Sally C. Pipes
Blog
QALYs Put Patients Last
In his latest entry for the American Action Forum’s “Reality Check-Up: The Truth About Single-Payer Systems,” Michael Baker offers an excellent primer on this heartless metric. QALYs attempt to assign a monetary value to life. A year in perfect health equals one QALY. A year with illness or disability counts ...
Commentary
Delaying Coverage of Weight-loss Meds Won’t Cure Obesity
In an interview this month, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., appeared open to the idea of Medicare covering drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for beneficiaries with obesity. “Ideally, over the long term, we’d like to see . . . those drugs available for people after ...
Commentary
Drug company profits don’t threaten lives; price controls do
More than 4 in 5 Americans blame the pharmaceutical industry’s profits for the high prices of prescription drugs. It’s little wonder, then, that roughly the same share supports placing price controls on prescription drugs through Medicare. The logic is straight out of Robin Hood. Our leaders should take from the ...
Commentary
Trump is right: Housing isn’t healthcare
The Trump administration shut off federal funding through Medicaid for non-healthcare-related services such as housekeeping, groceries, and internet earlier this month. It’s about time. Medicaid exists to provide health benefits to the nation’s neediest, not to subsidize a laundry list of liberal priorities. Over the last two decades, it has ...
Commentary
Common-Sense Fixes in Medicaid Could Save Hundreds of Billions, Making Reform Less Daunting Than Pundits Suggest
Congressional Republicans are currently negotiating a budget reconciliation package that aims to wrest $880 billion in savings from Medicaid over the coming decade. Democrats have asserted that this effort will be devastating to Medicaid’s beneficiaries. They underestimate just how widespread waste, fraud, and abuse are in the program. Read the ...
Commentary
California can’t afford free health care for undocumented immigrants
California’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit could soon grow worse. State tax revenue dropped over 14% in the recession that followed the dot-com bubble, nearly 14% during the Great Financial Crisis from 2008 to 2009, and almost 8% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with financial markets reeling thanks ...
Blog
Two Good Healthcare Headlines
We all could use a little bit of good news on health policy these days. And Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum provides it in the latest edition of AAF’s “Reality Check-Up: The Truth About Single-Payer Systems.” He commends two articles for readers of the series, and I will ...
Commentary
Trump’s Crusade Against ACA ‘Quiet,’ Historic
Last month, the Trump administration proposed a new rule to ensure “Marketplace Integrity and Affordability” on Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges. Washington is awash in proposed rules. But this one stands out. Read the op-ed:
Commentary
To Save Medicaid, We Have to Cut It
Medicaid costs taxpayers nearly $900 billion a year. That figure is on track to exceed $1 trillion by the end of this decade. The entitlement is growing faster than the economy. That kind of growth is unsustainable — and risks shredding the safety net for those who need it most. ...
Commentary
End Medicaid Money Laundering
Earlier this month, Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke for 25 hours straight, breaking a Senate record. His goal, at least at the outset, was to “defend” Medicare and Medicaid from Republicans’ proposed cuts. “The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are right now discussing how to cut these programs,” Booker ...
QALYs Put Patients Last
In his latest entry for the American Action Forum’s “Reality Check-Up: The Truth About Single-Payer Systems,” Michael Baker offers an excellent primer on this heartless metric. QALYs attempt to assign a monetary value to life. A year in perfect health equals one QALY. A year with illness or disability counts ...
Delaying Coverage of Weight-loss Meds Won’t Cure Obesity
In an interview this month, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., appeared open to the idea of Medicare covering drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy for beneficiaries with obesity. “Ideally, over the long term, we’d like to see . . . those drugs available for people after ...
Drug company profits don’t threaten lives; price controls do
More than 4 in 5 Americans blame the pharmaceutical industry’s profits for the high prices of prescription drugs. It’s little wonder, then, that roughly the same share supports placing price controls on prescription drugs through Medicare. The logic is straight out of Robin Hood. Our leaders should take from the ...
Trump is right: Housing isn’t healthcare
The Trump administration shut off federal funding through Medicaid for non-healthcare-related services such as housekeeping, groceries, and internet earlier this month. It’s about time. Medicaid exists to provide health benefits to the nation’s neediest, not to subsidize a laundry list of liberal priorities. Over the last two decades, it has ...
Common-Sense Fixes in Medicaid Could Save Hundreds of Billions, Making Reform Less Daunting Than Pundits Suggest
Congressional Republicans are currently negotiating a budget reconciliation package that aims to wrest $880 billion in savings from Medicaid over the coming decade. Democrats have asserted that this effort will be devastating to Medicaid’s beneficiaries. They underestimate just how widespread waste, fraud, and abuse are in the program. Read the ...
California can’t afford free health care for undocumented immigrants
California’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit could soon grow worse. State tax revenue dropped over 14% in the recession that followed the dot-com bubble, nearly 14% during the Great Financial Crisis from 2008 to 2009, and almost 8% during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with financial markets reeling thanks ...
Two Good Healthcare Headlines
We all could use a little bit of good news on health policy these days. And Douglas Holtz-Eakin of the American Action Forum provides it in the latest edition of AAF’s “Reality Check-Up: The Truth About Single-Payer Systems.” He commends two articles for readers of the series, and I will ...
Trump’s Crusade Against ACA ‘Quiet,’ Historic
Last month, the Trump administration proposed a new rule to ensure “Marketplace Integrity and Affordability” on Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges. Washington is awash in proposed rules. But this one stands out. Read the op-ed:
To Save Medicaid, We Have to Cut It
Medicaid costs taxpayers nearly $900 billion a year. That figure is on track to exceed $1 trillion by the end of this decade. The entitlement is growing faster than the economy. That kind of growth is unsustainable — and risks shredding the safety net for those who need it most. ...
End Medicaid Money Laundering
Earlier this month, Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., spoke for 25 hours straight, breaking a Senate record. His goal, at least at the outset, was to “defend” Medicare and Medicaid from Republicans’ proposed cuts. “The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are right now discussing how to cut these programs,” Booker ...
