Medicare
Business & Economics
New PRI Study Finds That High Prescription Drug Costs Are Not Driving Up U.S. Health Care Costs
A more realistic evaluation of U.S. prescription drug prices shows that high drug prices are not actually driving up health care costs overall, and reflect the higher U.S. health care costs compared to the rest of the world, according to a new report released today by the Pacific Research Institute. ...
Wayne Winegarden
April 25, 2017
California
Could California Become The Next Canada for Health Care?
State Sen. Ricardo Lara didn’t move to Canada following Donald Trump’s win last November, but he visited last week. While touring a major research hospital in Toronto, he said he realized that American views on providing health care are becoming more Canadian. “One fundamental difference between the United States and ...
Angela Hart
April 21, 2017
Commentary
The Good, The Bad, And The NICE: A Cautionary Tale For Government Negotiation
One of the cornerstones of Great Britain’s National Health Service is an agency that approves and controls access to prescription drugs, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NICE recently announced a new policy that could delay and restrict access to new medicines for British citizens if the agency ...
Sally C. Pipes
April 5, 2017
California
Single Payer Is Fool’s Gold For California
While the latest Republican attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare may have failed, Democrats in California and in D.C. are just getting started in their effort to eliminate the health law. Unfortunately, they’re angling to replace ObamaCare with something even worse. In California, State Senators Ricardo Lara and Toni Atkins ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 31, 2017
California
California Single-Payer Bill Looks Backward, Instead Of Forward To A New Era Of Patient Choice
Here we go again. The California State Legislature is considering yet another bill to impose a so-called single-payer, government monopoly, health care system. This has long been an obsession of the California’s nurses unions, because a health system under total government control would suit the narrow interests of union leaders. ...
John R. Graham
March 23, 2017
Commentary
Putting The CBO’s Score Of The American Health Care Act In Perspective
The Congressional Budget Office’s new analysis of the American Health Care Act seems to provide plenty of ammunition for Obamacare’s defenders. But if the last few years have proven anything, it’s that we shouldn’t put too much faith in the CBO’s predictions — especially about the future. The report simultaneously ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 20, 2017
Health Care
Health Care Spending Increases, Federal Share Rises
The federal government spends more on health care than any other entity or group, in part due to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contributed to the federal government becoming the largest purchaser of health insurance and other health care services ...
Michael McGrady
March 14, 2017
Health Care
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom To Propose Universal Health Care In Race To Succeed Jerry Brown
Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is drafting a health care plan for California that he plans to unveil as a core component of his gubernatorial run, based in part on the universal health care program he signed into law when he was mayor of San Francisco. Newsom, seen as a ...
Angela Hart
March 13, 2017
Health Care
Bay Area Obamacare Critics: Are They Happy Now?
But are they happy now that GOP leaders in the House of Representatives have finally announced their plan to replace the law? The reaction from Obamacare critics in the Bay Area ranges from hopeful to cautiously optimistic to downright disgusted — no doubt an indication of why the House Republicans’ ...
Tracy Seipel
March 13, 2017
Business & Economics
Reform Pharmacy Benefit Managers (Pbms) To Improve Pharmaceutical Affordability
Imagine if you never had to directly pay for your morning cup of coffee again. Instead, a coffee insurer guaranteed that, for a small co-pay, you could enjoy a cup of coffee every morning. Sounds good? The catch, and there is always a catch, is the caveat “directly pay.” In ...
Wayne Winegarden
March 7, 2017
New PRI Study Finds That High Prescription Drug Costs Are Not Driving Up U.S. Health Care Costs
A more realistic evaluation of U.S. prescription drug prices shows that high drug prices are not actually driving up health care costs overall, and reflect the higher U.S. health care costs compared to the rest of the world, according to a new report released today by the Pacific Research Institute. ...
Could California Become The Next Canada for Health Care?
State Sen. Ricardo Lara didn’t move to Canada following Donald Trump’s win last November, but he visited last week. While touring a major research hospital in Toronto, he said he realized that American views on providing health care are becoming more Canadian. “One fundamental difference between the United States and ...
The Good, The Bad, And The NICE: A Cautionary Tale For Government Negotiation
One of the cornerstones of Great Britain’s National Health Service is an agency that approves and controls access to prescription drugs, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. NICE recently announced a new policy that could delay and restrict access to new medicines for British citizens if the agency ...
Single Payer Is Fool’s Gold For California
While the latest Republican attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare may have failed, Democrats in California and in D.C. are just getting started in their effort to eliminate the health law. Unfortunately, they’re angling to replace ObamaCare with something even worse. In California, State Senators Ricardo Lara and Toni Atkins ...
California Single-Payer Bill Looks Backward, Instead Of Forward To A New Era Of Patient Choice
Here we go again. The California State Legislature is considering yet another bill to impose a so-called single-payer, government monopoly, health care system. This has long been an obsession of the California’s nurses unions, because a health system under total government control would suit the narrow interests of union leaders. ...
Putting The CBO’s Score Of The American Health Care Act In Perspective
The Congressional Budget Office’s new analysis of the American Health Care Act seems to provide plenty of ammunition for Obamacare’s defenders. But if the last few years have proven anything, it’s that we shouldn’t put too much faith in the CBO’s predictions — especially about the future. The report simultaneously ...
Health Care Spending Increases, Federal Share Rises
The federal government spends more on health care than any other entity or group, in part due to Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) contributed to the federal government becoming the largest purchaser of health insurance and other health care services ...
Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom To Propose Universal Health Care In Race To Succeed Jerry Brown
Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is drafting a health care plan for California that he plans to unveil as a core component of his gubernatorial run, based in part on the universal health care program he signed into law when he was mayor of San Francisco. Newsom, seen as a ...
Bay Area Obamacare Critics: Are They Happy Now?
But are they happy now that GOP leaders in the House of Representatives have finally announced their plan to replace the law? The reaction from Obamacare critics in the Bay Area ranges from hopeful to cautiously optimistic to downright disgusted — no doubt an indication of why the House Republicans’ ...
Reform Pharmacy Benefit Managers (Pbms) To Improve Pharmaceutical Affordability
Imagine if you never had to directly pay for your morning cup of coffee again. Instead, a coffee insurer guaranteed that, for a small co-pay, you could enjoy a cup of coffee every morning. Sounds good? The catch, and there is always a catch, is the caveat “directly pay.” In ...