Commentary
Commentary
States are grumbling about Medicaid work requirements. Taxpayers shouldn’t.
States are grumbling about the cost of implementing new work requirements for working-age Medicaid beneficiaries. “[I]t’s taking a significant amount of financial resources away from a system that people depend on,” Marvin B. Figueroa, the Virginia secretary of Health and Human Services, recently said. But that argument gets the issue ...
Commentary
Trump Takes Aim: Hospitals’ Pricey Lack of Transparency
Earlier this month, federal regulators put more than 500 hospitals on notice for failing to properly disclose what they charge for common procedures and services. The warnings are the latest step in President Trump’s long-running effort to bring greater price transparency to healthcare. It’s a fight worth having. Click to ...
Commentary
Healthcare costs keep rising. Hospitals are a big reason why.
Congress recently hauled CEOs from some of the nation’s largest hospital systems to Capitol Hill to answer for America’s soaring healthcare costs. And lawmakers didn’t pull their punches. House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., accused hospitals of building “empires” and told executives that the prices they charge patients ...
Commentary
The Real Lesson Of America’s Rising Uninsured Rate
The number of uninsured Americans ticked upward to 26.7 million in 2024, according to an analysis published this month by KFF. The report’s authors attribute that trend to the “high cost of private insurance and limited availability of public coverage.” Unpack the numbers, though, and the situation becomes more complicated. ...
Commentary
Healthcare costs keep rising. Hospitals are a big reason why.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., accused hospitals of building “empires” and told executives that the prices they charge patients amount to “borderline extortion.” The hearing underscored a reality Washington has been slow to confront. Hospitals are the primary drivers of rising health costs. They are consolidating markets, ...
California
The affordability crisis is real. Sacramento just made it worse.
Californians are told almost daily that Sacramento understands the state’s affordability crisis. Lawmakers hold hearings about it. The gubernatorial candidates are campaigning on it. Gov. Gavin Newsom promises to fix it. Then, when budget season arrives, Sacramento does what it always does: make California more expensive. State lawmakers just approved ...
Commentary
Declining Obamacare enrollment isn’t the crisis critics claim
Enrollment in Obamacare’s exchange is falling, according to a new analysis from the Commonwealth Fund. The study suggests that the expiration of the enhanced premium subsidies enacted during the pandemic has made coverage unaffordable for many Americans. Some consumers undoubtedly have decided that exchange plans are no longer worth the ...
Commentary
No, Proving Medical Frailty Isn’t Too Much to Ask
The Trump administration just released a new rule making clear that Medicaid’s work requirements are just that — requirements. Beginning in 2027, able-bodied adults who gained Medicaid coverage through Obamacare’s expansion of the program will generally need to spend at least 80 hours per month working, studying, participating in job ...
Commentary
The FDA’s sunscreen rules leave Americans exposed
Just in time for the beginning of summer, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new sunscreen ingredient for the first time in more than a quarter-century. Bemotrizinol is a next-generation ultraviolet filter already widely used in other nations. The FDA fully approved the ingredient for use in the ...
Commentary
Congress should fulfill this drug program’s promise to vulnerable Californians
A federal program intended to help low-income patients has instead become a major revenue source for large California hospital systems. Hospitals are using gaps in oversight within the 340B Drug Pricing Program to lock in substantial margins on prescription drugs — and driving healthcare costs higher for Californians in the ...
States are grumbling about Medicaid work requirements. Taxpayers shouldn’t.
States are grumbling about the cost of implementing new work requirements for working-age Medicaid beneficiaries. “[I]t’s taking a significant amount of financial resources away from a system that people depend on,” Marvin B. Figueroa, the Virginia secretary of Health and Human Services, recently said. But that argument gets the issue ...
Trump Takes Aim: Hospitals’ Pricey Lack of Transparency
Earlier this month, federal regulators put more than 500 hospitals on notice for failing to properly disclose what they charge for common procedures and services. The warnings are the latest step in President Trump’s long-running effort to bring greater price transparency to healthcare. It’s a fight worth having. Click to ...
Healthcare costs keep rising. Hospitals are a big reason why.
Congress recently hauled CEOs from some of the nation’s largest hospital systems to Capitol Hill to answer for America’s soaring healthcare costs. And lawmakers didn’t pull their punches. House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., accused hospitals of building “empires” and told executives that the prices they charge patients ...
The Real Lesson Of America’s Rising Uninsured Rate
The number of uninsured Americans ticked upward to 26.7 million in 2024, according to an analysis published this month by KFF. The report’s authors attribute that trend to the “high cost of private insurance and limited availability of public coverage.” Unpack the numbers, though, and the situation becomes more complicated. ...
Healthcare costs keep rising. Hospitals are a big reason why.
House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., accused hospitals of building “empires” and told executives that the prices they charge patients amount to “borderline extortion.” The hearing underscored a reality Washington has been slow to confront. Hospitals are the primary drivers of rising health costs. They are consolidating markets, ...
The affordability crisis is real. Sacramento just made it worse.
Californians are told almost daily that Sacramento understands the state’s affordability crisis. Lawmakers hold hearings about it. The gubernatorial candidates are campaigning on it. Gov. Gavin Newsom promises to fix it. Then, when budget season arrives, Sacramento does what it always does: make California more expensive. State lawmakers just approved ...
Declining Obamacare enrollment isn’t the crisis critics claim
Enrollment in Obamacare’s exchange is falling, according to a new analysis from the Commonwealth Fund. The study suggests that the expiration of the enhanced premium subsidies enacted during the pandemic has made coverage unaffordable for many Americans. Some consumers undoubtedly have decided that exchange plans are no longer worth the ...
No, Proving Medical Frailty Isn’t Too Much to Ask
The Trump administration just released a new rule making clear that Medicaid’s work requirements are just that — requirements. Beginning in 2027, able-bodied adults who gained Medicaid coverage through Obamacare’s expansion of the program will generally need to spend at least 80 hours per month working, studying, participating in job ...
The FDA’s sunscreen rules leave Americans exposed
Just in time for the beginning of summer, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new sunscreen ingredient for the first time in more than a quarter-century. Bemotrizinol is a next-generation ultraviolet filter already widely used in other nations. The FDA fully approved the ingredient for use in the ...
Congress should fulfill this drug program’s promise to vulnerable Californians
A federal program intended to help low-income patients has instead become a major revenue source for large California hospital systems. Hospitals are using gaps in oversight within the 340B Drug Pricing Program to lock in substantial margins on prescription drugs — and driving healthcare costs higher for Californians in the ...