Wayne H Winegarden
Business & Economics
Consumers Benefit When Mergers Create Stronger Competitors
Kimberly-Clark is betting $40 billion that, despite the HHS Secretary’s unwarranted accusations about Tylenol, purchasing Kenvue will create synergies that will turn the combined company into a stronger competitor in the consumer health and consumer products sectors. Regardless of whether these gains are ultimately achieved, it is important that they are given the opportunity ...
Drug Prices
ISSUE BRIEF: Stronger Reforms Needed to Fix Medicare Competitive Bidding Problems
SACRAMENTO – Proposed reforms to fix the problems with the current Medicare bidding process for acquiring prosthetics, CPAP machines, wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment don’t go far enough to fix the fundamental flaws in the process, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and ...
Commentary
Restricting Capital Investment Is A Losing Energy Strategy
The U.S. energy grid stands at a crossroads. It is facing an unprecedented rise in electricity demand driven in no small part by the growth of artificial intelligence and high-tech manufacturing. Simultaneously, supply is being curtailed by growing power plant retirements. It doesn’t take an advanced degree in economics to ...
Commentary
The Compounding Pharmacy Loophole Threatens Safety And Innovation
The new class of GLP-1 medicines exemplifies both the potential of pharmaceutical innovation and the risks to future advancements from ill-considered government policies. The incredible benefits from GLP-1’s are clear – they significantly improve our health and well-being. Risks arise because current federal policies enable activities that jeopardize patient safety ...
Commentary
Lousy Medicare Insurance Is Worsening Outcomes For All Patients
Medicare’s long-term financial outlook is in dire straits. While spending is already historically high, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that, without fundamental reform, things will only get worse. According to the CBO, total government spending will grow from 23.3% of GDP in 2025 to 26.6% in 2055. Almost two-thirds ...
Commentary
Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies Put Americans at Risk in More Ways Than One
The effects of Kennedy’s vaccines policies are going to hurt Americans – and not just because more people are falling ill. Health experts, former CDC directors, and medical associations are gravely concerned that HHS Secretary RFK Jr.’s actions are risking Americans’ health and wellbeing. Nine former directors of the CDC ...
Blog
Spending Watch
Legislators Did Not Relieve California’s Energy Poverty Problem
Legislators Did Not Relieve California’s Energy Poverty Problem Wayne Winegarden September 2025 The legislative year is over and there is lots to be concerned about. Paramount among these concerns, the legislature passed several bills that will worsen the state’s energy affordability problems. Perhaps most disappointing, though not unexpected, legislators passed ...
Business & Economics
Penalizing Mergers And Acquisitions Won’t Accelerate Economic Growth
The U.S. is mired in a growth slowdown… The growth slowdown is not preordained; it is a policy driven outcome that can be reversed by implementing the right reforms. Toward this goal, a ruling by the U.S. Tax Court this past summer made small but significant progress. Read the op-ed ...
Commentary
Business Policy CMS Shouldn’t Expand Its Broken Competitive Bidding Model
Durable medical equipment (DME) such as CPAP machines and hospital beds helps keep many patients out of expensive nursing home care and in their own homes. Unfortunately, creating the right payment model has long eluded the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Disconcertingly, they now plan to expand a ...
Commentary
California’s lawsuit against energy companies will increase greenhouse gas emissions
This fall the San Francisco Superior Court is holding a hearing on California’s lawsuit against American energy companies. The lawsuit alleges that these private U.S. companies misled the public about greenhouse gases’ impact and are responsible for covering the costs associated with climate disasters. But California and the federal government ...
Consumers Benefit When Mergers Create Stronger Competitors
Kimberly-Clark is betting $40 billion that, despite the HHS Secretary’s unwarranted accusations about Tylenol, purchasing Kenvue will create synergies that will turn the combined company into a stronger competitor in the consumer health and consumer products sectors. Regardless of whether these gains are ultimately achieved, it is important that they are given the opportunity ...
ISSUE BRIEF: Stronger Reforms Needed to Fix Medicare Competitive Bidding Problems
SACRAMENTO – Proposed reforms to fix the problems with the current Medicare bidding process for acquiring prosthetics, CPAP machines, wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment don’t go far enough to fix the fundamental flaws in the process, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and ...
Restricting Capital Investment Is A Losing Energy Strategy
The U.S. energy grid stands at a crossroads. It is facing an unprecedented rise in electricity demand driven in no small part by the growth of artificial intelligence and high-tech manufacturing. Simultaneously, supply is being curtailed by growing power plant retirements. It doesn’t take an advanced degree in economics to ...
The Compounding Pharmacy Loophole Threatens Safety And Innovation
The new class of GLP-1 medicines exemplifies both the potential of pharmaceutical innovation and the risks to future advancements from ill-considered government policies. The incredible benefits from GLP-1’s are clear – they significantly improve our health and well-being. Risks arise because current federal policies enable activities that jeopardize patient safety ...
Lousy Medicare Insurance Is Worsening Outcomes For All Patients
Medicare’s long-term financial outlook is in dire straits. While spending is already historically high, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that, without fundamental reform, things will only get worse. According to the CBO, total government spending will grow from 23.3% of GDP in 2025 to 26.6% in 2055. Almost two-thirds ...
Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies Put Americans at Risk in More Ways Than One
The effects of Kennedy’s vaccines policies are going to hurt Americans – and not just because more people are falling ill. Health experts, former CDC directors, and medical associations are gravely concerned that HHS Secretary RFK Jr.’s actions are risking Americans’ health and wellbeing. Nine former directors of the CDC ...
Spending Watch
Legislators Did Not Relieve California’s Energy Poverty Problem
Legislators Did Not Relieve California’s Energy Poverty Problem Wayne Winegarden September 2025 The legislative year is over and there is lots to be concerned about. Paramount among these concerns, the legislature passed several bills that will worsen the state’s energy affordability problems. Perhaps most disappointing, though not unexpected, legislators passed ...
Penalizing Mergers And Acquisitions Won’t Accelerate Economic Growth
The U.S. is mired in a growth slowdown… The growth slowdown is not preordained; it is a policy driven outcome that can be reversed by implementing the right reforms. Toward this goal, a ruling by the U.S. Tax Court this past summer made small but significant progress. Read the op-ed ...
Business Policy CMS Shouldn’t Expand Its Broken Competitive Bidding Model
Durable medical equipment (DME) such as CPAP machines and hospital beds helps keep many patients out of expensive nursing home care and in their own homes. Unfortunately, creating the right payment model has long eluded the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Disconcertingly, they now plan to expand a ...
California’s lawsuit against energy companies will increase greenhouse gas emissions
This fall the San Francisco Superior Court is holding a hearing on California’s lawsuit against American energy companies. The lawsuit alleges that these private U.S. companies misled the public about greenhouse gases’ impact and are responsible for covering the costs associated with climate disasters. But California and the federal government ...
