Health Care
Commentary
Insurers, bureaucrats shouldn’t deprive patients of lifesaving treatments
Imagine being told there’s a drug that might save your life — but your insurance won’t cover it for 18 months. That’s the reality for patients under a new policy from Independence Blue Cross, a Philadelphia-based insurer. The insurer announced earlier this year that it will delay coverage of therapies ...
Drug Importation
Pipes: “Imposing tariffs on pharmaceutical products and ingredients would be a grave mistake”
Click here to download a copy of Pipes’ comments Thank you for inviting public input on the Department’s Section 232 examination of pharmaceutical imports and their relevance to U.S. national security interests. As president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute and a longtime healthcare policy analyst, I’ve spent over ...
Commentary
Why Are Republicans Acquiescing To Tax Hikes?
The White House is advancing a policy that would raise drug prices, stifle medical innovation, and hand China a strategic edge in the race for global technological dominance. No, Joe Biden hasn’t somehow returned to office. This time, the ill-advised idea — tariffs on imported medicines — comes from Donald ...
Commentary
Congress Should Not Impose Foreign Price Controls On Innovative Drugs
Simple and neat solutions are alluring but often wrong. A case in point is President Trump’s proposal to adopt a most favored nation (MFN) policy. The MFN sets Medicaid’s price for a drug at the lowest price charged in other developed countries each of which has price controls on drugs. ...
Commentary
Medicaid isn’t a federal entitlement
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently ripped into progressives for opposing Medicaid reform. “Medicaid is meant to be a state-federal partnership,” Cassidy, who has an M.D., wrote on X. “States are supposed to pay for 40% of the cost. Most states are paying for less than 15%. … People should not ...
Commentary
Medicaid Is Not A Test Lab For Foreign Price Controls
In a desperate bid to claim fiscal discipline without touching entitlements, President Donald J. Trump is pushing congressional Republicans to adopt a “most favored nation” (MFN) drug pricing model for Medicaid. This policy would tie Medicaid reimbursements to the lowest prices paid in other developed countries—countries where government officials dictate ...
Commentary
Medicaid can’t survive without spending cuts
Congressional Republicans are trying to figure out what to do with Medicaid. Nearly 80 million Americans get health coverage through the entitlement. In California, one in three residents has Medi-Cal, the Golden State’s version of Medicaid. Congress will have to rein in the program at some point. Spending on the ...
Commentary
Banning mRNA vaccines would stop emerging cancer treatments
Several states have effectively declared war on medical progress. Lawmakers in Iowa, Montana, Idaho, Texas and Kentucky introduced bills that would ban or restrict vaccines that use messenger RNA, or mRNA, technology — despite its immense potential for treating and even preventing some of the most vexing diseases known to ...
Commentary
Obamacare Is Killing Small Business. Here’s How To Fix It.
Obamacare was back on trial this month, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard a challenge about the constitutionality of the panel that determines which preventive care services health plans must cover. According to the Commonwealth Fund, “The case has consequences for the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of coverage for a ...
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 ...
Insurers, bureaucrats shouldn’t deprive patients of lifesaving treatments
Imagine being told there’s a drug that might save your life — but your insurance won’t cover it for 18 months. That’s the reality for patients under a new policy from Independence Blue Cross, a Philadelphia-based insurer. The insurer announced earlier this year that it will delay coverage of therapies ...
Pipes: “Imposing tariffs on pharmaceutical products and ingredients would be a grave mistake”
Click here to download a copy of Pipes’ comments Thank you for inviting public input on the Department’s Section 232 examination of pharmaceutical imports and their relevance to U.S. national security interests. As president and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute and a longtime healthcare policy analyst, I’ve spent over ...
Why Are Republicans Acquiescing To Tax Hikes?
The White House is advancing a policy that would raise drug prices, stifle medical innovation, and hand China a strategic edge in the race for global technological dominance. No, Joe Biden hasn’t somehow returned to office. This time, the ill-advised idea — tariffs on imported medicines — comes from Donald ...
Congress Should Not Impose Foreign Price Controls On Innovative Drugs
Simple and neat solutions are alluring but often wrong. A case in point is President Trump’s proposal to adopt a most favored nation (MFN) policy. The MFN sets Medicaid’s price for a drug at the lowest price charged in other developed countries each of which has price controls on drugs. ...
Medicaid isn’t a federal entitlement
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) recently ripped into progressives for opposing Medicaid reform. “Medicaid is meant to be a state-federal partnership,” Cassidy, who has an M.D., wrote on X. “States are supposed to pay for 40% of the cost. Most states are paying for less than 15%. … People should not ...
Medicaid Is Not A Test Lab For Foreign Price Controls
In a desperate bid to claim fiscal discipline without touching entitlements, President Donald J. Trump is pushing congressional Republicans to adopt a “most favored nation” (MFN) drug pricing model for Medicaid. This policy would tie Medicaid reimbursements to the lowest prices paid in other developed countries—countries where government officials dictate ...
Medicaid can’t survive without spending cuts
Congressional Republicans are trying to figure out what to do with Medicaid. Nearly 80 million Americans get health coverage through the entitlement. In California, one in three residents has Medi-Cal, the Golden State’s version of Medicaid. Congress will have to rein in the program at some point. Spending on the ...
Banning mRNA vaccines would stop emerging cancer treatments
Several states have effectively declared war on medical progress. Lawmakers in Iowa, Montana, Idaho, Texas and Kentucky introduced bills that would ban or restrict vaccines that use messenger RNA, or mRNA, technology — despite its immense potential for treating and even preventing some of the most vexing diseases known to ...
Obamacare Is Killing Small Business. Here’s How To Fix It.
Obamacare was back on trial this month, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard a challenge about the constitutionality of the panel that determines which preventive care services health plans must cover. According to the Commonwealth Fund, “The case has consequences for the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of coverage for a ...
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 ...
