As the climate crisis intensifies, HHS refuses to do its part

In January I argued the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) appeared uninterested in mitigating the healthcare industry’s massive carbon footprint. To appreciate how massive, if every nation emitted our healthcare system’s per capita rate of greenhouse gases (GHGs), the total would approximate the entire global carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030.

U.S. healthcare is the largest industry in the largest economy in the world; HHS should not be ...

Donald Trump has a 2024 math problem

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Biden’s drug price controls are disastrous — are they also unconstitutional?

As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) prepare to implement the Inflation Reduction Act’s price controls for prescription drugs, the agency has been hit with lawsuits from both Merck and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce alleging violation of their constitutional rights. While we cannot know whether these challenges will prevail, the effects of this law on patients are easily predictable: higher launch prices, fewer cures and worse health.

Merck’s lawsuit centers o...

Biden’s drug price controls are disastrous — are they also unconstitutional?

As the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) prepare to implement the Inflation Reduction Act’s price controls for prescription drugs, the agency has been hit with lawsuits from both Merck and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce alleging violation of their constitutional rights. While we cannot know whether these challenges will prevail, the effects of this law on patients are easily predictable: higher launch prices, fewer cures and worse health.

Merck’s lawsuit centers o...

Anti-abortion politicians never intended to support women and children

It’s been one year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and conservative states have had plenty of time to enact the policies to support women, children and families that they promised to prioritize once they reached their goal of banning abortion. 

Immediately following the June 24, 2022, decision, politicians assured us that their post-Roe plans included supporting women and children. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said “Being pro-life means being pro-mothers, pro...

Anti-abortion politicians never intended to support women and children

It’s been one year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and conservative states have had plenty of time to enact the policies to support women, children and families that they promised to prioritize once they reached their goal of banning abortion. 

Immediately following the June 24, 2022, decision, politicians assured us that their post-Roe plans included supporting women and children. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) said “Being pro-life means being pro-mothers, pro...

Ron DeSantis’s underrated assets, and his Achilles heel

Ron DeSantis is being harshly characterized by Democrats and attacked by Donald Trump. He has suffered steep declines in Republican poll ratings, and the flawed announcement of his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president added to his negatives.

The Florida governor's poll ratings have not risen significantly in spite of a great deal of establishment conservative support.

Yet DeSantis' assets and political potential are arguably underrated. 

...

America’s health care paradox: We need smarter spending, not more

It’s an old American story: We pay more for health care than any other country on the planet, yet outcomes lag those of other developed nations. This embarrassing fact keeps us obsessed with cutting health care costs, presumably so that lower costs better reflect the lower value of our health care investment.

But there is another way to achieve value, and that is by changing how we spend our $4.3 trillion in annual health expenditures.

O...

Boosting Medicare Advantage can improve health care quality and costs

Ongoing concerns about rising health care costs and the looming fiscal insolvency of the Medicare program put increasing pressure on policymakers to rein in health care spending and preserve Medicare for future generations. One policy change could help maintain the program and move the health care system, as well as the way we pay for medical services, in a more sustainable direction. And, unlike most health care reforms, this one is remarkably simple.

Will millennials stay quiet in 2024?

The start of campaign season will bring potentially heated and awkward political conversations between average Americans and their coworkers, family and acquaintances. While voters and pundits alike will use their anecdotal experience in these interactions to claim to know which way the country is headed, new polling data suggests that might not be the best evidence.

According to a recent poll from State Policy Network (where I am a fellow), three out of five voters keep their...