Health Care
Commentary
Let the Message Be Clear: Canadian Healthcare Failed
Meet Mary, a 60-year-old woman from British Columbia. She needed a colonoscopy to confirm her cancer diagnosis. Mary spent four months on a waiting list. Then her bowel ruptured, and she suffered life-threatening sepsis. Due to the delay in treating her cancer, she had to get chemotherapy, which came with ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 2, 2025
Commentary
Trump tackles waste, fraud, and abuse in Obamacare
The Trump administration earlier this month finalized a rule that aims to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in the federally subsidized Obamacare exchanges. It’s about time. Millions of people who don’t qualify for free health coverage are receiving it on the public’s dime. The new rule will restore some measure ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 30, 2025
Commentary
Democrats Should Be Honest About Healthcare Waste and Fraud
For weeks, opponents of Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act have portrayed it as a threat to health coverage for millions of Americans. Some critics have said that it would covertly repeal Obamacare. If only. The bill is hardly a radical assault on health coverage. It would finally crack down ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 27, 2025
Commentary
Congress Can Help Small Businesses Afford Health Insurance
Health insurance is more expensive than ever. The average family plan last year cost employers and employees over $19,000 and nearly $6,300 per year, respectively. That’s enough to buy a new car. Congressional Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill could help bring down those costs. Among other things, the One Big Beautiful ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 27, 2025
Commentary
Price Controls On Doctors Are Costing Patients Dearly
Just like the December 2024 continuing resolution, the current budget reconciliation bill fails to address the problem of Medicare reimbursing physicians at below market rates. Without a fix, the inevitable consequences will be worsening doctor shortages, declining healthcare quality, higher overall healthcare spending, and the accelerated loss of independent practices. ...
Wayne H Winegarden
June 23, 2025
Commentary
Physician-Assisted Suicide Is A Bigger Problem Than We Realize
Dovie Eisner was born with a rare genetic condition called nemaline myopathy. He requires a wheelchair and has a host of other health problems. Last year at one point, he stopped breathing, passed out on the street, and was taken to the emergency room. “I was alive—thanks to the determination ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 23, 2025
Commentary
What’s So Scary About Medicare Reform?
One of the biggest questions surrounding Senate Republicans’ version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act concerns the fate of Medicare. Earlier this month, GOP lawmakers were reportedly considering reforms aimed at reducing waste, fraud and abuse in the entitlement as a way to deliver savings for taxpayers. But as ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 20, 2025
Commentary
A Real and Present Threat to Alzheimer’s Patients
It’s a quintessential government outcome. A program intended to increase access to promising medical innovations is actually preventing Medicare beneficiaries from receiving FDA-approved treatments. Medicare’s “coverage with evidence development” (CED) was never authorized by Congress. Instead, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services created the program in 2005 by leveraging ...
Wayne H Winegarden
June 18, 2025
Commentary
Don’t believe the CBO’s spin on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
In a recent letter to top Democrats, the Congressional Budget Office claimed that the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act would kick millions of people off their health insurance. That warning is misleading. Millions of people are improperly enrolled in Medicaid and taxpayer-subsidized plans through Obamacare’s exchanges. Republicans are rightly ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 18, 2025
Blog
The 340B Discounts Hospitals Receive Will Often Exceed Total Drug Prices in Europe
Table 1: PBM Fees and Rebates Can Exceed International Prescription Medicine Prices by As Much As 900% I previously highlighted how estimated rebates and fees PBMs receive for 10 commonly used brand medicines far exceed the total prices of those medicines in eight OECD countries (see Table 1). For example, ...
Wayne Winegarden
June 16, 2025
Let the Message Be Clear: Canadian Healthcare Failed
Meet Mary, a 60-year-old woman from British Columbia. She needed a colonoscopy to confirm her cancer diagnosis. Mary spent four months on a waiting list. Then her bowel ruptured, and she suffered life-threatening sepsis. Due to the delay in treating her cancer, she had to get chemotherapy, which came with ...
Trump tackles waste, fraud, and abuse in Obamacare
The Trump administration earlier this month finalized a rule that aims to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in the federally subsidized Obamacare exchanges. It’s about time. Millions of people who don’t qualify for free health coverage are receiving it on the public’s dime. The new rule will restore some measure ...
Democrats Should Be Honest About Healthcare Waste and Fraud
For weeks, opponents of Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act have portrayed it as a threat to health coverage for millions of Americans. Some critics have said that it would covertly repeal Obamacare. If only. The bill is hardly a radical assault on health coverage. It would finally crack down ...
Congress Can Help Small Businesses Afford Health Insurance
Health insurance is more expensive than ever. The average family plan last year cost employers and employees over $19,000 and nearly $6,300 per year, respectively. That’s enough to buy a new car. Congressional Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill could help bring down those costs. Among other things, the One Big Beautiful ...
Price Controls On Doctors Are Costing Patients Dearly
Just like the December 2024 continuing resolution, the current budget reconciliation bill fails to address the problem of Medicare reimbursing physicians at below market rates. Without a fix, the inevitable consequences will be worsening doctor shortages, declining healthcare quality, higher overall healthcare spending, and the accelerated loss of independent practices. ...
Physician-Assisted Suicide Is A Bigger Problem Than We Realize
Dovie Eisner was born with a rare genetic condition called nemaline myopathy. He requires a wheelchair and has a host of other health problems. Last year at one point, he stopped breathing, passed out on the street, and was taken to the emergency room. “I was alive—thanks to the determination ...
What’s So Scary About Medicare Reform?
One of the biggest questions surrounding Senate Republicans’ version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act concerns the fate of Medicare. Earlier this month, GOP lawmakers were reportedly considering reforms aimed at reducing waste, fraud and abuse in the entitlement as a way to deliver savings for taxpayers. But as ...
A Real and Present Threat to Alzheimer’s Patients
It’s a quintessential government outcome. A program intended to increase access to promising medical innovations is actually preventing Medicare beneficiaries from receiving FDA-approved treatments. Medicare’s “coverage with evidence development” (CED) was never authorized by Congress. Instead, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services created the program in 2005 by leveraging ...
Don’t believe the CBO’s spin on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
In a recent letter to top Democrats, the Congressional Budget Office claimed that the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act would kick millions of people off their health insurance. That warning is misleading. Millions of people are improperly enrolled in Medicaid and taxpayer-subsidized plans through Obamacare’s exchanges. Republicans are rightly ...
The 340B Discounts Hospitals Receive Will Often Exceed Total Drug Prices in Europe
Table 1: PBM Fees and Rebates Can Exceed International Prescription Medicine Prices by As Much As 900% I previously highlighted how estimated rebates and fees PBMs receive for 10 commonly used brand medicines far exceed the total prices of those medicines in eight OECD countries (see Table 1). For example, ...