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What Trump’s vaccine executive order actually does
Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal health agencies to revise childhood vaccine recommendations, reducing the number of vaccines recommended for…
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Trump administration decision highlights disastrous Part D redesign
The Trump administration recently announced the end of a demonstration project that was pulled together by the Biden administration as the Inflation Reduction…
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Fauci’s lasting legacy will be the damage he did to science and government
Anthony Fauci isn’t faring well in the court of public opinion. His recently divulged “diary” and subsequent July 29 appearance before the Senate Homeland…
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State Directed Payments redistribute money across states and supercharged growth
Differences in states’ use of SDPs cause an interstate redistribution of taxes as well. Because states are setting different levels of SDPs, spending varies…
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How State Directed Payments turned Medicaid into an interstate transfer scheme
Medicaid’s financing rules have long allowed states to expand spending while shifting much of the cost to federal taxpayers. One of the most important…
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Medicaid financing gimmickry – before and after the One Big Beautiful Bill
Medicaid was created in 1965 as a joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income individuals which targeted families with dependent children, the elderly, and…
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Six takeaways from the recent Obamacare announcements
Every year, health insurers participating in the Exchanges (Obamacare) must announce their planned premium increases for the following year well in advance, so federal…
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CEI and the minimum wage
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) recently proposed a bill to increase the federal minimum wage to $25. Listed below are 18 arguments against raising the…
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Congress wants to retrain workers for the AI economy. The private sector is already doing it
Last week, Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) released a discussion draft of the Great American AI Act, an AI policy…
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Don’t hinder biosimilar development
In its most recent legislative session, the Florida legislature considered precluding pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) from holding an investment interest in biosimilar manufacturing.
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FDA’s Moderna decision demonstrates how science and government are incompatible
Last week, the FDA announced that it would not be considering Moderna’s application for a new flu vaccine because the control group Moderna…
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Congress gets into the PBM business
In the recently passed appropriations bill, Congress enacted several Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM) reforms it has been contemplating for years. On the surface,…
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HSAs: A silver bullet for the silver loading conundrum
After the longest government shutdown in American history — ostensibly caused by the expiration of the expanded Obamacare subsidies — Republicans have debated health…
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Obamacare’s subsidy cliff: How many enrollees are actually affected?
Democrats in Congress have put Obamacare front and center in their opposition to the Republicans’ temporary budget. One provision of the American Rescue…
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The TrumpRx medicine will prove worse than the disease
On September 30, President Trump, standing alongside the CEO of Pfizer, announced a multifaceted deal wherein Pfizer would inoculate itself from new regulations…
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The problem with Obamacare is Obamacare
This year, the COVID-induced expansion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will expire. Extending the expanded subsidies has become a point of contention between…
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The current state of pharmaceutical tariffs
Background Amid the Trump trade upheaval, pharmaceutical products receive different treatment than many other US imports. Pharmaceuticals are treated differently for reasons such…
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Trump’s economy off to a slow start
Last week, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released its estimates of the performance of the US economy in the second quarter. The headline…
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Congress considers micromanaging PBM finances
With the first reconciliation bill behind it, Congress is now looking to reform other aspects of the health care system. Pharmacy Benefit Manager…
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Favorable selection in Medicare Advantage can’t be managed from the top
A previous post covered how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) attempts to mitigate upcoding have been unsuccessful. Another often-decried…
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Top-down management can’t fix upcoding in Medicare Advantage
Among the most consistent criticisms of the Medicare Advantage program is that private plans game the system. Over the years, policymakers have…
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FDA can’t stomach fluoride and doesn’t want you to, either
On May 13, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it would begin a process intended to exclude ingestible prescription fluoride products…
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The MAHA Report is a missed opportunity
Less than six months into the new administration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has produced its Make Our Children Healthy…
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CBO likely overestimates effects of Medicaid reforms
Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its estimates of the costs, both financial and in coverage, of the One Big Beautiful Bill…
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Don’t socialize health care through private insurance
Four senators have introduced the “Supporting Healthy Moms and Babies Act,” which would mandate full coverage, no copays, no out-of-pocket costs for…
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Medicaid cost explosion
Over the past five years, Medicaid has defied all expectations and projections. It is the third largest program that the government administers, and it…
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Big Beautiful Bill threatens the Costco of health care
You’ve probably never wondered why you buy peanut butter from the grocery store instead of directly from the J.M. Smucker Company or your TV…
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States can keep Medicaid whole if they want
Congress is considering slowing Medicaid growth over the next 10 years enough to reduce federal spending by $625 billion. Many Republicans argue that…
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GOP proposal includes reductions in health care expenditures
Over the weekend the House Committee on Energy and Commerce released a proposal describing how it would achieve the expenditure goals for the…
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The numbers don’t add up in new Medicaid paper
In a recently released working paper, authors Angela Wyse and Bruce D. Meyer purport to show that the ACA Medicaid expansion saved 27,400…