Commentary

Commentary

Red tape is strangling rural health care. It’s time to cut it

Rural America is running out of doctors. According to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, 43 million Americans now live in rural communities facing a shortage of primary care providers. This shortage isn’t new. It’s been reality for rural America for decades. And it helps explain why patients there ...
Commentary

Alexis Wilkins Interview Of Sally Pipes

PRI’s Sally Pipes discusses health care policy and the threat of single payer with podcast host Alexis Wilkins. Listen to the entire podcast here. 
Commentary

Enhanced Obamacare subsidies are gone. They deserve to stay that way

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) took to the chamber’s floor last week to voice his opposition to legislation that would extend the pandemic-era enhanced premium subsidies for Obamacare plans for three years. Unfortunately, his wise counsel fell on deaf ears, as all Democrats and 17 Republicans ...
Commentary

Congress Must Prioritize Patients, Not Insurers, In Renewed Healthcare Debate

Congress has returned to Washington. Democrats are renewing their call to extend COVID-era health insurance subsidies to shield people from hefty premium increases. Just last week, some Republicans in the House joined them to pass a bill that extends these subsidies—putting the question squarely before the Senate. That approach would ...
Commentary

Does California Want To Be Part Of The Nuclear Renaissance? 

As the California Coastal Commission agreed this month to keep the state’s last nuclear energy plant open for at least five more years, the Trump administration announced federal funding for the development of small modular nuclear reactors. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo Power Plant, the only remaining nuclear energy ...
Agriculture

‘Bridge payments’ to nowhere: time for ag to find its own path

The Trump administration recently announced $12 billion in “bridge payments” for American farmers and ranchers to provide relief from tariffs and “other economic challenges.” American farmers and ranchers are suffering. The national Farm Aid suicide prevention hotline has reported an increase in calls year-over-year and farm bankruptcies for 2025 have ...
California

If California is an economic powerhouse, then where are the jobs?

It’s a new year, a time for resolutions and fresh starts. Of course, only 9 percent of people who declare New year’s resolutions ultimately fulfill them. Most will give up before January ends. Such a dour outlook is a bit of a wet blanket, but it is apropos for California’s ...
Commentary

California should embrace competition to promote better health insurance

Following a depressingly familiar pattern, California is once again undermining health care competition in the vain hope that less competition will lead to lower prices. It won’t. In its latest anti-competitive actions, starting Jan. 1, California’s Department of Health Care Services will be limiting competition for plans (called Medi-Medi plans) ...
Commentary

Medicare for All remains a disaster proposition

Medicare for All is poised for a comeback. Earlier this month, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the former head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, released polling data showing strong support for the idea among Democrats. Jayapal’s renewed push for socialized medicine comes as many Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate are putting ...
Commentary

Terrible Effects of Medicare Price Controls Are Here

Medicare will impose price controls on prescription drugs for the first time when the calendar flips to January. Even before those controls formally take effect, the damage is already being done. The scheme has begun to hollow out America’s biomedical research ecosystem. Patients will pay the price — in the ...
Commentary

Red tape is strangling rural health care. It’s time to cut it

Rural America is running out of doctors. According to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, 43 million Americans now live in rural communities facing a shortage of primary care providers. This shortage isn’t new. It’s been reality for rural America for decades. And it helps explain why patients there ...
Commentary

Alexis Wilkins Interview Of Sally Pipes

PRI’s Sally Pipes discusses health care policy and the threat of single payer with podcast host Alexis Wilkins. Listen to the entire podcast here. 
Commentary

Enhanced Obamacare subsidies are gone. They deserve to stay that way

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) took to the chamber’s floor last week to voice his opposition to legislation that would extend the pandemic-era enhanced premium subsidies for Obamacare plans for three years. Unfortunately, his wise counsel fell on deaf ears, as all Democrats and 17 Republicans ...
Commentary

Congress Must Prioritize Patients, Not Insurers, In Renewed Healthcare Debate

Congress has returned to Washington. Democrats are renewing their call to extend COVID-era health insurance subsidies to shield people from hefty premium increases. Just last week, some Republicans in the House joined them to pass a bill that extends these subsidies—putting the question squarely before the Senate. That approach would ...
Commentary

Does California Want To Be Part Of The Nuclear Renaissance? 

As the California Coastal Commission agreed this month to keep the state’s last nuclear energy plant open for at least five more years, the Trump administration announced federal funding for the development of small modular nuclear reactors. The Diablo Canyon Power Plant in San Luis Obispo Power Plant, the only remaining nuclear energy ...
Agriculture

‘Bridge payments’ to nowhere: time for ag to find its own path

The Trump administration recently announced $12 billion in “bridge payments” for American farmers and ranchers to provide relief from tariffs and “other economic challenges.” American farmers and ranchers are suffering. The national Farm Aid suicide prevention hotline has reported an increase in calls year-over-year and farm bankruptcies for 2025 have ...
California

If California is an economic powerhouse, then where are the jobs?

It’s a new year, a time for resolutions and fresh starts. Of course, only 9 percent of people who declare New year’s resolutions ultimately fulfill them. Most will give up before January ends. Such a dour outlook is a bit of a wet blanket, but it is apropos for California’s ...
Commentary

California should embrace competition to promote better health insurance

Following a depressingly familiar pattern, California is once again undermining health care competition in the vain hope that less competition will lead to lower prices. It won’t. In its latest anti-competitive actions, starting Jan. 1, California’s Department of Health Care Services will be limiting competition for plans (called Medi-Medi plans) ...
Commentary

Medicare for All remains a disaster proposition

Medicare for All is poised for a comeback. Earlier this month, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), the former head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, released polling data showing strong support for the idea among Democrats. Jayapal’s renewed push for socialized medicine comes as many Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate are putting ...
Commentary

Terrible Effects of Medicare Price Controls Are Here

Medicare will impose price controls on prescription drugs for the first time when the calendar flips to January. Even before those controls formally take effect, the damage is already being done. The scheme has begun to hollow out America’s biomedical research ecosystem. Patients will pay the price — in the ...
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