Medicare
Commentary
Reforming Rebate Contracting will Improve Drug Affordability
By Wayne Winegarden and Robert Popovian The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized a regulation on November 20, 2020 that removed the safe harbor protections for rebates on prescription drugs paid to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and Part D plans. This analysis evaluates the expected impact from this ...
Commentary
Work Requirements Can Preserve Medicaid For Those Who Need It Most
This month, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case early next year that will decide whether states have the power to impose work requirements as a condition of receiving Medicaid benefits. The question before the high court is a legal one. But as a matter of policy, work requirements are a great ...
Commentary
The coming vaccine doesn’t mean we should delay routine care
This week, the first round of people began receiving a vaccine against COVID-19 in the United States. That offers some hope that we’ll finally be able to get the pandemic under control. Some people may take the arrival of a vaccine to mean that they can wait a few more months for ...
Commentary
Moderna COVID vaccine gets key endorsement — vaccinations are safe and will end pandemic
The vote Thursday by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel to recommend an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine is an important and welcome step in our battle to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccinations are now underway with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. People will begin received inoculations of the ...
Drug Pricing
NEW BRIEF: Tearing Down Drug ‘Rebate Walls’ Would Save Patients, Improve Health Care Outcomes
Tearing down drug “rebate walls” that increase patient costs and block access to cheaper and often more effective medications would increase competition, lower out-of-pocket costs, and improve health outcomes, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Click ...
Commentary
For HHS post Biden taps ObamaCare’s lead defender – don’t expect him to be a moderate
President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that he plans to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services. It’s a conventional, if unexpected, pick. The Washington rumor mill had New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as the front-runners to lead HHS until ...
Commentary
A Tale Of Two Healthcare Systems
The United States just reached an all-time high of over 100,000 coronavirus hospitalizations. Over 1,000 hospitals are critically short-staffed; about three-quarters of all hospital beds are full. Some hospitals have stopped accepting new patients. In Idaho, St. Luke’s Magic Valley Hospital turned away patients seeking emergency care last month. Just a few weeks later, ...
Commentary
Don’t Lower the Medicare Eligibility Age
President-elect Joe Biden wants Congress to lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60. That’s long been a goal of Democrats. But even 7 in 10 Republicans have expressed support for expanding Medicare in the direction Biden has suggested, according to polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Opening up ...
Commentary
Officials ignore their own stay-at-home COVID-19 restrictions — it’s infuriating
Many elected officials have told Americans for months to stay home and forego everything from religious gatherings and team sports to holiday dinners and even funerals to stem the spread of the coronavirus. And yet we keep seeing news reports about officials flouting their own rules with a nice dinner ...
Commentary
Republicans and Democrats missing the point on prescription drug costs
Bashing drug companies, long a bipartisan pastime, reached a fever pitch when President Trump recently announced a new federal rule aimed at slashing the prices Medicare pays for some lifesaving medications. Republicans and Democrats alike are stuck on the idea that the best way to reduce our nation’s health care bill is ...
Reforming Rebate Contracting will Improve Drug Affordability
By Wayne Winegarden and Robert Popovian The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized a regulation on November 20, 2020 that removed the safe harbor protections for rebates on prescription drugs paid to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and Part D plans. This analysis evaluates the expected impact from this ...
Work Requirements Can Preserve Medicaid For Those Who Need It Most
This month, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case early next year that will decide whether states have the power to impose work requirements as a condition of receiving Medicaid benefits. The question before the high court is a legal one. But as a matter of policy, work requirements are a great ...
The coming vaccine doesn’t mean we should delay routine care
This week, the first round of people began receiving a vaccine against COVID-19 in the United States. That offers some hope that we’ll finally be able to get the pandemic under control. Some people may take the arrival of a vaccine to mean that they can wait a few more months for ...
Moderna COVID vaccine gets key endorsement — vaccinations are safe and will end pandemic
The vote Thursday by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel to recommend an emergency use authorization for Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine is an important and welcome step in our battle to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccinations are now underway with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. People will begin received inoculations of the ...
NEW BRIEF: Tearing Down Drug ‘Rebate Walls’ Would Save Patients, Improve Health Care Outcomes
Tearing down drug “rebate walls” that increase patient costs and block access to cheaper and often more effective medications would increase competition, lower out-of-pocket costs, and improve health outcomes, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute. Click ...
For HHS post Biden taps ObamaCare’s lead defender – don’t expect him to be a moderate
President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that he plans to nominate California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services. It’s a conventional, if unexpected, pick. The Washington rumor mill had New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo as the front-runners to lead HHS until ...
A Tale Of Two Healthcare Systems
The United States just reached an all-time high of over 100,000 coronavirus hospitalizations. Over 1,000 hospitals are critically short-staffed; about three-quarters of all hospital beds are full. Some hospitals have stopped accepting new patients. In Idaho, St. Luke’s Magic Valley Hospital turned away patients seeking emergency care last month. Just a few weeks later, ...
Don’t Lower the Medicare Eligibility Age
President-elect Joe Biden wants Congress to lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 60. That’s long been a goal of Democrats. But even 7 in 10 Republicans have expressed support for expanding Medicare in the direction Biden has suggested, according to polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Opening up ...
Officials ignore their own stay-at-home COVID-19 restrictions — it’s infuriating
Many elected officials have told Americans for months to stay home and forego everything from religious gatherings and team sports to holiday dinners and even funerals to stem the spread of the coronavirus. And yet we keep seeing news reports about officials flouting their own rules with a nice dinner ...
Republicans and Democrats missing the point on prescription drug costs
Bashing drug companies, long a bipartisan pastime, reached a fever pitch when President Trump recently announced a new federal rule aimed at slashing the prices Medicare pays for some lifesaving medications. Republicans and Democrats alike are stuck on the idea that the best way to reduce our nation’s health care bill is ...
