For over three decades, CEI has advocated health care reforms that put more power in the hands of consumers to choose their health providers, treatment protocols, and scope of insurance coverage. We have advocated reform of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug and device approval process to allow for greater flexibility and patient choice. And in 2013, CEI organized the court challenges to Obamacare’s exchange subsidies that concluded with the Supreme Court’s King v. Burwell decision.
Healthcare Issue Areas
Featured Posts
News Release
CEI leads coalition calling on Congress to repeal drug price control provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and a coalition 43 conservative and free market groups sent a letter to Congress today calling for the…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Blood donations to mortality tables
Poland voted its nationalist-populist government out of power. The US House of Representatives remained without a speaker, but with a lot of drama. Agencies issued…
City Journal
Equity vs. Evidence
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—a volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that makes recommendations for clinical preventive services such as…
Search Posts
News Release
CEI leads coalition calling on Congress to repeal drug price control provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and a coalition 43 conservative and free market groups sent a letter to Congress today calling for the…
Letters
Coalition Letter to End IRA Prescription Drug Price Controls
October 31, 2023 Dear Members of Congress, When the Inflation Reduction Act was passed and signed into law a year ago, the legislation granted the…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: Blood donations to mortality tables
Poland voted its nationalist-populist government out of power. The US House of Representatives remained without a speaker, but with a lot of drama. Agencies issued…
City Journal
Equity vs. Evidence
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force—a volunteer panel of national experts in prevention and evidence-based medicine that makes recommendations for clinical preventive services such as…
National Review
Restricting Pharmacy Benefit Managers Could Decrease Competition and Increase Drug Costs
Congress is considering multiple bills that aim to restrict the ability of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to negotiate discounts and rebates and to require the PBMs…
PCMA
Just the Facts: Research and Analysis Finds Anti-PBM Legislation Does Not Lower Prescription Drug Costs for Patients
PCMA cites CEI’s Joel Zinberg anti PBM legislation: “This policy would significantly change drug pricing and utilization and shift billions of dollars annually from patients…
Wall Street Journal
Court to FDA: Stop Playing Doctor
The Food and Drug Administration regulates pharmaceuticals, but it has no business playing doctor and giving you medical advice. That’s the message of a Sept.
News Release
Congressional Efforts to Regulate PBMs Risk Higher Drug Costs, Worse Health Outcomes for Patients
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) are private businesses that developed in the free market to manage prescription drug benefits for health insurance plan sponsors. Nearly all…
Study
A Free Market Solution for Drug Distribution
Executive summary This paper describes and explains the function of Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) in the American health care economy. PBMs are private businesses that…
New York Post
Djokovic can compete in the US Open again — after Biden finally ended his unscientific travel ban
The US Open tennis tournament has begun in Queens, and one of the world’s best players will finally be allowed to compete again. Novak…
New York Post
Don’t believe doomsayers — new COVID outbreak is mild, and masks don’t help
COVID-19 cases are expected to rise this fall as new variants become more prevalent. And, as unfortunately expected, it’s already triggered demands by…
Fox News
New report reveals how CDC can be ready for the next pandemic
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has a new director, Dr. Mandy Cohen. Her predecessor, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, acknowledged CDC was…
Citation
Dr. Joel Zinberg discusses his report on refocusing and reforming the CDC after COVID-19 on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal
CEI Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joined Washington Journal on August 11, 2023 to discuss new study from CEI and Paragon Health Institute which found…
News Release
New Study from CEI and Paragon Health Institute finds CDC shortcomings and recommends key reforms
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the Paragon Health Institute published a new paper today by CEI senior fellow and director of…
Study
Unauthorized and Unprepared: Refocusing the CDC after COVID-19
