Pacific Research Institute | Health Care Blog

What We’re Watching – What Will You Bid?

August 24, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn6Xk8aCOOI Play everyone's favorite game show "What Will You Bid?" to learn about the broken competitive bidding process for providing durable medical equipment to Medicare patients. Read the new study by PRI's Wayne Winegarden to learn about free-market reforms to fix this broken process....

Shouldn’t Californians Have More Choices in Health Care Insurance? Lawmakers Don’t Think So

August 22, 2018

The Trump administration recently announced a regulatory change that “proposes to expand the availability of short-term, limited-duration health insurance by allowing consumers to buy plans providing coverage for any period of less than 12 months, rather than the current (Obamacare) maximum period of less than...

An Update on Single-Payer

August 15, 2018

Healthcare

With the mid-term elections now less than 100 days away, the siren-call for single-payer or “Medicare for All” continues. Fifty-one percent of those polled earlier this year by Kaiser support single payer, the highest number ever recorded. But as Seema Verma, Administrator at the Centers...

When the Public Option Is the Only Option

June 01, 2018

Healthcare

Single-payer has failed abroad and at home. Yet the call for single-payer from progressives has never been louder. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and his dedicated followers have been the loudest. In his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, he promised “Medicare for All.”...

Expanding Affordable Healthcare in the States, The Legal Way

April 05, 2018

Healthcare

In March, the Trump administration saved Obamacare in Idaho. It was a hard decision for administration officials, who harbor no love for the health law. But it was the right call. Idaho officials wanted to help residents who have been harmed by Obamacare's premium-inflating regulations. So...

Single-Payer in California: Slowly, Slowly, Catchy Monkey

March 22, 2018

Healthcare

For now, California’s progressive politicians have judged single-payer as a bridge too far. But that doesn’t mean they’ve given up trying to take over health care. As my Canadian mother used to say, “slowly, slowly, catchy monkey” - or be patient. On March 14, Assembly lawmakers...

What a Difference a Year Makes: A Washington Update

March 02, 2018

Healthcare

For many years now, Sally Pipes and I make a trip to Washington in the early part of the year to take the political and policy pulse of the nation’s capital. We meet with members of Congress, their staffs, and executive branch officials to get...

Trump Is Right: The UK’s NHS Is Failing And More Money Won’t Save It

February 28, 2018

Healthcare

President Trump recently “slammed” socialized medicine on Twitter. He was referring to a massive "NHS in Crisis: Fix It Now" protest that occurred on Feb. 3 in London. As the British might say, the president's analysis is "spot on." The United Kingdom's single-payer system is in turmoil. It'd be...

For Brits, A Government Mandated New Year’s Resolution?

January 19, 2018

Healthcare

My husband, Charles Kesler, and I have spent the last several Christmas holidays in London. Each year, the news headlines about the National Health Service (single-payer British style) seem to get worse and worse. I often save the articles to use as fodder for my...

The Importance of the Banal: The Case of the 340B Program

January 18, 2018

Healthcare

Most news coverage focuses on the grandiose – repeal of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), or whether the U.S. should implement a single payer health care system. These existential questions matter of course – a lot. [caption id="attachment_20715" align="alignleft" width="231"] Click on the image above...