Health Care Reform
Commentary
Nothing Life Giving About ‘Quality Adjusted’
Should the government put a price on human life? The new head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., doesn’t think so. She recently introduced legislation alongside several of her colleagues to ban the use of “quality-adjusted life years,” or QALYs, in federal healthcare programs. A QALY ...
Commentary
States are turning to the public healthcare option. They shouldn’t.
One month into the new Congress and it’s already clear that neither party will make much progress advancing their vision for healthcare reform. States are grabbing the baton. Colorado, Nevada, and Washington have all passed laws establishing a public health insurance option. Others, such as New Mexico and Minnesota, are ...
Blog
Are Los Angeles’ world-renowned hospitals price transparent?
In 2021, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out new rules requiring every licensed hospital to display costs for services. All hospitals have been required to list prices (whether that’s cash, gross charges, or negotiated) and display estimates in a consumer-friendly manner. Unsurprisingly, many hospitals refused ...
Commentary
How one bad law drives hospital consolidation and high health care costs
Americans are getting squeezed by rising health care costs. The latest numbers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show that patient out-of-pocket spending increased by 10.4% in 2021, a rate not seen for more than three decades. The cost of monthly health insurance premiums also leapt, by 6.5%. ...
Commentary
Transparency Is A Necessary First Step Toward A Better Healthcare System
The U.S. Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services has issued a new joint federal rule. Another federal mandate is hardly newsworthy, but one devised under the Trump Administration and eagerly implemented by the Biden Administration is certainly unique. Beyond the politics, the Transparency in Coverage rule, while not ...
Commentary
Grave Mistake to Fix Drug Prices Without Esteem for Their Value
Democrats remain fixated on prescription drug prices. Last August, they managed to include price controls on drugs dispensed through Medicare in the Inflation Reduction Act. And they’re not done meddling. Earlier this month, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, called on President Biden to unilaterally suspend drug patents in order “to address the crisis ...
Commentary
Close The Border To Canadian Health Care
Next week, the U.S. Senate will return to work in Washington. Several key committees will welcome new leaders, including the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which will be led by Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sen. Sanders has promised to make “universal health care” a focus of his tenure atop the ...
Commentary
Adopting UK Healthcare Model Could Be Fatal for US Patients
For weeks, the United Kingdom’s government-run healthcare system, the National Health Service, has been roiled by a series of labor strikes. It began last month, when, for the first time in NHS history, thousands of nurses walked out for a day to protest inadequate pay. Days later, ambulance workers across England and ...
Commentary
How to fix the doctor supply crunch
Roughly 100 million Americans live in areas without enough primary care doctors. Nationwide, we’re short about 17,000 of them right now. By 2034, that number could jump to 48,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. To meet our country’s growing demand for care, we need to increase the ...
Commentary
How to give patients a right to save on health care
Shopping around has never been easier. With a few clicks, consumers can easily find deals on flights, get multiple quotes on car insurance or price-match items in their local shopping mall. Yet when it comes to spending money on something really important — their health — consumers are largely in ...
Nothing Life Giving About ‘Quality Adjusted’
Should the government put a price on human life? The new head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., doesn’t think so. She recently introduced legislation alongside several of her colleagues to ban the use of “quality-adjusted life years,” or QALYs, in federal healthcare programs. A QALY ...
States are turning to the public healthcare option. They shouldn’t.
One month into the new Congress and it’s already clear that neither party will make much progress advancing their vision for healthcare reform. States are grabbing the baton. Colorado, Nevada, and Washington have all passed laws establishing a public health insurance option. Others, such as New Mexico and Minnesota, are ...
Are Los Angeles’ world-renowned hospitals price transparent?
In 2021, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rolled out new rules requiring every licensed hospital to display costs for services. All hospitals have been required to list prices (whether that’s cash, gross charges, or negotiated) and display estimates in a consumer-friendly manner. Unsurprisingly, many hospitals refused ...
How one bad law drives hospital consolidation and high health care costs
Americans are getting squeezed by rising health care costs. The latest numbers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show that patient out-of-pocket spending increased by 10.4% in 2021, a rate not seen for more than three decades. The cost of monthly health insurance premiums also leapt, by 6.5%. ...
Transparency Is A Necessary First Step Toward A Better Healthcare System
The U.S. Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services has issued a new joint federal rule. Another federal mandate is hardly newsworthy, but one devised under the Trump Administration and eagerly implemented by the Biden Administration is certainly unique. Beyond the politics, the Transparency in Coverage rule, while not ...
Grave Mistake to Fix Drug Prices Without Esteem for Their Value
Democrats remain fixated on prescription drug prices. Last August, they managed to include price controls on drugs dispensed through Medicare in the Inflation Reduction Act. And they’re not done meddling. Earlier this month, Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, called on President Biden to unilaterally suspend drug patents in order “to address the crisis ...
Close The Border To Canadian Health Care
Next week, the U.S. Senate will return to work in Washington. Several key committees will welcome new leaders, including the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which will be led by Vermont socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sen. Sanders has promised to make “universal health care” a focus of his tenure atop the ...
Adopting UK Healthcare Model Could Be Fatal for US Patients
For weeks, the United Kingdom’s government-run healthcare system, the National Health Service, has been roiled by a series of labor strikes. It began last month, when, for the first time in NHS history, thousands of nurses walked out for a day to protest inadequate pay. Days later, ambulance workers across England and ...
How to fix the doctor supply crunch
Roughly 100 million Americans live in areas without enough primary care doctors. Nationwide, we’re short about 17,000 of them right now. By 2034, that number could jump to 48,000, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. To meet our country’s growing demand for care, we need to increase the ...
How to give patients a right to save on health care
Shopping around has never been easier. With a few clicks, consumers can easily find deals on flights, get multiple quotes on car insurance or price-match items in their local shopping mall. Yet when it comes to spending money on something really important — their health — consumers are largely in ...
