Medicare
Commentary
Democrats Ask All the Wrong Questions About the Public Option
The public option is back on the congressional docket. Last week, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., the head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who helms the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued an open request for information on how to implement a ...
Commentary
Telemedicine is here to stay
This week, lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced bills that could preserve access to telehealth for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries beyond the pandemic. The House measure would allow Medicare beneficiaries to continue receiving “audio-only” remote care — that is, by phone. The Senate bill would direct the federal government to come ...
Commentary
Medicare Expansion: A Gift to the Relatively Wealthy
President Joe Biden’s ambitious proposals to reduce Medicare’s eligibility age to 60 may not be the gift to older Americans that its supporters believe it to be. That’s the core finding of a new analysis from Avalere, a consultancy. The report concluded that lower-income adults would likely have to pay more for ...
Commentary
Government Health Insurance: An Offer Businesses Should Refuse
Executives at many large corporations want the government to take on a greater role providing health coverage and controlling costs, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey. That seems to indicate big business is sympathetic to the core of the Democrats’ healthcare agenda, including the idea of a public option ...
Commentary
Insuring more Americans’ health shouldn’t require big government spending
President Joe Biden announced late last month that he plans to permanently expand health-insurance subsidies as part of his $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan.” This new spending would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. The vast majority of uninsured Americans already has access to discounted health plans. But for a ...
Commentary
Private practices just became an endangered species
Last year was the first year in which physicians working in private practice accounted for fewer than half of all practicing doctors, according to a new new report from the American Medical Association. Many of these formerly independent doctors went to work for big healthcare systems. That finding may sound obscure. Why ...
Commentary
Biden’s Intellectual Property Waiver Puts Political Symbolism Before Saving Lives
President Biden recently backed a World Trade Organization proposal to waive intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines and therapies — a move the Trump administration rejected just a few months ago. The White House’s decision is a catastrophe. The waiver will do nothing to increase access to vaccines. It will, however, undermine the system ...
Commentary
Government-Sponsored Health Care Roundup: Where The States Stand.
Colorado lawmakers just nixed a bill that would’ve led to the creation of a state-level public health insurance option. Hospitals and doctors argued that their revenues would plummet if a state-run health plan hit the market. The Colorado Hospital Association warned that some of its members would go out of business. That’s not a ...
Commentary
Biden’s New Coverage Subsidies Won’t Help Uninsured Americans
In his address to Congress last week, President Biden announced his plan to make permanent the new health insurance subsidies included in his American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law in March. These subsidies, which are currently set to expire next year, reduce exchange premiums for everyone who makes less than 400 percent ...
Commentary
Democratic drug pricing bill is a house of cards
House Democrats just introduced H.R. 3, a bill that would allow the government to cap drug prices based on what they cost in six other developed nations. President Joe Biden is sympathetic to the idea. In his speech to Congress this week, he called for giving the federal government the power to negotiate drug ...
Democrats Ask All the Wrong Questions About the Public Option
The public option is back on the congressional docket. Last week, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., the head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who helms the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, issued an open request for information on how to implement a ...
Telemedicine is here to stay
This week, lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced bills that could preserve access to telehealth for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries beyond the pandemic. The House measure would allow Medicare beneficiaries to continue receiving “audio-only” remote care — that is, by phone. The Senate bill would direct the federal government to come ...
Medicare Expansion: A Gift to the Relatively Wealthy
President Joe Biden’s ambitious proposals to reduce Medicare’s eligibility age to 60 may not be the gift to older Americans that its supporters believe it to be. That’s the core finding of a new analysis from Avalere, a consultancy. The report concluded that lower-income adults would likely have to pay more for ...
Government Health Insurance: An Offer Businesses Should Refuse
Executives at many large corporations want the government to take on a greater role providing health coverage and controlling costs, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey. That seems to indicate big business is sympathetic to the core of the Democrats’ healthcare agenda, including the idea of a public option ...
Insuring more Americans’ health shouldn’t require big government spending
President Joe Biden announced late last month that he plans to permanently expand health-insurance subsidies as part of his $1.8 trillion “American Families Plan.” This new spending would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. The vast majority of uninsured Americans already has access to discounted health plans. But for a ...
Private practices just became an endangered species
Last year was the first year in which physicians working in private practice accounted for fewer than half of all practicing doctors, according to a new new report from the American Medical Association. Many of these formerly independent doctors went to work for big healthcare systems. That finding may sound obscure. Why ...
Biden’s Intellectual Property Waiver Puts Political Symbolism Before Saving Lives
President Biden recently backed a World Trade Organization proposal to waive intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines and therapies — a move the Trump administration rejected just a few months ago. The White House’s decision is a catastrophe. The waiver will do nothing to increase access to vaccines. It will, however, undermine the system ...
Government-Sponsored Health Care Roundup: Where The States Stand.
Colorado lawmakers just nixed a bill that would’ve led to the creation of a state-level public health insurance option. Hospitals and doctors argued that their revenues would plummet if a state-run health plan hit the market. The Colorado Hospital Association warned that some of its members would go out of business. That’s not a ...
Biden’s New Coverage Subsidies Won’t Help Uninsured Americans
In his address to Congress last week, President Biden announced his plan to make permanent the new health insurance subsidies included in his American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law in March. These subsidies, which are currently set to expire next year, reduce exchange premiums for everyone who makes less than 400 percent ...
Democratic drug pricing bill is a house of cards
House Democrats just introduced H.R. 3, a bill that would allow the government to cap drug prices based on what they cost in six other developed nations. President Joe Biden is sympathetic to the idea. In his speech to Congress this week, he called for giving the federal government the power to negotiate drug ...
