Sally C. Pipes
Commentary
‘Medicare-for-all’ means long waits for poor care, and Americans won’t go for it once they learn these facts
This week, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., one of the front-runners in the race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, revealed her radical vision for American health care – outlawing private health insurance and putting the government in charge of the system. Harris, along with 15 of her Democratic colleagues, supports Sen. Bernie Sanders’, ...
Sally C. Pipes
February 3, 2019
Commentary
You’ve probably never heard of anti-competitive ‘certificate of need’ laws but they’re harming your health care
Imagine if a state law prohibited new restaurants from opening in your town unless an aspiring restaurateur successfully convinced the government that the area “needed” another eatery. Now imagine if that law didn’t stop there – that is also gave incumbent restaurants a say in the matter. If one could persuade the government that ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 30, 2019
Commentary
To Win The White House, Democrats Will Have To Hide The Truth About Single-Payer
Senator Elizabeth Warren kicked off the 2020 Democratic presidential primary late last month by announcing she’d created an exploratory committee, the first step in any serious presidential campaign. This month, Sen. Kamala Harris followed suit and declared her candidacy. Other contenders — including Sen. Cory Booker, Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas, ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 28, 2019
Commentary
Heed the cautionary tale of Canadian health care
It’s a good thing Canadians are so polite; they spend an unbelievable amount of time waiting in line. In 2018, the typical Canadian patient faced a median wait of almost 20 weeks for treatment from a specialist after referral from a general practitioner, according to a new report from the ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 25, 2019
Commentary
Imposing price controls on prescription drugs
President Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders don’t agree on much. But they both believe in price controls. Both men recently introduced separate proposals to impose price controls on prescription drugs. Though both men are likely well-intentioned, their plans are deeply misguided. Both proposals would discourage drug research and reduce ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 24, 2019
Commentary
Wasteful Medicaid spending prevents government from fulfilling core responsibilities
Few states can waste public healthcare dollars like California. According to a recent state audit, Medi-Cal — the Golden State’s Medicaid program, which covers about 13 million people — improperly spent more than $4 billion on thousands of ineligible enrollees from 2014 to 2017. At least one of those ineligible enrollees had been dead ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 23, 2019
Commentary
Health spending in US is finally slowing: Here’s why
America’s health bill appears to be moderating, and market forces deserve the credit for this good news. National health expenditures grew more slowly in 2017 than in 2016, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The CMS statistics break down cost increases by category. Private health insurance spending grew ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 23, 2019
Commentary
The NHS’s Winter Crisis Is a Red Flag for Americans Enticed by Single-Payer
The winter flu season has plunged Britain’s government-run National Health Service into a full-blown crisis. Medical professionals are struggling to cope with an influx of patients. One doctor described his workplace as “an absolute war zone” and the “worst hospital conditions in my memory.” This is hardly the first time that flu ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 22, 2019
Commentary
Partial Medicaid expansion isn’t the solution
Some Trump administration officials, and even President Trump himself, reportedly favor allowing states to partially expand Medicaid, the program for low-income Americans jointly funded by the federal and state governments. Any expansion is a bad idea, for both fiscal and moral reasons. Obamacare enabled states to enroll able-bodied, childless adults ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 18, 2019
Commentary
Why Britons are sick of single-payer health care
The British National Health Service (NHS) is unraveling. This month, authorities said they’d consider relaxing official targets for waits in the country’s emergency rooms. At present, the system aims to see and admit, discharge or transfer 95 percent of patients within four hours. The NHS hasn’t been able to hit that target in years. ...
Sally C. Pipes
January 16, 2019
‘Medicare-for-all’ means long waits for poor care, and Americans won’t go for it once they learn these facts
This week, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., one of the front-runners in the race for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, revealed her radical vision for American health care – outlawing private health insurance and putting the government in charge of the system. Harris, along with 15 of her Democratic colleagues, supports Sen. Bernie Sanders’, ...
You’ve probably never heard of anti-competitive ‘certificate of need’ laws but they’re harming your health care
Imagine if a state law prohibited new restaurants from opening in your town unless an aspiring restaurateur successfully convinced the government that the area “needed” another eatery. Now imagine if that law didn’t stop there – that is also gave incumbent restaurants a say in the matter. If one could persuade the government that ...
To Win The White House, Democrats Will Have To Hide The Truth About Single-Payer
Senator Elizabeth Warren kicked off the 2020 Democratic presidential primary late last month by announcing she’d created an exploratory committee, the first step in any serious presidential campaign. This month, Sen. Kamala Harris followed suit and declared her candidacy. Other contenders — including Sen. Cory Booker, Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas, ...
Heed the cautionary tale of Canadian health care
It’s a good thing Canadians are so polite; they spend an unbelievable amount of time waiting in line. In 2018, the typical Canadian patient faced a median wait of almost 20 weeks for treatment from a specialist after referral from a general practitioner, according to a new report from the ...
Imposing price controls on prescription drugs
President Donald Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders don’t agree on much. But they both believe in price controls. Both men recently introduced separate proposals to impose price controls on prescription drugs. Though both men are likely well-intentioned, their plans are deeply misguided. Both proposals would discourage drug research and reduce ...
Wasteful Medicaid spending prevents government from fulfilling core responsibilities
Few states can waste public healthcare dollars like California. According to a recent state audit, Medi-Cal — the Golden State’s Medicaid program, which covers about 13 million people — improperly spent more than $4 billion on thousands of ineligible enrollees from 2014 to 2017. At least one of those ineligible enrollees had been dead ...
Health spending in US is finally slowing: Here’s why
America’s health bill appears to be moderating, and market forces deserve the credit for this good news. National health expenditures grew more slowly in 2017 than in 2016, according to a report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The CMS statistics break down cost increases by category. Private health insurance spending grew ...
The NHS’s Winter Crisis Is a Red Flag for Americans Enticed by Single-Payer
The winter flu season has plunged Britain’s government-run National Health Service into a full-blown crisis. Medical professionals are struggling to cope with an influx of patients. One doctor described his workplace as “an absolute war zone” and the “worst hospital conditions in my memory.” This is hardly the first time that flu ...
Partial Medicaid expansion isn’t the solution
Some Trump administration officials, and even President Trump himself, reportedly favor allowing states to partially expand Medicaid, the program for low-income Americans jointly funded by the federal and state governments. Any expansion is a bad idea, for both fiscal and moral reasons. Obamacare enabled states to enroll able-bodied, childless adults ...
Why Britons are sick of single-payer health care
The British National Health Service (NHS) is unraveling. This month, authorities said they’d consider relaxing official targets for waits in the country’s emergency rooms. At present, the system aims to see and admit, discharge or transfer 95 percent of patients within four hours. The NHS hasn’t been able to hit that target in years. ...