Sally C. Pipes

Commentary

Read the latest on Medicaid reform

Limit Medicaid enrollment to alleviate wait times

The Biden administration is trying to help people on Medicaid see the doctor faster. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just finalized a regulation establishing a maximum wait of 15 business days for a Medicaid beneficiary to get a primary care appointment. Decreeing that wait times must be shorter ...
Commentary

People think Medicare is going bankrupt

People are pessimistic about Medicare’s longevity. Roughly 7 in 10 adults under 65 say they’re “worried” or “extremely worried” the program won’t be around when they need it, according to a new Gallup poll. That may come as no surprise. Medicare expenditures exceeded $1 trillion in 2023. They’re on track to grow by roughly $930 billion over the next ...
Commentary

Read the latest on drug innovation

How The FDA’s Sunscreen Skepticism Burns Americans

Every day, nearly 10,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with skin cancer. The good news is that applying sunscreen can substantially reduce a person’s risk of getting skin cancer. The bad news is that the federal government is doing its best to keep effective sunscreens out of the hands of ...
Commentary

Read the latest on the Affordable Care Act

Why Next President Needs to Scrap Enhanced Subsidies

The Affordable Care Act’s defenders are sounding the alarm over the health law’s future under a possible second Trump presidency. The conventional wisdom suggests that, should Donald Trump win in November, the enhanced premium subsidies signed into law by President Joe Biden would be allowed to expire on December 31, 2025. That ...
Commentary

Medicaid’s Mission Creep Is Hurting the Poor and Disabled

What do air conditioners, mini fridges, and air purifiers have in common? According to Medicaid authorities in Oregon, they’re all forms of health care. Across the country, state Medicaid programs are suffering from a serious case of mission creep. Officials are trying to use Medicaid dollars to pay for everything ...
Commentary

Read the latest on drug pricing

Insulin Prices Fall, Democrats Respond With Denial

For years, the left’s campaign to dictate the price of prescription drugs has focused on one medicine above all others — insulin. The hormone was discovered more than a century ago by Canadian doctor Frederick Banting and his medical student Charles Best. They famously sold their patent to the University of ...
Commentary

Read the latest on CA health care policy

California rues healthcare minimum wage increase

A minimum wage hike for healthcare workers in California was supposed to take effect this Saturday. But over the past week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and his Democratic allies have worked feverishly on legislation to postpone it. California Democrats haven’t suddenly become free-market acolytes. They’re worried that the wage increase, which may cost the state $4 billion this ...
Commentary

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Unravels Medicare Part D

In May, Medicare bureaucrats released new guidance that details how they’ll conduct the drug pricing “negotiations” authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. They’re mostly maintaining the policies in last year’s inaugural round of price setting—which means the quality of seniors’ Medicare Part D coverage will continue to deteriorate. When President Biden ...
Commentary

Don’t Import British Methods For Rationing Access To Drugs

Earlier this year, European authorities recommended approval of tofersen, a new drug that treats a rare genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. That decision came nearly a year after American regulators granted the drug accelerated approval. Patients with that rare form of ALS in England aren’t so lucky. The National Institute for ...
Commentary

End Rampant Fraud in Federal Health Programs

The facts are astonishing: an estimated $1 billion a year in fraudulent payments, untold thousands of ineligible beneficiaries, and a public agency that refuses to conduct an audit. Welcome to the $60 billion-a-year Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which provides insurance coverage for more than 8 million federal workers and their ...
Commentary

Read the latest on Medicaid reform

Limit Medicaid enrollment to alleviate wait times

The Biden administration is trying to help people on Medicaid see the doctor faster. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services just finalized a regulation establishing a maximum wait of 15 business days for a Medicaid beneficiary to get a primary care appointment. Decreeing that wait times must be shorter ...
Commentary

People think Medicare is going bankrupt

People are pessimistic about Medicare’s longevity. Roughly 7 in 10 adults under 65 say they’re “worried” or “extremely worried” the program won’t be around when they need it, according to a new Gallup poll. That may come as no surprise. Medicare expenditures exceeded $1 trillion in 2023. They’re on track to grow by roughly $930 billion over the next ...
Commentary

Read the latest on drug innovation

How The FDA’s Sunscreen Skepticism Burns Americans

Every day, nearly 10,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with skin cancer. The good news is that applying sunscreen can substantially reduce a person’s risk of getting skin cancer. The bad news is that the federal government is doing its best to keep effective sunscreens out of the hands of ...
Commentary

Read the latest on the Affordable Care Act

Why Next President Needs to Scrap Enhanced Subsidies

The Affordable Care Act’s defenders are sounding the alarm over the health law’s future under a possible second Trump presidency. The conventional wisdom suggests that, should Donald Trump win in November, the enhanced premium subsidies signed into law by President Joe Biden would be allowed to expire on December 31, 2025. That ...
Commentary

Medicaid’s Mission Creep Is Hurting the Poor and Disabled

What do air conditioners, mini fridges, and air purifiers have in common? According to Medicaid authorities in Oregon, they’re all forms of health care. Across the country, state Medicaid programs are suffering from a serious case of mission creep. Officials are trying to use Medicaid dollars to pay for everything ...
Commentary

Read the latest on drug pricing

Insulin Prices Fall, Democrats Respond With Denial

For years, the left’s campaign to dictate the price of prescription drugs has focused on one medicine above all others — insulin. The hormone was discovered more than a century ago by Canadian doctor Frederick Banting and his medical student Charles Best. They famously sold their patent to the University of ...
Commentary

Read the latest on CA health care policy

California rues healthcare minimum wage increase

A minimum wage hike for healthcare workers in California was supposed to take effect this Saturday. But over the past week, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and his Democratic allies have worked feverishly on legislation to postpone it. California Democrats haven’t suddenly become free-market acolytes. They’re worried that the wage increase, which may cost the state $4 billion this ...
Commentary

Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act Unravels Medicare Part D

In May, Medicare bureaucrats released new guidance that details how they’ll conduct the drug pricing “negotiations” authorized by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. They’re mostly maintaining the policies in last year’s inaugural round of price setting—which means the quality of seniors’ Medicare Part D coverage will continue to deteriorate. When President Biden ...
Commentary

Don’t Import British Methods For Rationing Access To Drugs

Earlier this year, European authorities recommended approval of tofersen, a new drug that treats a rare genetic form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. That decision came nearly a year after American regulators granted the drug accelerated approval. Patients with that rare form of ALS in England aren’t so lucky. The National Institute for ...
Commentary

End Rampant Fraud in Federal Health Programs

The facts are astonishing: an estimated $1 billion a year in fraudulent payments, untold thousands of ineligible beneficiaries, and a public agency that refuses to conduct an audit. Welcome to the $60 billion-a-year Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which provides insurance coverage for more than 8 million federal workers and their ...
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