Commentary
Commentary
New York’s Single-Payer Healthcare Bill Remains A Disastrous Idea
New York Democrats hope that 2021 is the year socialized medicine finally arrives in the Empire State. Senator Gustavo Rivera, the chairman of the state Senate Health Committee, is reportedly planning to introduce the New York Health Act, which would ban private insurance and force all New Yorkers onto a ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 1, 2021
Commentary
President Biden’s Bipartisan Opportunity to Reduce Patients’ Drug Costs
BY ROBERT POPOVIAN & WAYNE WINEGARDEN President Joe Biden should take advantage of a bipartisan opportunity to meaningfully reduce patients’ out-of-pocket spending on biopharmaceuticals. Seizing this opportunity requires the president to recognize that the drug cost problem exists because the current system inappropriately shifts too much of its expenditures to patients. Consider that ...
Pacific Research Institute
March 1, 2021
Commentary
Don’t Overreact to Rising Health Spending
U.S. healthcare spending has reached a new high, according to the latest federal data. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate national health expenditures reached $3.8 trillion in 2019, an increase of 4.6 percent over the previous year. That’s just under 18 percent of the national economy. It’s more ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 28, 2021
Commentary
The FDA’s foot-dragging on the AstraZeneca vaccine is indefensible
There’s a COVID-19 vaccine currently saving lives all over the world—but not in the U.S. That vaccine, made by British drug company AstraZeneca, proved 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths in Phase III clinical trials. British regulators authorized it for use nearly two months ago. Since then, millions of people in the U.K. have been ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 28, 2021
Commentary
The 340B Prescription-Drug Swindle Has Gone on Long Enough
In a hearing on Tuesday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra revealed just how unfit he is to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Becerra dismissed the need to reform the federal “340B” program, even though it has morphed from a good-faith effort to help low-income Americans access medicines ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 28, 2021
California
The Low Spark of High-Speed Rail
California’s bullet train has become a nearly forgotten source of trouble, eclipsed in the public eye by Covid-19, a gubernatorial recall, and out-migration from the Golden State. But it’s still out there, sucking up time and money, and as empty as it ever was. The California High Speed Rail, its ...
Kerry Jackson
February 26, 2021
California
As social media giants purge users, it’s time to create alternatives
More than one in five U.S. adults has a Twitter account, but one doesn’t have to be active on social media to know that the company went on a suspending spree after the election, canceling more than 70,000 users the company considered to be undesirables, including former President Donald Trump, ...
Kerry Jackson
February 25, 2021
Commentary
Biden’s plan to subsidize COBRA is a waste of money
President Biden has repeatedly promised to build a fairer economy, one that “works for everyone.” But if his stimulus plan is any indication, the president has a funny definition of fairness. His $1.9 trillion proposal would force working-class Americans to cover health insurance premiums for people who have lost their ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 22, 2021
Business & Economics
The future is now for gig-based entrepreneurship
With Californian Kamala Harris as vice president, it’s clear the new Biden administration is taking its cues from the once-Golden State on labor policy. In one of its first acts in office, the Biden Administration placed a regulatory freeze on a Department of Labor regulation enacted in the waning days of the ...
Wayne Winegarden
February 22, 2021
California
Xavier Becerra confirmation would be a dream come true for single-payer advocates
Tomorrow, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra will appear before the Senate for his confirmation hearing as President Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. If Becerra’s career in public office is any indication, he’ll do everything in his power to exert greater government control over our ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 22, 2021
New York’s Single-Payer Healthcare Bill Remains A Disastrous Idea
New York Democrats hope that 2021 is the year socialized medicine finally arrives in the Empire State. Senator Gustavo Rivera, the chairman of the state Senate Health Committee, is reportedly planning to introduce the New York Health Act, which would ban private insurance and force all New Yorkers onto a ...
President Biden’s Bipartisan Opportunity to Reduce Patients’ Drug Costs
BY ROBERT POPOVIAN & WAYNE WINEGARDEN President Joe Biden should take advantage of a bipartisan opportunity to meaningfully reduce patients’ out-of-pocket spending on biopharmaceuticals. Seizing this opportunity requires the president to recognize that the drug cost problem exists because the current system inappropriately shifts too much of its expenditures to patients. Consider that ...
Don’t Overreact to Rising Health Spending
U.S. healthcare spending has reached a new high, according to the latest federal data. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate national health expenditures reached $3.8 trillion in 2019, an increase of 4.6 percent over the previous year. That’s just under 18 percent of the national economy. It’s more ...
The FDA’s foot-dragging on the AstraZeneca vaccine is indefensible
There’s a COVID-19 vaccine currently saving lives all over the world—but not in the U.S. That vaccine, made by British drug company AstraZeneca, proved 100% effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths in Phase III clinical trials. British regulators authorized it for use nearly two months ago. Since then, millions of people in the U.K. have been ...
The 340B Prescription-Drug Swindle Has Gone on Long Enough
In a hearing on Tuesday, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra revealed just how unfit he is to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Becerra dismissed the need to reform the federal “340B” program, even though it has morphed from a good-faith effort to help low-income Americans access medicines ...
The Low Spark of High-Speed Rail
California’s bullet train has become a nearly forgotten source of trouble, eclipsed in the public eye by Covid-19, a gubernatorial recall, and out-migration from the Golden State. But it’s still out there, sucking up time and money, and as empty as it ever was. The California High Speed Rail, its ...
As social media giants purge users, it’s time to create alternatives
More than one in five U.S. adults has a Twitter account, but one doesn’t have to be active on social media to know that the company went on a suspending spree after the election, canceling more than 70,000 users the company considered to be undesirables, including former President Donald Trump, ...
Biden’s plan to subsidize COBRA is a waste of money
President Biden has repeatedly promised to build a fairer economy, one that “works for everyone.” But if his stimulus plan is any indication, the president has a funny definition of fairness. His $1.9 trillion proposal would force working-class Americans to cover health insurance premiums for people who have lost their ...
The future is now for gig-based entrepreneurship
With Californian Kamala Harris as vice president, it’s clear the new Biden administration is taking its cues from the once-Golden State on labor policy. In one of its first acts in office, the Biden Administration placed a regulatory freeze on a Department of Labor regulation enacted in the waning days of the ...
Xavier Becerra confirmation would be a dream come true for single-payer advocates
Tomorrow, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra will appear before the Senate for his confirmation hearing as President Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. If Becerra’s career in public office is any indication, he’ll do everything in his power to exert greater government control over our ...