Health Care
Commentary
Read the latest on CA health care policy
California rues healthcare minimum wage increase
A minimum wage hike for healthcare workers in California was supposed to take effect this Saturday. But over the past week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and his Democratic allies have worked feverishly on legislation to postpone it. California Democrats haven’t suddenly become free-market acolytes. They’re worried that the wage increase, which may cost the state $4 billion this ...
Commentary
Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Unravels Medicare Part D
In May, Medicare bureaucrats released new guidance that details how they’ll conduct the drug pricing “negotiations” authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. They’re mostly maintaining the policies in last year’s inaugural round of price setting—which means the quality of seniors’ Medicare Part D coverage will continue to deteriorate. When President Biden ...
Commentary
Don’t Import British Methods For Rationing Access To Drugs
Earlier this year, European authorities recommended approval of tofersen, a new drug that treats a rare genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. That decision came nearly a year after American regulators granted the drug accelerated approval. Patients with that rare form of ALS in England aren’t so lucky. The National Institute for ...
Commentary
End Rampant Fraud in Federal Health Programs
The facts are astonishing: an estimated $1 billion a year in fraudulent payments, untold thousands of ineligible beneficiaries, and a public agency that refuses to conduct an audit. Welcome to the $60 billion-a-year Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which provides insurance coverage for more than 8 million federal workers and their ...
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
Read the latest on drug pricing
Inflation Reduction Act Will Destroy Drug Access
Last month at a White House event, President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., took a victory lap for supposedly having “beat Big Pharma” through drug-pricing provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. Beaming with pride, they hailed new powers for Medicare to “negotiate” drug prices as a historic achievement. But their self-congratulation rests ...
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 short-term health plans
Biden Goes “Over The Top” In Latest Offensive Of The War Over Obamacare
The Biden administration just launched a new offensive in the decade-long regulatory war over Obamacare. It finalized a rule earlier this spring that severely restricts Americans’ ability to purchase short-term health plans—effectively rolling back a Trump administration rule that had greatly expanded access to them. The White House claims the new rule ...
Commentary
Read the latest on Medicare spending
Focus Medicare’s Dwindling Resources to Those Most in Need
Medicare’s trustees released their annual report this week. It paints a bleak picture of the program’s future. Total spending on the healthcare entitlement for seniors exceeded $1 trillion last year, the trustees note — some $12 billion more than the program took in. If current trends continue, Medicare’s Part A hospital insurance ...
Drug Pricing
NEW BRIEF: JAMA Study Justifying Drug Price Controls Deeply Flawed, Patient Health Jeopardized if Findings Implemented
SACRAMENTO – A new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute analyzes a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study cited by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) to justify drug price controls, finding it was deeply flawed and would put ...
Read the latest on CA health care policy
California rues healthcare minimum wage increase
A minimum wage hike for healthcare workers in California was supposed to take effect this Saturday. But over the past week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and his Democratic allies have worked feverishly on legislation to postpone it. California Democrats haven’t suddenly become free-market acolytes. They’re worried that the wage increase, which may cost the state $4 billion this ...
Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Unravels Medicare Part D
In May, Medicare bureaucrats released new guidance that details how they’ll conduct the drug pricing “negotiations” authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. They’re mostly maintaining the policies in last year’s inaugural round of price setting—which means the quality of seniors’ Medicare Part D coverage will continue to deteriorate. When President Biden ...
Don’t Import British Methods For Rationing Access To Drugs
Earlier this year, European authorities recommended approval of tofersen, a new drug that treats a rare genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. That decision came nearly a year after American regulators granted the drug accelerated approval. Patients with that rare form of ALS in England aren’t so lucky. The National Institute for ...
End Rampant Fraud in Federal Health Programs
The facts are astonishing: an estimated $1 billion a year in fraudulent payments, untold thousands of ineligible beneficiaries, and a public agency that refuses to conduct an audit. Welcome to the $60 billion-a-year Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which provides insurance coverage for more than 8 million federal workers and their ...
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 ...
Read the latest on drug pricing
Inflation Reduction Act Will Destroy Drug Access
Last month at a White House event, President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., took a victory lap for supposedly having “beat Big Pharma” through drug-pricing provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. Beaming with pride, they hailed new powers for Medicare to “negotiate” drug prices as a historic achievement. But their self-congratulation rests ...
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 short-term health plans
Biden Goes “Over The Top” In Latest Offensive Of The War Over Obamacare
The Biden administration just launched a new offensive in the decade-long regulatory war over Obamacare. It finalized a rule earlier this spring that severely restricts Americans’ ability to purchase short-term health plans—effectively rolling back a Trump administration rule that had greatly expanded access to them. The White House claims the new rule ...
Read the latest on Medicare spending
Focus Medicare’s Dwindling Resources to Those Most in Need
Medicare’s trustees released their annual report this week. It paints a bleak picture of the program’s future. Total spending on the healthcare entitlement for seniors exceeded $1 trillion last year, the trustees note — some $12 billion more than the program took in. If current trends continue, Medicare’s Part A hospital insurance ...
NEW BRIEF: JAMA Study Justifying Drug Price Controls Deeply Flawed, Patient Health Jeopardized if Findings Implemented
SACRAMENTO – A new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute analyzes a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study cited by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) to justify drug price controls, finding it was deeply flawed and would put ...
