Public Option
Commentary
Washington’s Public Option Is Nothing To Cheer About
When Washington’s Democratic Governor Jay Inslee signed the nation’s first public health insurance option into law in 2019, he claimed it’d ensure that “all Washingtonians have high-quality health-care insurance, an option they can afford that is available across the state.” Three years in, it hasn’t. Advocates for a public option would do ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 13, 2023
Commentary
Centennial State About to Discover Public Option’s Nightmare
Colorado is about to become the first state to implement a public health insurance option through Section 1332, a provision in Obamacare that allows states to waive many of the law’s regulations. The Biden administration approved the program, known as the Colorado Option, on June 23. The new state-sponsored health plan ...
Sally C. Pipes
July 5, 2022
Commentary
GOP Must Seize Control of Health Care Narrative
If the polls are any indication, Republicans will take control of Congress in this fall’s midterm elections. After a year and a half of unified Democratic rule, voters in much of the country appear to be looking for something different. But November is still six months away. If Republicans hope to notch ...
Sally C. Pipes
May 13, 2022
Commentary
A Public Option Is Still the Wrong Way to Reform Health Care
There’s nothing ‘moderate’ about the suffering that will result from the supposed ‘middle ground’ between the status quo and a single-payer system. California officials have recently fined L.A. Care, America’s largest publicly operated health-insurance program, $55 million for letting poor Angelenos suffer and die as they waited months to see ...
Sally C. Pipes
April 6, 2022
Commentary
Under Government Health Care, The Doctor Won’t See You Now
In less than three weeks, the federal public health emergency for COVID-19 is set to expire. Some experts worry that the end of the emergency could unleash a flood of pent-up demand for health care—and add more stress to a health system already stretched thin. That’s because thousands of Americans—particularly seniors ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 28, 2022
Commentary
States are eyeing a public option through rose-colored glasses
The Affordable Care Act will notch its 12th birthday later this month. To get the measure through Congress and to President Obama’s desk for his signature, Democrats had to cut one of progressives’ signature proposals—a public health insurance option. But the public option didn’t die all those years ago. President ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 14, 2022
Blog
Why A Public Option Would Not Be Successful
Editor’s Note: Last week, PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes participated in a debate on the public option at the annual conference of the National Council of Insurance Legislators conference in Las Vegas. Nevada Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton moderated the debate. ...
Sally C. Pipes
March 8, 2022
Commentary
Bernie’s Not-So-Subtle Single-Payer Plot
Senator Bernie Sanders (I.,Vt.), America’s most prominent proponent of government-run health care, is once again leading the charge to move our country to a single-payer system. As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders is pushing a $3.5 trillion budget plan that includes expansions of Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare. Some ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 5, 2021
Commentary
As Democrats Push Single-Payer, Brits Hope To Escape It
A record 5.6 million patients in the United Kingdom are currently on waiting lists for hospital care. That’s equivalent to nearly one in 10 Britons. Of that group, about 300,000 have been waiting at least one year for treatment. Those who can afford to are increasingly paying out of pocket for private care. More than ...
Sally C. Pipes
September 27, 2021
Commentary
Democrats’ Budget Plan Hides a Slow-Moving Healthcare Takeover
Progressives just got one step closer to their dream of socialized health care. In a party-line vote this week, the Democratic House majority ratified a $3.5 trillion budget plan that includes the largest expansion of government-run health care in recent memory. Among other things, the proposal would lower Medicare’s eligibility ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 26, 2021
Washington’s Public Option Is Nothing To Cheer About
When Washington’s Democratic Governor Jay Inslee signed the nation’s first public health insurance option into law in 2019, he claimed it’d ensure that “all Washingtonians have high-quality health-care insurance, an option they can afford that is available across the state.” Three years in, it hasn’t. Advocates for a public option would do ...
Centennial State About to Discover Public Option’s Nightmare
Colorado is about to become the first state to implement a public health insurance option through Section 1332, a provision in Obamacare that allows states to waive many of the law’s regulations. The Biden administration approved the program, known as the Colorado Option, on June 23. The new state-sponsored health plan ...
GOP Must Seize Control of Health Care Narrative
If the polls are any indication, Republicans will take control of Congress in this fall’s midterm elections. After a year and a half of unified Democratic rule, voters in much of the country appear to be looking for something different. But November is still six months away. If Republicans hope to notch ...
A Public Option Is Still the Wrong Way to Reform Health Care
There’s nothing ‘moderate’ about the suffering that will result from the supposed ‘middle ground’ between the status quo and a single-payer system. California officials have recently fined L.A. Care, America’s largest publicly operated health-insurance program, $55 million for letting poor Angelenos suffer and die as they waited months to see ...
Under Government Health Care, The Doctor Won’t See You Now
In less than three weeks, the federal public health emergency for COVID-19 is set to expire. Some experts worry that the end of the emergency could unleash a flood of pent-up demand for health care—and add more stress to a health system already stretched thin. That’s because thousands of Americans—particularly seniors ...
States are eyeing a public option through rose-colored glasses
The Affordable Care Act will notch its 12th birthday later this month. To get the measure through Congress and to President Obama’s desk for his signature, Democrats had to cut one of progressives’ signature proposals—a public health insurance option. But the public option didn’t die all those years ago. President ...
Why A Public Option Would Not Be Successful
Editor’s Note: Last week, PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy Sally C. Pipes participated in a debate on the public option at the annual conference of the National Council of Insurance Legislators conference in Las Vegas. Nevada Assemblywoman Maggie Carlton moderated the debate. ...
Bernie’s Not-So-Subtle Single-Payer Plot
Senator Bernie Sanders (I.,Vt.), America’s most prominent proponent of government-run health care, is once again leading the charge to move our country to a single-payer system. As chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders is pushing a $3.5 trillion budget plan that includes expansions of Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare. Some ...
As Democrats Push Single-Payer, Brits Hope To Escape It
A record 5.6 million patients in the United Kingdom are currently on waiting lists for hospital care. That’s equivalent to nearly one in 10 Britons. Of that group, about 300,000 have been waiting at least one year for treatment. Those who can afford to are increasingly paying out of pocket for private care. More than ...
Democrats’ Budget Plan Hides a Slow-Moving Healthcare Takeover
Progressives just got one step closer to their dream of socialized health care. In a party-line vote this week, the Democratic House majority ratified a $3.5 trillion budget plan that includes the largest expansion of government-run health care in recent memory. Among other things, the proposal would lower Medicare’s eligibility ...