Health Care Innovation
Commentary
Reimagine Health Insurance Away from Routine Maintenance
The health insurance system fails most Americans, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nearly 6 in 10 insured adults have trouble using their coverage. Within that group, nearly 1 in 5 was unable to get needed care. It’s tempting to see this survey data as proof that health insurers aren’t doing ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 11, 2023
Commentary
Read about the CHOICE arrangement act
GOP Notches a Victory Battle for Healthcare Choice
Any time lawmakers can introduce greater choice and dynamism into the health insurance market, patients benefit. The CHOICE Arrangement Act, which passed the House last month, is a perfect example. The bill would codify the so-called “individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements,” or ICHRAs, established through executive order by President Donald Trump in ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 3, 2023
Commentary
There is a new Senate bill that targets PBMs
Break the Grip of Pharmacy Benefit Managers
A new Senate bill takes aim at one of the chief drivers of the high out-of-pocket drug costs that many consumers are experiencing — middlemen known as “pharmacy benefit managers.” Introduced in mid-June by a bipartisan group of senators including Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 27, 2023
Drug Innovation
NEW BRIEF: Cash-Based Support Would Empower Vulnerable to Buy Private Health Insurance, Create More Effective Safety Net
Click to download the brief “Tens of millions are stuck in a flawed government-run healthcare system that provides sub-par care to patients, imposes huge taxpayer costs, and harms the broader healthcare system,” said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and the series author. “By providing cash-based ...
Wayne H Winegarden
June 20, 2023
Commentary
Americans' life expectancy is at a 20-year low
The US health system is not to blame for the decline in our life expectancy
Americans’ life expectancy is at a 20-year low. As a result, the gap in life expectancy between the United States and our global peers is progressively growing wider, according to a new report in the American Journal of Public Health. For years, progressives have blamed the lack of universal health coverage in the United States ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 18, 2023
Commentary
Read the latest on the Veterans Health Administration
Veterans have waited long enough for health reform
Republicans in Congress are moving forward with a new bill that would enable veterans to seek medical care outside the Veterans Health Administration. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., introduced the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act earlier this month. The measure has already attracted the support of more than a dozen GOP ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 13, 2023
Commentary
READ THE LATEST ON SB 525
$25 Hospital Minimum Wage Bill Would Boost Some Workers at Expense of Patients
When lawmakers feel they have no boundaries, as is the case in California, ideas that would have little to no chance elsewhere not only get a hearing, but become law. This explains how the mere thought of hiking the minimum wage for health care workers and support staff to $25 ...
Kerry Jackson
June 13, 2023
Commentary
Take An X To The Public Health Insurance Option
There’s an old proverb—everything old is new again. That is certainly true for healthcare policy. Last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2023, the single-payer health plan the Vermont socialist has been pushing for years. President Biden will surely dust off his old proposal for a ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 12, 2023
Commentary
Read Sally Pipes' latest on health care reform
Repeal laws that stifle health care competition
Patients in several states could soon find it easier to access life-saving medical care, if state legislators and executive officials eliminate so-called certificate-of-need restrictions for new acute-care hospitals in rural areas. Certificate-of-need laws require health care providers to get a state government’s sign-off before building new facilities, expanding existing ones, ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 4, 2023
Commentary
Here’s How Lawmakers Can Slash Medicare Spending Without Cutting Benefits
Politicians don’t agree on much these days, but one thing seems to bring even Democrats and Republicans together. And that’s refusing to cut Medicare. That position may be politically popular. But it’s at odds with the long-term sustainability of the program. Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund is set to go bankrupt ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 30, 2023
Reimagine Health Insurance Away from Routine Maintenance
The health insurance system fails most Americans, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Nearly 6 in 10 insured adults have trouble using their coverage. Within that group, nearly 1 in 5 was unable to get needed care. It’s tempting to see this survey data as proof that health insurers aren’t doing ...
Read about the CHOICE arrangement act
GOP Notches a Victory Battle for Healthcare Choice
Any time lawmakers can introduce greater choice and dynamism into the health insurance market, patients benefit. The CHOICE Arrangement Act, which passed the House last month, is a perfect example. The bill would codify the so-called “individual coverage health reimbursement arrangements,” or ICHRAs, established through executive order by President Donald Trump in ...
There is a new Senate bill that targets PBMs
Break the Grip of Pharmacy Benefit Managers
A new Senate bill takes aim at one of the chief drivers of the high out-of-pocket drug costs that many consumers are experiencing — middlemen known as “pharmacy benefit managers.” Introduced in mid-June by a bipartisan group of senators including Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ranking Member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, ...
NEW BRIEF: Cash-Based Support Would Empower Vulnerable to Buy Private Health Insurance, Create More Effective Safety Net
Click to download the brief “Tens of millions are stuck in a flawed government-run healthcare system that provides sub-par care to patients, imposes huge taxpayer costs, and harms the broader healthcare system,” said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and the series author. “By providing cash-based ...
Americans' life expectancy is at a 20-year low
The US health system is not to blame for the decline in our life expectancy
Americans’ life expectancy is at a 20-year low. As a result, the gap in life expectancy between the United States and our global peers is progressively growing wider, according to a new report in the American Journal of Public Health. For years, progressives have blamed the lack of universal health coverage in the United States ...
Read the latest on the Veterans Health Administration
Veterans have waited long enough for health reform
Republicans in Congress are moving forward with a new bill that would enable veterans to seek medical care outside the Veterans Health Administration. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., introduced the Veterans Health Care Freedom Act earlier this month. The measure has already attracted the support of more than a dozen GOP ...
READ THE LATEST ON SB 525
$25 Hospital Minimum Wage Bill Would Boost Some Workers at Expense of Patients
When lawmakers feel they have no boundaries, as is the case in California, ideas that would have little to no chance elsewhere not only get a hearing, but become law. This explains how the mere thought of hiking the minimum wage for health care workers and support staff to $25 ...
Take An X To The Public Health Insurance Option
There’s an old proverb—everything old is new again. That is certainly true for healthcare policy. Last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2023, the single-payer health plan the Vermont socialist has been pushing for years. President Biden will surely dust off his old proposal for a ...
Read Sally Pipes' latest on health care reform
Repeal laws that stifle health care competition
Patients in several states could soon find it easier to access life-saving medical care, if state legislators and executive officials eliminate so-called certificate-of-need restrictions for new acute-care hospitals in rural areas. Certificate-of-need laws require health care providers to get a state government’s sign-off before building new facilities, expanding existing ones, ...
Here’s How Lawmakers Can Slash Medicare Spending Without Cutting Benefits
Politicians don’t agree on much these days, but one thing seems to bring even Democrats and Republicans together. And that’s refusing to cut Medicare. That position may be politically popular. But it’s at odds with the long-term sustainability of the program. Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund is set to go bankrupt ...