Health Care Reform
Commentary
Read about the gap in black and white outcomes in healthcare
Government programs are WIDENING black-white health disparities
Thanks to better prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, cancer mortality in the United States has fallen 33% since 1991, per data the American Cancer Society published this year. But that progress has not been equally distributed. The cancer mortality rate for black people remains higher than for white people. Between 2000 and ...
Commentary
Read the latest on GOP's plan for healthcare reform
House GOP Embraces Markets in New Health Reform Plan
The House Republican Study Committee’s new budget proposal, which was released last month, offers fresh proof that the GOP hasn’t given up on sensible health reform. The proposal would balance the budget in just seven years, in part by undoing some of the most destructive elements of Obamacare. It also gives Americans ...
Commentary
Learn about America's physician shortage
We need all doctors on deck
Medical students recently celebrated “Match Day,” when aspiring doctors learn where they’ll be spending the next few years in residency to complete their training. America needs many more physicians — as many as 86,000 by 2036, according to projections released this week by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Policymakers can help plug that gap by easing ...
Commentary
If expanding quality health care access is California’s goal, Medi-Cal is not the solution
In January, California became the very first state to open its Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal, to every undocumented immigrant within its borders. Some 700,000 adults between the ages of 26 and 49 now qualify for publicly funded health coverage. It’s the fourth expansion of the program to undocumented immigrants, after kids became eligible in 2015, young ...
Commentary
Don’t take away short-term health plans
The Biden administration may soon finalize rules that would deprive many Americans, especially young and healthy ones, of affordable insurance coverage. That will be the consequence of President Joe Biden‘s plan to reverse a 2018 rule promulgated by the Trump administration that allowed low-cost short-term health plans to last up ...
Commentary
Medical debt isn’t a crisis
The Left has long insisted that medical debt is a national crisis and that the federal government needs to do something about it. They appear to have new ammunition in the form of an analysis published this month by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF. Nearly one in 12 adults — 20.4 million people — had medical debt in 2021, ...
Commentary
Read about the bill in Congress that would ban the use of "quality-adjusted life years"
Congress needs to cut QALYs
The House of Representatives last week approved a bill that would ban the use of “quality-adjusted life years,” or QALYs, as well as other measures for determining the purported value of a medical intervention, in all federal health programs. Now the Senate will consider the measure. QALYs should have no place in federal decision-making about whether ...
Commentary
Read the latest on short-term health plans
If he’s elected, short-term health plans belong on Trump’s to-do list
It appears that former President Donald Trump has all but locked up the Republican presidential nomination after winning the New Hampshire primary. He has long vowed that, if elected, he will scrap and replace the Affordable Care Act. “We’re going to fight for much better healthcare than Obamacare,” he pledged while campaigning in Iowa earlier ...
Commentary
Read the latest on uninsured Americans
There’s more to the uninsured rate than meets the eye
That may seem alarming. But a closer look at the data reveals that many are uninsured by choice. Affordable coverage is available to them. They’ve opted not to take it. And that’s largely the result of bad healthcare policy. Roughly two-thirds of uninsured Americans went without coverage in 2022 because ...
Commentary
Read how our broken immigration system is affecting healthcare
Limited Visas Hinder Hospitals Ability To Curb Nursing Shortfall
Covid-19 burnout and understaffed hospital wards have taken their toll on the nursing profession. An April 2023 study found that overworked nursing professionals and understaffing have driven “an overall 3.3% decline in the U.S. nursing workforce during the past 2 years.” While some argue that the term shortage is not appropriate because the number ...
Read about the gap in black and white outcomes in healthcare
Government programs are WIDENING black-white health disparities
Thanks to better prevention, screening, diagnosis and treatment, cancer mortality in the United States has fallen 33% since 1991, per data the American Cancer Society published this year. But that progress has not been equally distributed. The cancer mortality rate for black people remains higher than for white people. Between 2000 and ...
Read the latest on GOP's plan for healthcare reform
House GOP Embraces Markets in New Health Reform Plan
The House Republican Study Committee’s new budget proposal, which was released last month, offers fresh proof that the GOP hasn’t given up on sensible health reform. The proposal would balance the budget in just seven years, in part by undoing some of the most destructive elements of Obamacare. It also gives Americans ...
Learn about America's physician shortage
We need all doctors on deck
Medical students recently celebrated “Match Day,” when aspiring doctors learn where they’ll be spending the next few years in residency to complete their training. America needs many more physicians — as many as 86,000 by 2036, according to projections released this week by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Policymakers can help plug that gap by easing ...
If expanding quality health care access is California’s goal, Medi-Cal is not the solution
In January, California became the very first state to open its Medicaid program, called Medi-Cal, to every undocumented immigrant within its borders. Some 700,000 adults between the ages of 26 and 49 now qualify for publicly funded health coverage. It’s the fourth expansion of the program to undocumented immigrants, after kids became eligible in 2015, young ...
Don’t take away short-term health plans
The Biden administration may soon finalize rules that would deprive many Americans, especially young and healthy ones, of affordable insurance coverage. That will be the consequence of President Joe Biden‘s plan to reverse a 2018 rule promulgated by the Trump administration that allowed low-cost short-term health plans to last up ...
Medical debt isn’t a crisis
The Left has long insisted that medical debt is a national crisis and that the federal government needs to do something about it. They appear to have new ammunition in the form of an analysis published this month by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF. Nearly one in 12 adults — 20.4 million people — had medical debt in 2021, ...
Read about the bill in Congress that would ban the use of "quality-adjusted life years"
Congress needs to cut QALYs
The House of Representatives last week approved a bill that would ban the use of “quality-adjusted life years,” or QALYs, as well as other measures for determining the purported value of a medical intervention, in all federal health programs. Now the Senate will consider the measure. QALYs should have no place in federal decision-making about whether ...
Read the latest on short-term health plans
If he’s elected, short-term health plans belong on Trump’s to-do list
It appears that former President Donald Trump has all but locked up the Republican presidential nomination after winning the New Hampshire primary. He has long vowed that, if elected, he will scrap and replace the Affordable Care Act. “We’re going to fight for much better healthcare than Obamacare,” he pledged while campaigning in Iowa earlier ...
Read the latest on uninsured Americans
There’s more to the uninsured rate than meets the eye
That may seem alarming. But a closer look at the data reveals that many are uninsured by choice. Affordable coverage is available to them. They’ve opted not to take it. And that’s largely the result of bad healthcare policy. Roughly two-thirds of uninsured Americans went without coverage in 2022 because ...
Read how our broken immigration system is affecting healthcare
Limited Visas Hinder Hospitals Ability To Curb Nursing Shortfall
Covid-19 burnout and understaffed hospital wards have taken their toll on the nursing profession. An April 2023 study found that overworked nursing professionals and understaffing have driven “an overall 3.3% decline in the U.S. nursing workforce during the past 2 years.” While some argue that the term shortage is not appropriate because the number ...
