Health Care Innovation
Commentary
Mandating dental coverage will drive up the cost of insurance
The Biden administration finalized a rule last month allowing states to mandate that most individual and small-group health plans, including those for sale on Obamacare‘s exchanges, cover adult dental services. Mandating coverage of dental benefits may be politically appealing. But it will end up leaving a bitter taste in people’s mouths. Mandates cost money. Implementing ...
Commentary
Congress should take action to make telemedicine permanent
Congress faces a year-end deadline to extend its relaxed pandemic-era rules permitting greater use of telehealth by Medicare beneficiaries. If our lawmakers fail to step up, millions of seniors as well as privately insured patients could lose access to what has become an essential form of medical care. The expansion of ...
Commentary
Read the latest on medical debt proposals
Medical Debt-Relief Can Backfire on Patients
Americans collectively owe some $220 billion in medical debt. In response, a growing number of states, including New Jersey and Connecticut, are using public funds to relieve those debts. Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., proposed doing something similar in his state earlier this year. But is canceling medical debt the best way to help cash-strapped Americans? Click to ...
Commentary
Read how overregulation is having negative effects on nursing homes
Government shouldn’t micromanage nursing homes
The Biden administration published regulations last month requiring most nursing homes to maintain specific staffing levels. As a result, roughly three in four nursing homes will have to hire additional personnel. Progressives argue the rules will lead to better care. “For residents, this will mean more staff, which means fewer ER visits potentially, more ...
Commentary
Read on the benefits of telehealth
Time Medicare Joined 21st Century on Telehealth
The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing this month to discuss extending pandemic-era policies that expanded access to telehealth under Medicare. Without urgent action by lawmakers, these telehealth flexibilities will expire at the end of the year. That’s an outcome few should welcome. Telehealth has proved enormously valuable to ...
Commentary
Eliminate regs that drive doctor shortage
Doctor’s appointments will be hard to come by over the next decade, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. By 2036, the organization estimates that the United States will be short as many as 86,000 physicians. This is a shortage of not just doctors but medical ...
Commentary
Read about healthcare on the presidential campaign trail
Biden And Harris Are Wrong About Healthcare “Rights”
Speaking to supporters in North Carolina late last month, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “We here agree that access to healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.” President Biden picked up the thread when he joined Harris on stage, saying he envisioned “a future ...
Commentary
Read about the gap in black and white outcomes in healthcare
Government programs are WIDENING black-white health disparities
Thanks to better prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, cancer mortality in the United States has fallen 33% since 1991, per data the American Cancer Society published this year. But that progress has not been equally distributed. The cancer mortality rate for black people remains higher than for white people. Between 2000 and ...
Commentary
Read the latest on GOP's plan for healthcare reform
House GOP Embraces Markets in New Health Reform Plan
The House Republican Study Committee’s new budget proposal, which was released last month, offers fresh proof that the GOP hasn’t given up on sensible health reform. The proposal would balance the budget in just seven years, in part by undoing some of the most destructive elements of Obamacare. It also gives Americans ...
Commentary
Learn about America's physician shortage
We need all doctors on deck
Medical students recently celebrated “Match Day,” when aspiring doctors learn where they’ll be spending the next few years in residency to complete their training. America needs many more physicians — as many as 86,000 by 2036, according to projections released this week by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Policymakers can help plug that gap by easing ...
Mandating dental coverage will drive up the cost of insurance
The Biden administration finalized a rule last month allowing states to mandate that most individual and small-group health plans, including those for sale on Obamacare‘s exchanges, cover adult dental services. Mandating coverage of dental benefits may be politically appealing. But it will end up leaving a bitter taste in people’s mouths. Mandates cost money. Implementing ...
Congress should take action to make telemedicine permanent
Congress faces a year-end deadline to extend its relaxed pandemic-era rules permitting greater use of telehealth by Medicare beneficiaries. If our lawmakers fail to step up, millions of seniors as well as privately insured patients could lose access to what has become an essential form of medical care. The expansion of ...
Read the latest on medical debt proposals
Medical Debt-Relief Can Backfire on Patients
Americans collectively owe some $220 billion in medical debt. In response, a growing number of states, including New Jersey and Connecticut, are using public funds to relieve those debts. Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., proposed doing something similar in his state earlier this year. But is canceling medical debt the best way to help cash-strapped Americans? Click to ...
Read how overregulation is having negative effects on nursing homes
Government shouldn’t micromanage nursing homes
The Biden administration published regulations last month requiring most nursing homes to maintain specific staffing levels. As a result, roughly three in four nursing homes will have to hire additional personnel. Progressives argue the rules will lead to better care. “For residents, this will mean more staff, which means fewer ER visits potentially, more ...
Read on the benefits of telehealth
Time Medicare Joined 21st Century on Telehealth
The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing this month to discuss extending pandemic-era policies that expanded access to telehealth under Medicare. Without urgent action by lawmakers, these telehealth flexibilities will expire at the end of the year. That’s an outcome few should welcome. Telehealth has proved enormously valuable to ...
Eliminate regs that drive doctor shortage
Doctor’s appointments will be hard to come by over the next decade, according to new data from the Association of American Medical Colleges. By 2036, the organization estimates that the United States will be short as many as 86,000 physicians. This is a shortage of not just doctors but medical ...
Read about healthcare on the presidential campaign trail
Biden And Harris Are Wrong About Healthcare “Rights”
Speaking to supporters in North Carolina late last month, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “We here agree that access to healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.” President Biden picked up the thread when he joined Harris on stage, saying he envisioned “a future ...
Read about the gap in black and white outcomes in healthcare
Government programs are WIDENING black-white health disparities
Thanks to better prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, cancer mortality in the United States has fallen 33% since 1991, per data the American Cancer Society published this year. But that progress has not been equally distributed. The cancer mortality rate for black people remains higher than for white people. Between 2000 and ...
Read the latest on GOP's plan for healthcare reform
House GOP Embraces Markets in New Health Reform Plan
The House Republican Study Committee’s new budget proposal, which was released last month, offers fresh proof that the GOP hasn’t given up on sensible health reform. The proposal would balance the budget in just seven years, in part by undoing some of the most destructive elements of Obamacare. It also gives Americans ...
Learn about America's physician shortage
We need all doctors on deck
Medical students recently celebrated “Match Day,” when aspiring doctors learn where they’ll be spending the next few years in residency to complete their training. America needs many more physicians — as many as 86,000 by 2036, according to projections released this week by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Policymakers can help plug that gap by easing ...
