Health Care Reform
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) ...
Wayne H Winegarden
December 31, 2025
Commentary
What America Needs from a GOP Healthcare Package
The U.S. House just passed legislation that will help make health insurance more affordable — without extending the enhanced premium subsidies for exchange coverage that Democrats enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The House action comes on the heels of votes on two measures in the Senate: one from Democrats that ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 24, 2025
Commentary
GAO Provides Yet More Evidence for Why Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies Must Expire
Defrauding the government through Obamacare’s insurance exchanges is shockingly easy, per a new government report. The study found that federal insurance subsidies were granted for 90 percent of the fake exchange accounts set up as part of a Government Accountability Office investigation — at a cost of more than $10,000 ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 12, 2025
Commentary
Despite Dems’ protests, affordable health plans are about to multiply
Obamacare premiums are climbing yet again during open enrollment. But there’s also some good news for cost-conscious shoppers ― a new way to secure affordable coverage without forgoing access to care. This year, many people can buy low-cost “catastrophic” health plans for the very first time. Combine one of these ...
Sally C. Pipes
December 12, 2025
Commentary
Congress Should Embrace Competition To Promote Affordability
Joining the Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives is now taking up the problem of skyrocketing healthcare costs. Democrats have proposed extending the expanded subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (aka, Obamacare or ACA), but this will not address the problem of rising costs. Promoting greater healthcare affordability requires reforms ...
Wayne H Winegarden
November 20, 2025
Drug Prices
ISSUE BRIEF: Stronger Reforms Needed to Fix Medicare Competitive Bidding Problems
SACRAMENTO – Proposed reforms to fix the problems with the current Medicare bidding process for acquiring prosthetics, CPAP machines, wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment don’t go far enough to fix the fundamental flaws in the process, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and ...
Wayne H Winegarden
November 4, 2025
Commentary
Republicans shouldn’t cave to Democrats’ shutdown demands
As the government shutdown stretches into its third week, Republicans have signaled some willingness to agree to Democrats’ demand to extend billions of dollars in enhanced premium subsidies for exchange plans beyond their scheduled expiration at the end of this year. That would be a mistake. The enhanced insurance subsidies ...
Sally C. Pipes
October 20, 2025
Commentary
Is a Primary Care Revolution Dawning?
Americans in need of primary care will soon have more options, thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The recently passed law allows patients to use money from tax-advantaged health savings accounts to pay for direct primary care for the first time. Direct primary care, or DPC, is ...
Sally C. Pipes
August 14, 2025
Health Care
New PRI Study: Reforms to Expand PACE Program Could Save Taxpayers Billions, Improve Senior Care
SACRAMENTO – A new issue brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute calls for reforms to expand the reach of the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), a joint Medicare and Medicaid program that delivers comprehensive medical and social ...
Wayne H Winegarden
August 4, 2025
Commentary
One Big Beautiful Bill: A Fiscal Lifeline for Medicaid, Taxpayers
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act (OBBBA) signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4 is set to help pull America’s healthcare system back from the brink of fiscal disaster. Read the entire op-ed here.
Sally C. Pipes
July 16, 2025
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) ...
What America Needs from a GOP Healthcare Package
The U.S. House just passed legislation that will help make health insurance more affordable — without extending the enhanced premium subsidies for exchange coverage that Democrats enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The House action comes on the heels of votes on two measures in the Senate: one from Democrats that ...
GAO Provides Yet More Evidence for Why Enhanced Obamacare Subsidies Must Expire
Defrauding the government through Obamacare’s insurance exchanges is shockingly easy, per a new government report. The study found that federal insurance subsidies were granted for 90 percent of the fake exchange accounts set up as part of a Government Accountability Office investigation — at a cost of more than $10,000 ...
Despite Dems’ protests, affordable health plans are about to multiply
Obamacare premiums are climbing yet again during open enrollment. But there’s also some good news for cost-conscious shoppers ― a new way to secure affordable coverage without forgoing access to care. This year, many people can buy low-cost “catastrophic” health plans for the very first time. Combine one of these ...
Congress Should Embrace Competition To Promote Affordability
Joining the Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives is now taking up the problem of skyrocketing healthcare costs. Democrats have proposed extending the expanded subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (aka, Obamacare or ACA), but this will not address the problem of rising costs. Promoting greater healthcare affordability requires reforms ...
ISSUE BRIEF: Stronger Reforms Needed to Fix Medicare Competitive Bidding Problems
SACRAMENTO – Proposed reforms to fix the problems with the current Medicare bidding process for acquiring prosthetics, CPAP machines, wheelchairs and other durable medical equipment don’t go far enough to fix the fundamental flaws in the process, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and ...
Republicans shouldn’t cave to Democrats’ shutdown demands
As the government shutdown stretches into its third week, Republicans have signaled some willingness to agree to Democrats’ demand to extend billions of dollars in enhanced premium subsidies for exchange plans beyond their scheduled expiration at the end of this year. That would be a mistake. The enhanced insurance subsidies ...
Is a Primary Care Revolution Dawning?
Americans in need of primary care will soon have more options, thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The recently passed law allows patients to use money from tax-advantaged health savings accounts to pay for direct primary care for the first time. Direct primary care, or DPC, is ...
New PRI Study: Reforms to Expand PACE Program Could Save Taxpayers Billions, Improve Senior Care
SACRAMENTO – A new issue brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute calls for reforms to expand the reach of the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), a joint Medicare and Medicaid program that delivers comprehensive medical and social ...
One Big Beautiful Bill: A Fiscal Lifeline for Medicaid, Taxpayers
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act (OBBBA) signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4 is set to help pull America’s healthcare system back from the brink of fiscal disaster. Read the entire op-ed here.