Health Care
Commentary
Single-Payer Healthcare Isn’t What The Doctor Ordered
America’s doctors are warming to the idea of single-payer healthcare. A new survey from consulting firm Merritt Hawkins finds that 56 percent of doctors support a government-run system at least somewhat, with 42 percent expressing strong support. It’s easy to see why so many doctors are fed up with the ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 30, 2017
Blog
U.S. Pharmaceutical Spending Is Below Average?
For the 30 nations that comprise the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which promotes policies to improve the well-being of people around the world, pharmaceutical spending comprised, on average, 16.9 percent of total health care spending as of 2015. The OECD defines pharmaceutical spending as the expenditures on ...
Wayne Winegarden
August 30, 2017
Commentary
Republicans, Don’t Settle For Half-Hearted Tweaks To Obamacare
Members of Congress will return on September 5 from their recess. They have a lot on their agenda: reforming the tax code, repairing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, and raising the debt ceiling. President Trump wants to add another item to that agenda. He recently implored Congress to “keep its promise, ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 28, 2017
Commentary
GOP Can Improve Health Care And Lower Taxes
Congressional Republicans are gearing up for a battle over tax reform. Nearly everyone in the caucus would like to slash corporate and individual taxes. But they will need to close some loopholes in the tax code if they hope to offset the revenue they will lose by lowering rates. One ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 25, 2017
Commentary
Medicare Is in Deep Trouble: Here’s How to Rescue It
Medicare’s trust fund will run out of money in just over 10 years, according to a new report from the program’s trustees. Once that happens, the federal government won’t collect enough in payroll taxes to cover beneficiaries’ hospital bills. Congress could hike taxes to cover the shortfall. Or it could ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 23, 2017
Commentary
The False Promise Of ‘Medicaid For All’
“Medicaid for All” has suddenly become the darling of the health reform crowd. Nevada almost became the first state in the nation to adopt Medicaid for All this year — until Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed the plan in June. Other states, including Massachusetts and Minnesota, are looking into it. These ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 21, 2017
California
Don’t let California prove how single-payer fails patients
Is single-payer health care dead in California? There were a lot of headlines to that effect in late June, after Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon shelved the Healthy California Act, which would have abolished private insurance and established the state as the sole provider of health coverage in California. But advocates ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 20, 2017
Health Care
Veterans Choice funding strikes a temporary compromise
Although the Veterans Choice program received a six-month reprieve thanks to new emergency funding, it will take more than an influx of cash for the program to thrive, according to veterans groups. As it currently runs, VA Choice has problems, according to veterans organizations and experts. Though the program was ...
Rachel Arndt
August 18, 2017
Commentary
Trump must dump the unconstitutional health insurance industry bailouts from Obamacare
On August 17, the Trump administration announced it would dole out “cost-sharing reduction” subsidies to insurers on Obamacare’s exchanges for at least another month. The decision comes despite President Trump’s repeated threats to withhold the money, which he has correctly called a “bailout” for the insurance industry. Obamacare orders insurers ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 18, 2017
Health Care
Obamacare Enrollment Program Signed Up a Fraction of Those Who Canceled Coverage in 2017
The Affordable Care Act Enrollment Assistance Program helped 14,500 individuals enroll in the Obamacare exchanges, which represented only 0.007 percent of the 1.9 million individuals who decided to drop their Obamacare plan in 2017. The Obama administration established the Enrollment Assistance Program, which created storefronts and hired workers to help ...
Ali Meyer
August 18, 2017
Single-Payer Healthcare Isn’t What The Doctor Ordered
America’s doctors are warming to the idea of single-payer healthcare. A new survey from consulting firm Merritt Hawkins finds that 56 percent of doctors support a government-run system at least somewhat, with 42 percent expressing strong support. It’s easy to see why so many doctors are fed up with the ...
U.S. Pharmaceutical Spending Is Below Average?
For the 30 nations that comprise the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which promotes policies to improve the well-being of people around the world, pharmaceutical spending comprised, on average, 16.9 percent of total health care spending as of 2015. The OECD defines pharmaceutical spending as the expenditures on ...
Republicans, Don’t Settle For Half-Hearted Tweaks To Obamacare
Members of Congress will return on September 5 from their recess. They have a lot on their agenda: reforming the tax code, repairing the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, and raising the debt ceiling. President Trump wants to add another item to that agenda. He recently implored Congress to “keep its promise, ...
GOP Can Improve Health Care And Lower Taxes
Congressional Republicans are gearing up for a battle over tax reform. Nearly everyone in the caucus would like to slash corporate and individual taxes. But they will need to close some loopholes in the tax code if they hope to offset the revenue they will lose by lowering rates. One ...
Medicare Is in Deep Trouble: Here’s How to Rescue It
Medicare’s trust fund will run out of money in just over 10 years, according to a new report from the program’s trustees. Once that happens, the federal government won’t collect enough in payroll taxes to cover beneficiaries’ hospital bills. Congress could hike taxes to cover the shortfall. Or it could ...
The False Promise Of ‘Medicaid For All’
“Medicaid for All” has suddenly become the darling of the health reform crowd. Nevada almost became the first state in the nation to adopt Medicaid for All this year — until Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed the plan in June. Other states, including Massachusetts and Minnesota, are looking into it. These ...
Don’t let California prove how single-payer fails patients
Is single-payer health care dead in California? There were a lot of headlines to that effect in late June, after Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon shelved the Healthy California Act, which would have abolished private insurance and established the state as the sole provider of health coverage in California. But advocates ...
Veterans Choice funding strikes a temporary compromise
Although the Veterans Choice program received a six-month reprieve thanks to new emergency funding, it will take more than an influx of cash for the program to thrive, according to veterans groups. As it currently runs, VA Choice has problems, according to veterans organizations and experts. Though the program was ...
Trump must dump the unconstitutional health insurance industry bailouts from Obamacare
On August 17, the Trump administration announced it would dole out “cost-sharing reduction” subsidies to insurers on Obamacare’s exchanges for at least another month. The decision comes despite President Trump’s repeated threats to withhold the money, which he has correctly called a “bailout” for the insurance industry. Obamacare orders insurers ...
Obamacare Enrollment Program Signed Up a Fraction of Those Who Canceled Coverage in 2017
The Affordable Care Act Enrollment Assistance Program helped 14,500 individuals enroll in the Obamacare exchanges, which represented only 0.007 percent of the 1.9 million individuals who decided to drop their Obamacare plan in 2017. The Obama administration established the Enrollment Assistance Program, which created storefronts and hired workers to help ...