Health Care
Commentary
The Inflation Reduction Act is just another step toward government-run healthcare
Congress just passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes a series of sweeping healthcare reforms. Among them are provisions that increase taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies and impose price controls on drugs. The White House framed the bill as a “historic legislative achievement” that will lower costs for families. But these reforms ...
Sally C. Pipes
September 6, 2022
Commentary
Reducing Access To Home Healthcare Services Will Raise Costs And Worsen Outcomes
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recent decision on home healthcare services, if implemented, will increase overall healthcare expenditures and decrease the quality of services received by patients. CMS’ overarching goal is praiseworthy – the agency is trying to maintain budget neutrality while changing its payment system rates. ...
Wayne Winegarden
September 6, 2022
Blog
No More Surprise Medical Bills
Imagine going to your local furniture store to pick out a new couch. An eager employee approaches you and helps you find the perfect piece for your new home. You make the purchase, thank the employee, and go on your merry way. Weeks later, you open the mail. Congratulations! You ...
McKenzie Richards
September 6, 2022
Commentary
The FDA and Death by Dietary Supplement
The wife of California Republican congressman Tom McClintock, Lori McClintock, died of dehydration due to gastroenteritis caused by “adverse effects of white mulberry leaf ingestion,” according to a just-released coroner’s report. That herb is just one of many dubious and potentially life-threatening herbal remedies and other dietary supplements on the market ...
Henry Miller, M.S., M.D.
September 5, 2022
Commentary
Biden administration plays fast and loose with health exchange enrollment numbers
The White House recently released a series of state-specific fact sheets touting, among other things, how many people will keep their exchange coverage due to the extension of subsidies by the newly passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). There’s just one problem. The lofty coverage estimates ignore significant state-level variations in exchange enrollment ...
Sally C. Pipes
September 5, 2022
Commentary
No, Socialized Medicine Won’t Expand Life Expectancy
U.S. life expectancy has declined by nearly three years since 2019, according to data out this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The average person can expect to live 76 years. The COVID-19 pandemic is largely to blame for this regrettable trend. But many progressives believe the U.S. healthcare ...
Sally C. Pipes
September 2, 2022
Blog
Replacing White Bagging Mandates With Market Competition Will Improve Patient Outcome
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) deploy numerous anticompetitive actions, which have not gone unnoticed. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an inquiry to examine whether PBMs have adverse impacts “on the access and affordability of prescription drugs.” The government’s probe is welcome news. But there are many detrimental PBM practices that are ...
Wayne Winegarden
August 30, 2022
Commentary
Inflation Reduction Act Bad Enough, Side Effects Worse
Among the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act’s most destructive provisions are the price controls it puts on prescription drugs through Medicare. These price controls are certain to have a chilling effect on pharmaceutical innovation in the years ahead. But the precise manner in which the IRA will undermine biomedical research and development ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 29, 2022
Commentary
The Ultimate Price Of Government Price Controls
Democrats have nudged the U.S. healthcare system closer to Canadian-style socialism with their recently signed, and dubiously named, Inflation Reduction Act. The IRA will impose a collection of price caps on prescription drugs. Canada has long forcibly controlled drug prices—and thereby deprived patients of access to cutting-edge care. The story ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 29, 2022
Commentary
D.C. wants to make cancer patients wait for treatment
The powers that be in Washington are renewing their campaign to gain greater control over Americans’ ability to access life-saving drugs. Lawmakers and regulators alike have decided to wage war on one of the few components of our health care system that works well — the Food and Drug Administration’s ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 27, 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act is just another step toward government-run healthcare
Congress just passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes a series of sweeping healthcare reforms. Among them are provisions that increase taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies and impose price controls on drugs. The White House framed the bill as a “historic legislative achievement” that will lower costs for families. But these reforms ...
Reducing Access To Home Healthcare Services Will Raise Costs And Worsen Outcomes
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recent decision on home healthcare services, if implemented, will increase overall healthcare expenditures and decrease the quality of services received by patients. CMS’ overarching goal is praiseworthy – the agency is trying to maintain budget neutrality while changing its payment system rates. ...
No More Surprise Medical Bills
Imagine going to your local furniture store to pick out a new couch. An eager employee approaches you and helps you find the perfect piece for your new home. You make the purchase, thank the employee, and go on your merry way. Weeks later, you open the mail. Congratulations! You ...
The FDA and Death by Dietary Supplement
The wife of California Republican congressman Tom McClintock, Lori McClintock, died of dehydration due to gastroenteritis caused by “adverse effects of white mulberry leaf ingestion,” according to a just-released coroner’s report. That herb is just one of many dubious and potentially life-threatening herbal remedies and other dietary supplements on the market ...
Biden administration plays fast and loose with health exchange enrollment numbers
The White House recently released a series of state-specific fact sheets touting, among other things, how many people will keep their exchange coverage due to the extension of subsidies by the newly passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). There’s just one problem. The lofty coverage estimates ignore significant state-level variations in exchange enrollment ...
No, Socialized Medicine Won’t Expand Life Expectancy
U.S. life expectancy has declined by nearly three years since 2019, according to data out this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The average person can expect to live 76 years. The COVID-19 pandemic is largely to blame for this regrettable trend. But many progressives believe the U.S. healthcare ...
Replacing White Bagging Mandates With Market Competition Will Improve Patient Outcome
Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) deploy numerous anticompetitive actions, which have not gone unnoticed. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an inquiry to examine whether PBMs have adverse impacts “on the access and affordability of prescription drugs.” The government’s probe is welcome news. But there are many detrimental PBM practices that are ...
Inflation Reduction Act Bad Enough, Side Effects Worse
Among the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act’s most destructive provisions are the price controls it puts on prescription drugs through Medicare. These price controls are certain to have a chilling effect on pharmaceutical innovation in the years ahead. But the precise manner in which the IRA will undermine biomedical research and development ...
The Ultimate Price Of Government Price Controls
Democrats have nudged the U.S. healthcare system closer to Canadian-style socialism with their recently signed, and dubiously named, Inflation Reduction Act. The IRA will impose a collection of price caps on prescription drugs. Canada has long forcibly controlled drug prices—and thereby deprived patients of access to cutting-edge care. The story ...
D.C. wants to make cancer patients wait for treatment
The powers that be in Washington are renewing their campaign to gain greater control over Americans’ ability to access life-saving drugs. Lawmakers and regulators alike have decided to wage war on one of the few components of our health care system that works well — the Food and Drug Administration’s ...