Our colleagues are doing good and important work to advance health freedom. A few highlights:
The HSA Option
Brian Blase, et al
Paragon Health Institute
June 22, 2022
Brian and colleagues explain in this new Paragon paper an “HSA Option” to allow lower-income Americans enrolled in ACA exchanges another way to access their subsidy. Instead of having all of the money sent to insurance companies, they could have a portion deposited into a health savings account they own. That would mean enrollees with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level could have access to thousands of dollars in their HSAs, giving them more control over their health spending to pay out-of-network costs and expenses like vision, dental, and hearing care. Brian, with coauthors Dean Clancy, Andrew Lautz, and Roy Ramthun, explain that the HSA option also will improve competition and lower costs market wide.
The IRS Can’t Fix the Family Glitch
Doug Badger
Health Affairs Forefront
June 23, 2022
We told you earlier about a comment letter we submitted explaining the many reasons the Biden administration’s latest attempt to expand Obamacare is illegal. Doug has an article in Health Affairs detailing why. It involves the so-called “family glitch,” a statutory provision of the ACA that prohibits dependents from signing up for Obamacare subsidies if a family member is eligible for affordable coverage at work. The Biden administration wants to make them eligible anyway, adding millions of people taxpayer subsidies and eroding employer-based health insurance. Only Congress has the constitutional authority to amend the statute, Doug writes. “The agencies should withdraw their unlawful proposal and instead ask Congress to enact the policy they favor.” Brian wrote a paper for us earlier explaining the Biden administration’s proposed rule is illegal and harmful.
CMS Decision on Alzheimer’s Drug Is a Harbinger of Things to Come
Joel White
Real Clear Health
June 21, 2022
Alzheimer’s patients and their loved ones cheered last year when the Food and Drug Administration approved Aduhelm, the first new treatment in 20 years to treat the debilitating disease. The celebration, however, was premature, Joel writes. The approval set off a melee in Washington over whether Medicare would cover Aduhelm. Answer: for most patients, it won’t. This is a harbinger of things to come. Once the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service (CMS) said no to Aduhelm, the nation’s private insurers, as expected, followed suit. The drug has all but disappeared from the market. Joel says this decision was a calculated step by the government to test how it can drive price negotiations.
Insurers and PBMs are Undermining Employee Health Benefits
Robert Popovian, Pharm.D., MS, lead author
Healthcare Business Today
June 20, 2022
Robert does an excellent job of explaining many reasons prescription drug prices are so high, focusing on how PBMs and insurers are undermining pharmaceutical benefit plans provided to employees by employers. The article explains why employees are not getting the discounts they deserve on their prescription drugs.
Americans see the facts
Jonathan Imbody
The Washington Times
June 18, 2022
Americans are too smart to fall for the spin. “As inflation races past income and families choose between eating or driving, Biden responds blithely, ‘Look, here’s where we are. We have the fastest growing economy in the world. The world. The world.’” Meanwhile, people see gas soaring prices, there is a crucial shortage of baby formula, healthcare prices rose 8.6% in the past year, and on and on. Time to stop the desperate rhetoric and get back to basic principles that have made our economy thrive for decades.
Finally, the movie Elvis is being released today, and I can’t wait to see it. As a young reporter, I interviewed Elvis. Here’s a link to the article that I wrote for the Albuquerque Journal. It’s a sweet and moving story you won’t want to miss.
