While most of Congress is focused on the shutdown turmoil, we have good news to report on the free-market health reform front. The House Ways and Means Committee yesterday advanced two bills that would give consumers more freedom and flexibility in using their Health Savings Accounts to pay health costs. The measures would allow more people to create and contribute to an HSA while … [Read more...] about HSA Modernization
Fueling the Fires of Medical Inflation
The checks and balances of a properly functioning market are subverted in the U.S. health sector by public and private third-party payments. Neither sellers nor buyers know what goods and services actually cost, and this blindness allows spending to rise faster than inflation year after year. Massive taxpayer subsidies and hidden private-sector transactions fuel the fires. So enter … [Read more...] about Fueling the Fires of Medical Inflation
Tackling Hospital Consolidation, a Key Driver of Health Costs
Consolidation of large hospitals and health systems is on the political and policy radar screens of both Republicans and Democrats, offering a rare opportunity for action in a polarized Congress. Janet Trautwein, who heads the National Assn. of Benefits and Insurance Professionals, explains how consolidation harms patients in “Healthcare Concentration Is Far From What the Doctor … [Read more...] about Tackling Hospital Consolidation, a Key Driver of Health Costs
Targeting Big Health Care
Consolidation of large hospitals and health systems is on the political and policy radar screens of both Republicans and Democrats, offering a rare opportunity for action in a polarized Congress. Janet Trautwein, who heads the National Assn. of Benefits and Insurance Professionals, explains how consolidation harms patients in “Healthcare Concentration Is Far From What the Doctor … [Read more...] about Targeting Big Health Care
Unseen Harm
As we anticipated last week in Medicare Drugs on the Chopping Block, President Biden announced on Tuesday the first 10 drugs his administration will target for its aggressive and punitive price control regime. One is Eliquis, a blood thinner created by Bristol Myers Squibb. “I am one of the 40 million preventing an early death taking Eliquis twice a day for 6 years. It … [Read more...] about Unseen Harm
Birth of the Laffer Curve
Eyewitness to the Cocktail Napkin that Launched a Presidency By Grace-Marie Turner Originally published at Bastiat’s Window, July 26, 2023. History was being made that late afternoon in the fall of 1974, but it seemed at the time to be just another meeting of Washington power brokers (and one young journalist) over cocktails at a hotel bar. The iconic Hotel Washington at … [Read more...] about Birth of the Laffer Curve
Lives at Risk
The hammer drops next week on one of the most draconian price control schemes ever concocted in the U.S. President Biden will announce on Tuesday the first 10 Medicare Part D prescription drugs forced through a torturous maze called the Drug Price Negotiation Program, enacted this time last year as part of the ridiculously named Inflation Reduction Act—more accurately called … [Read more...] about Lives at Risk
Medicare Drugs on Chopping Block
The Biden administration is expected to announce, by Sept. 1, the first 10 prescription drugs it will target in its newly authorized drug price “negotiation” regime. Under the Inflation Reduction Act (more properly dubbed the Innovation Reduction Act), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will announce the 10 drugs under Medicare Part D that the agency will subject to its … [Read more...] about Medicare Drugs on Chopping Block