Recent Articles

Far from proving charges that the administration has “sabotaged” Obamacare, new Census Bureau dataprovide compelling support for the president’s actions. New numbers released this week show a sizable increase in the number of Americans without health insurance—from 26 million in 2017 to 28 million in 2018. Democrats were quick to argue the Trump administration is…

Drug importation is no longer a pipe dream. Now it’s a pipe bomb. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently floated a proposal, dubbed the Safe Importation Action Plan, to allow Americans to use Canada as their personal pharmacy. In Canada, the government dictates the market through price controls, but any drug importation…

If Democrats don’t like Obamacare plans for themselves, then why did they force all Americans to buy this insurance under penalty of taxation? Last week, the wife of Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-S.C.) went on a self-described “rant on social media” about her health coverage. New video: Dem congressman Joe Cunningham's wife is outraged her taxpayer-subsidized…

July’s Democratic presidential debates left seasoned health policy professionals confused, struggling to understand both the candidates’ policies and the differences among them. But working families should find Democrats’ health care debate taxing for another reason. For all their vows that Americans can obtain unlimited “free” health care while only “the rich” will pay, the major candidates are writing out checks…

The latest annual Medicare trustees report highlights the program’s growing fiscal challenge and reflects policymakers’ ongoing failure to prepare Medicare for the future. Medicare’s Hospital Insurance trust fund becomes insolvent in 2026, but the program is already in trouble from a budget perspective. More than $300 billion in general tax revenue was needed in 2018…

Responding to popular anxiety over prescription drug prices, the Senate Finance Committee last month approved a bill to restructure the Medicare prescription drug benefit. The bill is part of broader congressional and administration efforts to address rising health care costs, one in which lawmakers are laying aside partisan differences to seek constructive solutions. The committee…

Medicare buy-in is seen as a moderate proposal, but it would set off a domino effect of cost shifting that would leave few people untouched. It would mean that services for more people would be covered by insurance that reimburses providers at below-cost Medicare rates, placing more pressure on providers to negotiate higher rates with…

Medicare for All’s sponsors claim it would reduce administrative costs and produce huge savings. “Private insurance companies in this country spend between 12 and 18% on administration costs,” says Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “The cost of administering the Medicare program … is 2%. We can save approximately $500 billion a year just in administration costs.”Not…

Stanford University researchers found that from 2010 through 2016, 39% of 13.6 million trips to the ED at an in-network hospital by privately insured patients resulted in an out-of-network bill. That figure increased during the study period from about a third of ED visits nationwide in 2010 to 42.8% in 2016.

As advocates of free markets and members of the business community, we can debate which proposals to prevent surprise billing are more appropriate, but if we enshrine current rates with an arbitration scheme, or if we fail to advance solutions on surprise billing, we only play into the hands of single-payer advocates. It’s time to…