Health Care
Commentary
Read about President Biden's new budget proposal on healthcare
Biden’s Healthcare Budget Enriches Insurers, Ignores Patients
Anyone clamoring for commonsense healthcare reform won’t find much to cheer about in President Joe Biden’s new budget proposal. The insurance industry, however, should be very pleased. Among other things, the budget makes Biden’s enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies permanent and calls for a new Medicaid-like program for people in states that haven’t ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 22, 2024
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 ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 22, 2024
Commentary
If expanding quality health care access is California’s goal, Medi-Cal is not the solution
In January, California became the very first state to open its Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal, to every undocumented immigrant within its borders. Some 700,000 adults between the ages of 26 and 49 now qualify for publicly funded health coverage. It’s the fourth expansion of the program to undocumented immigrants, after kids became eligible in 2015, young ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 22, 2024
Commentary
As Obamacare Turns 14, It Continues To Bully U.S. Patients
March 23 marks the 14th anniversary of the passage of Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). At the signing ceremony, then-Vice President Joe Biden famously remarked, “This is a big fucking deal!” How right he was—much to the chagrin of patients, who have been stuck with the monstrosity that is ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 22, 2024
Commentary
Read the latest on California single payer health care proposals
California’s single-payer health care boondoggle is back and worse than ever
Karl Marx could have been forecasting the future of California when he said that history repeats itself – first as tragedy, then as farce. The tragedy is a state budget of $225.9 billion this year, with a budget deficit equivalent to nearly one-third of that figure – $73 billion, according to the latest estimate from the state ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 20, 2024
Commentary
Lawsuit Against Drug Company Could Quash Future Cures
Like most pharmaceutical companies, Gilead Sciences Inc. devotes a huge amount of time and money to making sure its products are safe for patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drugs to fight HIV, and these medications have worked remarkably well. It then developed the next generation of ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 19, 2024
Commentary
Read the latest on the problems facing Medicare
Medicare Is Now Unaffordable
“If anyone here tries to cut … Medicare … I will stop you.” That was President Biden’s promise to a joint session of Congress during last week’s State of the Union address. Some may find such tough talk reassuring. But Biden’s refusal to even acknowledge Medicare’s dire fiscal situation — much less chart a course ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 14, 2024
Commentary
Read about the latest drug rationing proposals
Let UK Keep Drug Rationing
Any list of the world’s most inhumane healthcare bureaucracies has to include Britain’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence at the top. For over two decades, the agency has employed ruthless cost-benefit analyses to effectively deny British patients access to the latest medicines. Now NICE is looking to export its expertise rationing ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 11, 2024
Commentary
Medicaid shouldn’t pay for housing
Massachusetts is asking the Biden administration for permission to use money from Medicaid, the health program for low-income and disabled Americans jointly funded by the states and the federal government, to pay for temporary housing for homeless families and pregnant women, including newly arrived immigrants. It’s only the latest request by states to spend money specifically earmarked ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 11, 2024
Blog
Spending Watch
Single Payer Will Worsen California’s Healthcare System and Reduce Economic Growth
Single Payer Will Worsen California’s Healthcare System and Reduce Economic Growth Wayne Winegarden March 2024 With the introduction of AB 2200, advocates are, once again, proposing that California adopt a single payer healthcare system. Ostensibly, their proposed CalCare system would streamline payments, lower per-capita spending, guarantee “quality health care and ...
Wayne Winegarden
March 8, 2024
Read about President Biden's new budget proposal on healthcare
Biden’s Healthcare Budget Enriches Insurers, Ignores Patients
Anyone clamoring for commonsense healthcare reform won’t find much to cheer about in President Joe Biden’s new budget proposal. The insurance industry, however, should be very pleased. Among other things, the budget makes Biden’s enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies permanent and calls for a new Medicaid-like program for people in states that haven’t ...
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 ...
If expanding quality health care access is California’s goal, Medi-Cal is not the solution
In January, California became the very first state to open its Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal, to every undocumented immigrant within its borders. Some 700,000 adults between the ages of 26 and 49 now qualify for publicly funded health coverage. It’s the fourth expansion of the program to undocumented immigrants, after kids became eligible in 2015, young ...
As Obamacare Turns 14, It Continues To Bully U.S. Patients
March 23 marks the 14th anniversary of the passage of Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). At the signing ceremony, then-Vice President Joe Biden famously remarked, “This is a big fucking deal!” How right he was—much to the chagrin of patients, who have been stuck with the monstrosity that is ...
Read the latest on California single payer health care proposals
California’s single-payer health care boondoggle is back and worse than ever
Karl Marx could have been forecasting the future of California when he said that history repeats itself – first as tragedy, then as farce. The tragedy is a state budget of $225.9 billion this year, with a budget deficit equivalent to nearly one-third of that figure – $73 billion, according to the latest estimate from the state ...
Lawsuit Against Drug Company Could Quash Future Cures
Like most pharmaceutical companies, Gilead Sciences Inc. devotes a huge amount of time and money to making sure its products are safe for patients. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its drugs to fight HIV, and these medications have worked remarkably well. It then developed the next generation of ...
Read the latest on the problems facing Medicare
Medicare Is Now Unaffordable
“If anyone here tries to cut … Medicare … I will stop you.” That was President Biden’s promise to a joint session of Congress during last week’s State of the Union address. Some may find such tough talk reassuring. But Biden’s refusal to even acknowledge Medicare’s dire fiscal situation — much less chart a course ...
Read about the latest drug rationing proposals
Let UK Keep Drug Rationing
Any list of the world’s most inhumane healthcare bureaucracies has to include Britain’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence at the top. For over two decades, the agency has employed ruthless cost-benefit analyses to effectively deny British patients access to the latest medicines. Now NICE is looking to export its expertise rationing ...
Medicaid shouldn’t pay for housing
Massachusetts is asking the Biden administration for permission to use money from Medicaid, the health program for low-income and disabled Americans jointly funded by the states and the federal government, to pay for temporary housing for homeless families and pregnant women, including newly arrived immigrants. It’s only the latest request by states to spend money specifically earmarked ...
Spending Watch
Single Payer Will Worsen California’s Healthcare System and Reduce Economic Growth
Single Payer Will Worsen California’s Healthcare System and Reduce Economic Growth Wayne Winegarden March 2024 With the introduction of AB 2200, advocates are, once again, proposing that California adopt a single payer healthcare system. Ostensibly, their proposed CalCare system would streamline payments, lower per-capita spending, guarantee “quality health care and ...