick seems to think so. “If we fund it and they invent a patent,” he recently said, “the United States of America taxpayer should get half the benefit.” Lutnick is proposing a 50% excise tax on the ...