Pacific Research Institute

Wasteful Medicaid spending prevents government from fulfilling core responsibilities

January 23, 2019

Healthcare

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...

Health spending in US is finally slowing: Here’s why

January 23, 2019

Healthcare

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...

California’s Doomsday Clock Getting Closer to Midnight

January 22, 2019

California

In 1947 a group of scientists unveiled the Doomsday Clock to show how near civilization was to a man-made catastrophic end. Maybe California should have its own doomsday clock, since it seems headed for a wreck. Today’s official Doomsday Clock reads 11:58 pm, two minutes before...

The NHS’s Winter Crisis Is a Red Flag for Americans Enticed by Single-Payer

January 22, 2019

Healthcare

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...

GMO crops are key to sustainable farming—why are some scientists afraid to talk about them?

January 21, 2019

Healthcare

By Henry I. Miller, M.S, M.D. and Colin A. Carter Molecular genetic engineering has spawned a strange new allergy. No, not the kind of allergy that causes hives or wheezing; rather, an aversion to mentioning the role of genetic engineering in agriculture. In analyses, reports, and...

The best solution to Los Angeles teachers’ strike? More school choice

January 18, 2019

Conventional analyses of the Los Angeles teachers strike present the public with a false dichotomy: is the teachers union right or is the school district right? The reality is that both sides are wrong, and the solution for parents and students is greater school choice...

Partial Medicaid expansion isn’t the solution

January 18, 2019

Healthcare

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...

Governor Newsom’s troubling first act on medications

January 17, 2019

In one of his first acts, Governor Newsom signed an executive order that will change how medicines are purchased in California. With visions of big-box store discounts dancing in his head, Governor Newsom has established a bulk program that will now purchase drugs for the...

Why Britons are sick of single-payer health care

January 16, 2019

Healthcare

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...

Electronic records are driving doctor burnout

January 16, 2019

Healthcare

Doctors are being driven daffy by electronic health records, or EHRs. That’s the takeaway from a recent report in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. Seven in 10 Rhode Island doctors surveyed who used electronic health records said that the technology stressed them out....