You may be thinking, “When was health insurance in America ever great?” Point taken, but at least there was a time when health insurance was more affordable and individuals were better able to buy what they wanted, not what the government demanded. And the good news is Republicans can take steps toward getting us moving in that direction again.
For 30 years Democrats have tried to make health insurance “affordable” — or even “free” if Sen. Bernie Sanders (I...
healthcare
What big change in health care really looks like
Health care reform is an evergreen topic that keeps thousands of health policy wonks busily wringing their hands. Yet, little meaningful reform ever takes place, while spending continually rises at an unsustainable rate.
It’s as if we’re watching the famous psychology experiment where participants are so focused on counting basketball passes that they fail to notice a person in a gorilla suit walking through the scene. In health care, we’re so fixated on the min...
Our health care system is dysfunctional: Here’s how to make America healthy again
American health care is getting more expensive, but Americans aren’t getting healthier. We spend $4.8 trillion annually on health care — more than any other country — only to have some of the worst health outcomes in the developed world.
Spending more money on government programs is not the solution. What we need is a fundamental paradigm shift toward health care freedom. We spend three times more per capita than Italy on health care, the average American lifespan is five ye...
Which candidate’s plan will actually make America healthy again?
With the presidential election less than a week away, health care is not on the ballot, but the winner will definitely impact the direction our health care system takes. In fact, the candidates’ respective approaches to health care appear to be diametrically opposed based on their previous statements and records.
A President Kamala Harris would likely extend coverage to millions more people by expanding the Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid expansion to all 50 states. She w...
Harris will fight to protect health care for more than 4 million Hispanics
When my sister, Kimberly, was two years old, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. As she was fighting for her life, my parents were fighting to protect their family.
My mom and dad spent every dollar they had on Kimberly's medical expenses as she quickly maxed out her lifetime cap on health insurance.
Kimberly died at age 21, and my parents spent years trying to pay off the debt incurred from her medical expenses. No parent should have to grieve th...
England’s strained health care system should ring alarms in the US
The National Health Service in England, founded in 1948 to deliver health care directly to all in need following World War II, is in trouble.
Not only is it broke, but it is also broken, as the new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer just pointed out in response to a recent government study.
The waiting lines for care are prohibitive. A recent study revealed that 8 million people in the United Kingdom are waiting for their care, with 40 percent waiting for more than...
Price transparency is key to reducing health care costs
Health care has emerged as a fault line in this year's election campaign. Vice President Kamala Harris supports expanding the Affordable Care Act, while former President Donald Trump wants to scale it back. Yet there's one health care policy that the Biden-Harris and Trump administrations both supported and can coalesce around again: price transparency.
This bipartisan health care fix is supported by 92 percent of Americans, according to a new poll by Echelon In...
Affordable Care Act tax credits work despite fraud and should be expanded
A controversial analysis authored by a long-time critic of the Affordable Care Act claims that a policy that expanded and improved Health Insurance Marketplace premium tax credits for 20 million Americans should be discontinued due to fraud. Fraudulent insurance enrollment by some insurance companies and their agents should be — and is being — targeted by the administration and Congress.
But saying that fraudulent enrollment makes the tax credit unsuccessful skirts...
Reforming 340B vital for affordable medication for low-income patients
When the 340B drug pricing program was established in 1992, Congress intended for the program to help low-income and uninsured patients with their prescription drugs. The pharmaceutical companies whose drugs are covered by Medicaid are required to participate in the program, offering discounts for drugs to patients on average at 25 to 50 percent of the wholesale acquisition cost.
Unfortunately, today, the 340B program is failing those it was meant to serve. There i...
Trump’s spectacle is no match for Harris’s substance
This election isn’t just another political match — it’s a reckoning.
For years, Donald Trump has masqueraded as the champion of the working class, a man of the people with a golden touch for business and so-called "common-sense" solutions.
But let’s be real: The Trump campaign is a fraud. His faux populism is nothing more than a cynical con, wrapped in flag-waving theatrics and reality TV spectacle. While he posed for photo ops and riled up his b...