Commentary
Commentary
States are pushing Medicaid beyond its intended limits
Democrats have not given up their push to expand publicly funded health coverage to illegal immigrants in this country. In California, the state Senate is considering legislation that would allow all undocumented residents ages 19 and older to enroll in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. This year, California froze new ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 17, 2026
Commentary
Don’t undermine the system that incentivized GLP-1 development
A left-leaning pressure group recently sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking his agency to rescind the patent rights earned by the developers of GLP-1 drugs. Some 12% of U.S. adults have taken these medications. Rescinding the patents is a dangerous idea that ...
Wayne H Winegarden
March 16, 2026
Commentary
GOP Can Deliver Affordable Healthcare Americans Demand
Two-thirds of Americans worry about being able to afford healthcare, according to a recent KFF poll. And they’re looking to Washington to do something about it. Republicans have an opportunity to meet that demand — and turn healthcare from a political liability to a policy success. Read the op-ed here.
Sally C. Pipes
March 13, 2026
Commentary
The Legislature shouldn’t decide what vaccines to make illegal
A bill currently making its way through the Idaho Legislature could put the health of countless people at risk. Idaho’s Senate Health Committee recently atdvanced legislation that would impose a two-year moratorium on certain human gene therapy products and ban the use of mRNA vaccines for children and pregnant women ...
Sally Pipes and Wayne Winegarden
March 11, 2026
Commentary
Newsom oversees years of failed California water policy
2026 began in California with two atmospheric rivers and storms, which resulted in precipitation that was 119% of average rainfall for January. However, much of it flowed into the Pacific Ocean. Moreover, by the end of February our statewide snowpack was only 66% of average for this date, constituting a ...
Daniel Kolkey
March 10, 2026
Commentary
Trump’s Plan To Peg Drug Prices to Foreign Countries Could Backfire
President Trump famously quipped during his run for a second term that he had “concepts of a plan” to fix health care. That plan finally came together in January — and congressional Republicans are eager to codify its concepts into law. Most of Mr. Trump’s “Great Healthcare Plan” is promising. ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 9, 2026
Commentary
Republicans Haven’t Cut Medicaid—But They Have Tightened Its Belt
Have Republicans cut $1 trillion from Medicaid? Democrats have made this assertion central to their pitch to voters with this fall’s midterm elections approaching. Yet a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tells a different story. According to the agency’s latest projections, spending on Medicaid is set to ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 9, 2026
Commentary
Most-Favored-Nation Pricing Would Import Europe’s Drug Rationing
President Trump’s State of the Union address featured several promising healthcare ideas. Expanding access to patient-owned health savings accounts and routing federal subsidies through them, rather than through insurance companies, would unleash competition by empowering consumers to spend their healthcare dollars as they see fit. So would stronger price transparency ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 6, 2026
Commentary
Why progressives’ single-payer health care dream would bankrupt California
California progressives’ single-payer health care fever dream is back. This time, the cost could hit half a trillion dollars a year. Single-payer means the government pays, for everything. Several candidates for governor are promising just such a government takeover of the state’s health insurance system. Billionaire Tom Steyer says, “Bernie ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 4, 2026
California
Empty home tax failed elsewhere — why try it here?
Maybe 2026 is the year of the tax hike in a state where taxes are already an existential burden. Among the many proposed hikes is San Diego Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s call for up to a $15,000 annual levy on empty second homes in the city through a proposed June ballot ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 3, 2026
States are pushing Medicaid beyond its intended limits
Democrats have not given up their push to expand publicly funded health coverage to illegal immigrants in this country. In California, the state Senate is considering legislation that would allow all undocumented residents ages 19 and older to enroll in Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program. This year, California froze new ...
Don’t undermine the system that incentivized GLP-1 development
A left-leaning pressure group recently sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asking his agency to rescind the patent rights earned by the developers of GLP-1 drugs. Some 12% of U.S. adults have taken these medications. Rescinding the patents is a dangerous idea that ...
GOP Can Deliver Affordable Healthcare Americans Demand
Two-thirds of Americans worry about being able to afford healthcare, according to a recent KFF poll. And they’re looking to Washington to do something about it. Republicans have an opportunity to meet that demand — and turn healthcare from a political liability to a policy success. Read the op-ed here.
The Legislature shouldn’t decide what vaccines to make illegal
A bill currently making its way through the Idaho Legislature could put the health of countless people at risk. Idaho’s Senate Health Committee recently atdvanced legislation that would impose a two-year moratorium on certain human gene therapy products and ban the use of mRNA vaccines for children and pregnant women ...
Newsom oversees years of failed California water policy
2026 began in California with two atmospheric rivers and storms, which resulted in precipitation that was 119% of average rainfall for January. However, much of it flowed into the Pacific Ocean. Moreover, by the end of February our statewide snowpack was only 66% of average for this date, constituting a ...
Trump’s Plan To Peg Drug Prices to Foreign Countries Could Backfire
President Trump famously quipped during his run for a second term that he had “concepts of a plan” to fix health care. That plan finally came together in January — and congressional Republicans are eager to codify its concepts into law. Most of Mr. Trump’s “Great Healthcare Plan” is promising. ...
Republicans Haven’t Cut Medicaid—But They Have Tightened Its Belt
Have Republicans cut $1 trillion from Medicaid? Democrats have made this assertion central to their pitch to voters with this fall’s midterm elections approaching. Yet a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office tells a different story. According to the agency’s latest projections, spending on Medicaid is set to ...
Most-Favored-Nation Pricing Would Import Europe’s Drug Rationing
President Trump’s State of the Union address featured several promising healthcare ideas. Expanding access to patient-owned health savings accounts and routing federal subsidies through them, rather than through insurance companies, would unleash competition by empowering consumers to spend their healthcare dollars as they see fit. So would stronger price transparency ...
Why progressives’ single-payer health care dream would bankrupt California
California progressives’ single-payer health care fever dream is back. This time, the cost could hit half a trillion dollars a year. Single-payer means the government pays, for everything. Several candidates for governor are promising just such a government takeover of the state’s health insurance system. Billionaire Tom Steyer says, “Bernie ...
Empty home tax failed elsewhere — why try it here?
Maybe 2026 is the year of the tax hike in a state where taxes are already an existential burden. Among the many proposed hikes is San Diego Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera’s call for up to a $15,000 annual levy on empty second homes in the city through a proposed June ballot ...