Medicare
California
Californians Fear Losing Coverage In Obamacare Reform
As the Republican-led U.S. Senate prepares to vote — possibly by next week — to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a new poll shows that 56 percent of Californians worry that they or someone in their family will lose health insurance coverage if the law, commonly called Obamacare, ...
Tracy Seipel
June 20, 2017
Commentary
Dream Of Single Payer Would Be A Nightmare
Fully government-run health care may be coming to the Empire State. The State Senate will soon consider the New York Health Act, a bill that would sweep every New Yorker into a single, government-funded health plan. The Assembly green-lit the bill in mid-May. On paper, the measure seems like a ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 15, 2017
Commentary
Repeal And Replace Can’t Wait Any Longer
The chief obstacle to repealing and replacing Obamacare may no longer be congressional Democrats. It could be the GOP itself. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to hold a vote on the party’s repeal-and-replace plan by the end of June. But as he’s tacked his plan to the center ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 12, 2017
California
California’s ‘Free’ Health Care Won’t Come Cheap
(Note: After the column went to print, SB 562 passed the State Senate on June 1 by a vote of 23 to 14.) Democrats in California’s state Senate spent Thursday hemming and hawing over Senate Bill 562, the Healthy California Act. When this column went to print, the Democratic caucus ...
Sally C. Pipes
June 2, 2017
Commentary
Medicaid’s Cracked Halo
President Trump’s recent 2018 budget proposal, which includes roughly $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next decade, has led to howls of outrage from Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said last week that the cuts would “carry a staggering human cost.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. has ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 30, 2017
Business & Economics
New Study Finds High Prescription Drug Costs Are Not Driving Up U.S. Healthcare Costs
It’s easy for politicians and consumers to rage about the high price of prescription drugs, but Wayne Winegarden, Pacific Research Institute’s senior fellow in business and economics, said those prices are not to blame for the high cost of healthcare in the United States. Recently, U.S. Bernie Sanders has been ...
Wayne H Winegarden
May 16, 2017
Business & Economics
Pharmacy Benefit Managers Add Cost To Healthcare, Impose Consumer And Market Burdens, Study Says
Due to inefficiencies in the current regulatory framework, pharmacy benefit managers can add cost to the healthcare system and impose burdens on both consumers and market competition, according to a new study released by the Pacific Research Institute. PBMs — essentially middlemen who process prescription transactions, negotiate drug discounts and ...
Jeff Lagasse
May 16, 2017
Commentary
Time To Face Facts On Pre-Existing Conditions
Democrats have assailed the American Health Care Act, which narrowly passed the House by four votes on May 4, for supposedly ripping away Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the bill’s approach to covering such conditions a “sad, deadly joke.” Rep. Frank ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 15, 2017
Commentary
The Trump Administration Is Making Life Harder For Obamacare’s Freeloaders
While Congressional Republicans continue to hash out their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, the executive branch has already taken action to undo some of the law’s most destructive features. Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) cut the enrollment period for 2018 Obamacare exchange plans from ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 11, 2017
Business & Economics
It’s Time To Switch Our Pharmacy Benefit Manager
Click here to read PRI’s new issue brief, The Economic Costs of Pharmacy Benefit Managers Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) in the nation, is discovering just how much customer service matters. It may also be discovering that suing your biggest customer in court is generally not considered ...
Wayne Winegarden
May 9, 2017
Californians Fear Losing Coverage In Obamacare Reform
As the Republican-led U.S. Senate prepares to vote — possibly by next week — to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a new poll shows that 56 percent of Californians worry that they or someone in their family will lose health insurance coverage if the law, commonly called Obamacare, ...
Dream Of Single Payer Would Be A Nightmare
Fully government-run health care may be coming to the Empire State. The State Senate will soon consider the New York Health Act, a bill that would sweep every New Yorker into a single, government-funded health plan. The Assembly green-lit the bill in mid-May. On paper, the measure seems like a ...
Repeal And Replace Can’t Wait Any Longer
The chief obstacle to repealing and replacing Obamacare may no longer be congressional Democrats. It could be the GOP itself. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to hold a vote on the party’s repeal-and-replace plan by the end of June. But as he’s tacked his plan to the center ...
California’s ‘Free’ Health Care Won’t Come Cheap
(Note: After the column went to print, SB 562 passed the State Senate on June 1 by a vote of 23 to 14.) Democrats in California’s state Senate spent Thursday hemming and hawing over Senate Bill 562, the Healthy California Act. When this column went to print, the Democratic caucus ...
Medicaid’s Cracked Halo
President Trump’s recent 2018 budget proposal, which includes roughly $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid over the next decade, has led to howls of outrage from Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said last week that the cuts would “carry a staggering human cost.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. has ...
New Study Finds High Prescription Drug Costs Are Not Driving Up U.S. Healthcare Costs
It’s easy for politicians and consumers to rage about the high price of prescription drugs, but Wayne Winegarden, Pacific Research Institute’s senior fellow in business and economics, said those prices are not to blame for the high cost of healthcare in the United States. Recently, U.S. Bernie Sanders has been ...
Pharmacy Benefit Managers Add Cost To Healthcare, Impose Consumer And Market Burdens, Study Says
Due to inefficiencies in the current regulatory framework, pharmacy benefit managers can add cost to the healthcare system and impose burdens on both consumers and market competition, according to a new study released by the Pacific Research Institute. PBMs — essentially middlemen who process prescription transactions, negotiate drug discounts and ...
Time To Face Facts On Pre-Existing Conditions
Democrats have assailed the American Health Care Act, which narrowly passed the House by four votes on May 4, for supposedly ripping away Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing conditions. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the bill’s approach to covering such conditions a “sad, deadly joke.” Rep. Frank ...
The Trump Administration Is Making Life Harder For Obamacare’s Freeloaders
While Congressional Republicans continue to hash out their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, the executive branch has already taken action to undo some of the law’s most destructive features. Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) cut the enrollment period for 2018 Obamacare exchange plans from ...
It’s Time To Switch Our Pharmacy Benefit Manager
Click here to read PRI’s new issue brief, The Economic Costs of Pharmacy Benefit Managers Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) in the nation, is discovering just how much customer service matters. It may also be discovering that suing your biggest customer in court is generally not considered ...