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...
healthcare
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...
To repair our fiscal foundation, we need to bend the health care cost curve
Willie Sutton famously explained (in a possibly apocryphal quotation) that he robbed banks because “that’s where the money is.” If he turned his attention to the federal budget, he’d start with health care.
Our total national debt has ballooned to nearly $35 trillion – the highest level in U.S. history. This translates to over a quarter of a million dollars — $265,838 to be exact — of accumulated liabilities for every American household.
Washington now spends abou...
Preventive care is under threat: PrEP now or pay later
A long-awaited court decision has finally arrived, with disturbing health implications: The ruling exempts select employers from fully covering a daily pill that can prevent a person’s chances of getting HIV by up to 99 percent.
But the effects of the Braidwood Management v. Becerra case extend beyond HIV care. The case could invalidate a startling range of free preventative services, and lead to a big jump in patient’s payments for cancer screenings, preventive drugs for hear...
The real reason drug costs are so high in America
Earlier this month, President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) published an oped about “the outrageous prices that the pharmaceutical industry charges the American people for prescription drugs.” It is the latest step in Sanders's ongoing campaign about drug prices.
In June, Sanders, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, announced that Lars Jorgensen, chief executive officer of Novo Nordisk, one of the world’s largest pharmaceu...
The real reason drug costs are so high in America
Earlier this month, President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) published an oped about “the outrageous prices that the pharmaceutical industry charges the American people for prescription drugs.” It is the latest step in Sanders's ongoing campaign about drug prices.
In June, Sanders, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, announced that Lars Jorgensen, chief executive officer of Novo Nordisk, one of the world’s largest pharmaceu...
Why has Medicare’s Innovation Center failed?
The House Energy and Commerce Committee recently convened a hearing on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.
Although the center “was created over a decade ago and provided billions in funding and broad authority to find ways to save taxpayer dollars and improve health outcomes for patients,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) noted, “it has little to show in demonstrated successful outcomes.” Why is this so?
Medicare tra...
Trumpcare could be the gamechanger America is looking for
In last week’s debate, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump both whiffed on a critical issue sliding under the radar in the race for the White House: the rising costs of healthcare.
It’s not the first such missed opportunity.
Early in his first term, Trump in good faith expressed confidence that a GOP Congress would deliver a “terrific,” “phenomenal,” and “fantastic” alternative to Obamacare. But former House Speaker Paul Ryan a...
Affordable health care is on the ballot in November
“Low Insulin pricing was gotten for millions of Americans by me,” Donald Trump recently declared on Truth Social, his social media platform. And “Crooked” Joe Biden “had NOTHING to do with it.”
Trump’s claim is apparently based on his announcement in 2020 that some, but not all, pharmaceutical companies had agreed to cap out-of-pocket costs for insulin — which more than seven million Americans need to manage their diabetes — at $35 per month for individuals enrolled in Medicar...