Medicare
Commentary
Put Patients in Charge to Keep Healthcare Spending in Check
New research suggests health insurers could take some negotiating tips from people who pay for health care out of pocket. According to an analysis from HealthCareInsider, hospital costs for patients with insurance are higher than for those who self-pay. That flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Insurers are in the business ...
Commentary
Don’t Dam the Telehealth Flood
To say that Americans are anxiously awaiting the end of the COVID-19 pandemic would be an understatement. But for patients who have enjoyed the ease of attending doctor’s appointments virtually, a return to the way things were pre-pandemic might be bittersweet. That’s because onerous restrictions on telemedicine, which lawmakers relaxed ...
Commentary
High Healthcare Spending Doesn’t Bolster Case for Single-Payer
Does the United States spend too much on healthcare? A look at the lower levels of healthcare spending in peer countries like Canada and the United Kingdom would seem to indicate as much. But a closer look at those numbers reveals a far more complex story. Take the matter of ...
Commentary
Plan to Expand Medi-Cal is a Costly Step Towards Single-Payer
It’s budget season in Sacramento. Governor Gavin Newsom’s spending proposal is the largest in the Golden State’s history. There’s no shortage of expensive and misguided policies in his budget. Chief among them is his push to expand Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, to cover all undocumented immigrants. Doing so would ...
Commentary
COVID-19 tests come too late
Last week, the Biden administration announced that 67 million U.S. households ordered at-home COVID-19 tests through a government website in January. Ten million have yet to receive their tests — more than a month after the site launched. In many parts of the country, the omicron wave has already receded. Daily cases ...
Commentary
Stalled in D.C., the Single-Payer Fantasy Makes Its Way to Blue States
Despite the best efforts of progressives such as Senator Bernie Sanders (D., Vt.) and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), Medicare for All is off the table in Congress — for now, at least. But that doesn’t mean single-payer health care is dead. Like a zombie, the idea is being revived ...
Commentary
California Single-Payer Has Gone Up In Flames – For Now. Will Progressives Escape The Firestorm?
On January 31, the campaign for single-payer health care in California suffered its latest defeat. Progressive Democrats in the Assembly were unable to line up enough support for AB 1400, which would’ve launched a state takeover of private health insurance, Medicare, and Medi-Cal. So Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, the bill’s ...
Commentary
Government is Fighting Covid-19 on Tape Delay
To great fanfare, the Biden administration just launched a website where Americans can request at-home COVID-19 tests, delivered by the U.S. Postal Service free of charge. It’s a sad commentary on the competence of the federal government that the successful launch of a website counts as a big win these ...
Commentary
At the ‘Pharmer’s’ Market, Patients Suffer While Middlemen Profit
Imagine a visit to the local farmer’s market. When you’re about to pay the farmer for some fruit, a man in a suit and sunglasses interrupts the exchange and offers to negotiate a discount with the farmer. Cool, right? Not so fast. The man in the suit didn’t tell you ...
Commentary
Will the independent medical practice become extinct in America?
Upon facing declining revenue prospects, physicians are shuttering their private, independent practices to partner up with larger hospitals that have near-monopolies on care in the regions they serve. This trend is depressing news for most Americans. Further concentration of market power in these health systems ultimately results in less personalized ...
Put Patients in Charge to Keep Healthcare Spending in Check
New research suggests health insurers could take some negotiating tips from people who pay for health care out of pocket. According to an analysis from HealthCareInsider, hospital costs for patients with insurance are higher than for those who self-pay. That flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Insurers are in the business ...
Don’t Dam the Telehealth Flood
To say that Americans are anxiously awaiting the end of the COVID-19 pandemic would be an understatement. But for patients who have enjoyed the ease of attending doctor’s appointments virtually, a return to the way things were pre-pandemic might be bittersweet. That’s because onerous restrictions on telemedicine, which lawmakers relaxed ...
High Healthcare Spending Doesn’t Bolster Case for Single-Payer
Does the United States spend too much on healthcare? A look at the lower levels of healthcare spending in peer countries like Canada and the United Kingdom would seem to indicate as much. But a closer look at those numbers reveals a far more complex story. Take the matter of ...
Plan to Expand Medi-Cal is a Costly Step Towards Single-Payer
It’s budget season in Sacramento. Governor Gavin Newsom’s spending proposal is the largest in the Golden State’s history. There’s no shortage of expensive and misguided policies in his budget. Chief among them is his push to expand Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, to cover all undocumented immigrants. Doing so would ...
COVID-19 tests come too late
Last week, the Biden administration announced that 67 million U.S. households ordered at-home COVID-19 tests through a government website in January. Ten million have yet to receive their tests — more than a month after the site launched. In many parts of the country, the omicron wave has already receded. Daily cases ...
Stalled in D.C., the Single-Payer Fantasy Makes Its Way to Blue States
Despite the best efforts of progressives such as Senator Bernie Sanders (D., Vt.) and Representative Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.), Medicare for All is off the table in Congress — for now, at least. But that doesn’t mean single-payer health care is dead. Like a zombie, the idea is being revived ...
California Single-Payer Has Gone Up In Flames – For Now. Will Progressives Escape The Firestorm?
On January 31, the campaign for single-payer health care in California suffered its latest defeat. Progressive Democrats in the Assembly were unable to line up enough support for AB 1400, which would’ve launched a state takeover of private health insurance, Medicare, and Medi-Cal. So Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose, the bill’s ...
Government is Fighting Covid-19 on Tape Delay
To great fanfare, the Biden administration just launched a website where Americans can request at-home COVID-19 tests, delivered by the U.S. Postal Service free of charge. It’s a sad commentary on the competence of the federal government that the successful launch of a website counts as a big win these ...
At the ‘Pharmer’s’ Market, Patients Suffer While Middlemen Profit
Imagine a visit to the local farmer’s market. When you’re about to pay the farmer for some fruit, a man in a suit and sunglasses interrupts the exchange and offers to negotiate a discount with the farmer. Cool, right? Not so fast. The man in the suit didn’t tell you ...
Will the independent medical practice become extinct in America?
Upon facing declining revenue prospects, physicians are shuttering their private, independent practices to partner up with larger hospitals that have near-monopolies on care in the regions they serve. This trend is depressing news for most Americans. Further concentration of market power in these health systems ultimately results in less personalized ...
