Commentary

Mourning The Many Foibles Of Medicare And Medicaid At 55

July 30, 2020

Healthcare

Today, Medicare and Medicaid both mark their 55th birthdays. But hold the cake. There's not much to celebrate on this anniversary. You'd be hard pressed to find two more wasteful, fraud-ridden programs than Medicare and Medicaid. They grow less fiscally sustainable with each passing year. And they routinely...

CalPERS, Corruption And Cronyism

July 30, 2020

California

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System, which has a history of making poor choices, plans to become a lending institution. A healthy pension fund wouldn’t be making such a risky decision. Still hurting from $100 billion in losses from the Great Recession, CalPERS was bruised again...

Affordable short-term healthcare plans can flourish thanks to Trump

July 29, 2020

Healthcare

Millions of people will continue to have access to affordable short-term health plans, thanks to a new ruling from the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. A three-judge panel of the court upheld by a 2-1 margin a Trump administration rule extending the maximum duration of...

After COVID-19 subsides, ‘the telehealth revolution must march on’

July 28, 2020

Healthcare

It's hard to find a silver lining in a pandemic. But one of the few may be the rapid rise of telemedicine. With people stuck at home, doctors retooled their practices to see patients via videoconference. Insurance companies and regulators expanded the number of services available...

It’s time to bring our economy back to life. Paying workers to stay home won’t help

July 25, 2020

The federal government's emergency unemployment benefits are set to expire this week. Set at $600 a week by the CARES Act -- the economic rescue package Congress passed back in March -- the emergency benefits were intended to supplement state unemployment insurance and offset the economic carnage caused...

Trump’s drug pricing executive orders harmful to patients — will hinder development of new drugs

July 24, 2020

Healthcare

President Trump issued four executive orders Friday that he said will lower drug prices — but in reality, three of the orders will cause far more harm than good and represent electioneering at its worst. The three harmful executive orders allow the importation of drugs from...

President Trump’s Big Government Instincts Threaten Drug Innovation And Availability

July 24, 2020

Healthcare

President Reagan famously said, “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government and I’m here to help”. It is time for President Trump to learn this wisdom. Along with Speaker Pelosi, Senator Sanders, and Representative Ocasio-Cortez, President Trump seems to...

California Doubles Down on Unworkable Data Privacy Law During Second COVID Shutdown

July 23, 2020

California

Businesses were ordered to close. Schools were shuttered. People were told to stay home. Many believed that in a week or two life for the most part would return to normal and that COVID would be a bad memory. Now, four months later, California has not...

Why Trump administration should say goodbye to ‘Buy America’

July 23, 2020

Healthcare

It’s not often that Joe Biden agrees with President Trump. But the former vice president found common ground with his presumptive opponent this month when he announced he would outline a plan to bring medical manufacturing back to the United States, something the president has...

COVID-19’s Long-Term Effects Raise the Stakes of the Game.

July 23, 2020

Despite the surge of new cases of COVID-19, increases in the percentage of positive tests, and scores of ICUs at or near capacity, some commentators are still saying things like, “The so-called surge in cases is more fake news pushed by media cheerleaders eager to destroy...