Health Care
Commentary
Misguided Govt Policies Mean Employer-Based Coverage Costs Soar
The cost of employer-based health insurance continues to reach new heights. According to a report out this month from the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums for a family health plan have risen 47% since 2011, and during that same period, employee earnings rose by 31%, while overall inflation ticked up just 19%. What’s ...
Sally C. Pipes
November 18, 2021
Blog
Could Mark Cuban’s new pharmaceutical venture be a slam dunk?
By Wayne Winegarden and Celine Bookin Billionaire investor Mark Cuban’s pharmaceutical company, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, is hoping to disrupt the pharmaceutical benefit management (PBM) industry with a new venture that seeks to address some of the most criticized practices of the industry. These include PBMs pocketing rather ...
Pacific Research Institute
November 18, 2021
Commentary
Federal government misses opportunity with unlawful private sector vaccine mandates
Earlier this month, the Biden administration mandated that employees at businesses with more than 100 workers be vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing starting at the beginning of next year. Just two days later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit halted the order in response to a ...
Sally C. Pipes
November 15, 2021
Blog
Inflation, Drug Price Controls, and President Biden’s Build Back Better Program
Inflation is worrying Americans, and for good reason. The latest inflation report, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released on November 10th, showed that prices were 6.2 percent higher in October 2021 compared to October 2020. More troubling, this was the fifth month in a row where the annual growth in ...
Wayne Winegarden
November 12, 2021
Featured
NEW BRIEF: 340B Hospitals More Profitable, Provide Less Charity Care, Receive Unwarranted Subsidies
So-called 340B hospitals whose mission is to help the vulnerable are more profitable and provide less charity care, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute, a California-based, free-market think tank. Click to download “Profiting from 340B” “The ...
Wayne H Winegarden
November 10, 2021
Commentary
U.S. Bureaucrats Are An Impediment To Pandemic Recovery
Late last month, the Biden administration announced a new initiative to lower the cost of at-home Covid-19 tests and make them more widely available. It’s long past time. Throughout the pandemic, bureaucratic sclerosis has proven the American regulatory apparatus to be an impediment to fighting Covid-19—not to mention future public health threats. ...
Sally C. Pipes
November 8, 2021
Blog
Get Ready for Another Big California Spending Spree
Governor Newsom let the cat of the bag recently in an interview at the Milken Institute’ annual conference – California is going to see another of what he calls a “historic budget surplus” next year. The Sacramento Bee reports that “in addition a surplus for next year’s budget, Newsom said ...
Tim Anaya
November 8, 2021
Commentary
Democrats Abandon US Patients to Rescue Drug-Pricing Reform
Just a few days ago, it appeared that Democrats had given up on including prescription drug pricing reforms in their massive spending bill. But not anymore. In an eleventh-hour turn of events, congressional Democrats this week resurrected their long-standing desire to levy government price controls on prescription drugs. If lawmakers successfully deploy their latest ...
Sally C. Pipes
November 4, 2021
Health Care
NEW BRIEF: U.S. Patients Could Save Up to $5.8 Billion Through Competition from Humira and Enbrel Biosimilars
Policies that promote biosimilar competition have the potential to save U.S. patients up to $5.8 billion collectively if biosimilars to Humira and Enbrel grow in market share, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute, a California-based, free-market ...
Wayne H Winegarden
November 3, 2021
Commentary
Biden’s new plan isn’t any better for your health
Last week, President Joe Biden unveiled a new social spending framework that omitted many of the healthcare provisions Democrats have been calling for. One provision that has survived is a massive and wasteful expansion of Obamacare . In March, Congress made federal tax credits available to those shopping for coverage on the exchanges with ...
Sally C. Pipes
November 1, 2021
Misguided Govt Policies Mean Employer-Based Coverage Costs Soar
The cost of employer-based health insurance continues to reach new heights. According to a report out this month from the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums for a family health plan have risen 47% since 2011, and during that same period, employee earnings rose by 31%, while overall inflation ticked up just 19%. What’s ...
Could Mark Cuban’s new pharmaceutical venture be a slam dunk?
By Wayne Winegarden and Celine Bookin Billionaire investor Mark Cuban’s pharmaceutical company, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company, is hoping to disrupt the pharmaceutical benefit management (PBM) industry with a new venture that seeks to address some of the most criticized practices of the industry. These include PBMs pocketing rather ...
Federal government misses opportunity with unlawful private sector vaccine mandates
Earlier this month, the Biden administration mandated that employees at businesses with more than 100 workers be vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing starting at the beginning of next year. Just two days later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit halted the order in response to a ...
Inflation, Drug Price Controls, and President Biden’s Build Back Better Program
Inflation is worrying Americans, and for good reason. The latest inflation report, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) released on November 10th, showed that prices were 6.2 percent higher in October 2021 compared to October 2020. More troubling, this was the fifth month in a row where the annual growth in ...
NEW BRIEF: 340B Hospitals More Profitable, Provide Less Charity Care, Receive Unwarranted Subsidies
So-called 340B hospitals whose mission is to help the vulnerable are more profitable and provide less charity care, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute, a California-based, free-market think tank. Click to download “Profiting from 340B” “The ...
U.S. Bureaucrats Are An Impediment To Pandemic Recovery
Late last month, the Biden administration announced a new initiative to lower the cost of at-home Covid-19 tests and make them more widely available. It’s long past time. Throughout the pandemic, bureaucratic sclerosis has proven the American regulatory apparatus to be an impediment to fighting Covid-19—not to mention future public health threats. ...
Get Ready for Another Big California Spending Spree
Governor Newsom let the cat of the bag recently in an interview at the Milken Institute’ annual conference – California is going to see another of what he calls a “historic budget surplus” next year. The Sacramento Bee reports that “in addition a surplus for next year’s budget, Newsom said ...
Democrats Abandon US Patients to Rescue Drug-Pricing Reform
Just a few days ago, it appeared that Democrats had given up on including prescription drug pricing reforms in their massive spending bill. But not anymore. In an eleventh-hour turn of events, congressional Democrats this week resurrected their long-standing desire to levy government price controls on prescription drugs. If lawmakers successfully deploy their latest ...
NEW BRIEF: U.S. Patients Could Save Up to $5.8 Billion Through Competition from Humira and Enbrel Biosimilars
Policies that promote biosimilar competition have the potential to save U.S. patients up to $5.8 billion collectively if biosimilars to Humira and Enbrel grow in market share, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute, a California-based, free-market ...
Biden’s new plan isn’t any better for your health
Last week, President Joe Biden unveiled a new social spending framework that omitted many of the healthcare provisions Democrats have been calling for. One provision that has survived is a massive and wasteful expansion of Obamacare . In March, Congress made federal tax credits available to those shopping for coverage on the exchanges with ...