Executive Summary What This Paper Covers The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the nation’s preeminent public health agency, has acknowledged that it failed badly…
Blog
This week in ridiculous regulations: soybean standards and pain medication limits
The FTC issued its new draft merger guidelines. Meanwhile, agencies issued new regulations ranging from milk marketing to Postal Service snitches. On to the…
New York Post
Memo to critics: Only folks who don’t qualify will lose their Medicaid
Medicaid advocates are demanding the federal government to stop states from removing people from the program after 25 states and the District of Columbia dropped…
City Journal
Lab Leak: Likely
Three previously unreleased State Department cables, obtained by the public-health group U.S. Right to Know through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, confirm…
Washington Examiner
The Biden administration shouldn’t waste more taxpayer dollars on COVID vaccines
A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee recently voted to recommend updating the COVID-19 vaccine. But important questions remain: When…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Supporting Efforts to Stop Tobacco Prohibitions in Ag Approps Bill
Chairwoman Granger and Ranking Member DeLauro, The undersigned organizations representing millions of consumers and taxpayers support Sections 768 and 769 of the Fiscal Year 2024…
National Review
Pharmaceuticals: Marching into Trouble
The National Institutes of Health recently rejected a request by private petitioners to exercise “march-in rights” under the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act to control the…
City Journal
Nature’s Vaccine
Public-health officials in the U.S., unlike their counterparts elsewhere, have steadfastly focused on Covid-19 vaccines in fighting the pandemic, acting as if natural immunity following…
Washington Examiner
Under Walensky, the CDC has destroyed public trust in its credibility
The White House announced last week that Dr. Rochelle Walensky will be leaving her post as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She…
Wall Street Journal
Don’t Let Unspent Covid Funds Become Slush Funds
The House has passed the Limit, Save, Grow Act, which would raise the debt limit for a year in exchange for deficit-relief measures. One of…
National Review
No, Lockdown States Did Not Do Better
Many politicians, public-health figures, and media pundits continue to insist that the Covid lockdowns were a success and represent a blueprint for future pandemic responses. Illinois…
City Journal
Roll It Back
Medicaid, the federal-state entitlement for the poor, now provides health insurance to more than one in four Americans. Enrollments surged after the Affordable Care Act…
City Journal
Politically Correct Medical Scholarship Doesn’t Help Blacks
A recent article in the British Medical Journal, “Inequities in surgical outcomes by race and sex in the United States,” is important—not…
National Review
Was the U.S. furtively funding the lab research that unleashed Covid-19?
Slowly but surely, new cracks are appearing in the wall of silence denying Chinese culpability in causing the nearly 7 million deaths attributed to…
Blog
Covid Lockdowns Did Not Improve Outcomes: Lessons from Florida and California
My Competitive Enterprise Institute colleague Dr. Joel Zinberg is the co-author of a new report, published by the Paragon Health Institute titled “Freedom Wins:…
The Washington Journal
VIDEO: Joel Zinberg Joins the Washington Journal
Dr. Joel Zinberg joins the Washington Journal to discuss the efficacy of COVID lockdowns and government restrictions as they relate to public health and take…
The Washington Journal
Video: Dr. Joel Zinberg Joins the Washington Journal to Discuss COVID Lockdowns
Dr. Joel Zinberg joins the Washington Journal to discuss the efficacy of COVID lockdowns and government restrictions as they relate to public health and take…
National Review
Fauci Changes His Public Tune on Covid Vaccines
Dr. Anthony Fauci has finally acknowledged that there had always been good scientific reasons to believe that vaccines against the respiratory…
New York Post
The numbers prove Cuomo’s lockdowns hurt NYers on EVERY metric — while Florida flourished
What a difference a few years make. In 2020, the mainstream media lauded Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his strong but compassionate COVID-19 leadership. He won a…
Fox News
DeSantis’s Florida beats Newsom’s California, again. Here’s the comparison
The COVID-19 pandemic elicited unprecedented government interventions into American life. Yet, the stringency and duration of government measures varied considerably across the U.S. …
Study
Freedom Wins
ABOUT THE AUTHORS Joel M. Zinberg, M.D., J.D. is the Director the Public Health and American Well-Being Initiative at Paragon Health Institute, and a senior…
Blog
Fauci Failure to Acknowledge Limited Vaccine Protection Undermines Faith in Government Advice
In a recent article Dr. Anthony Fauci acknowledged that, from the beginning of the pandemic, there was good reason to believe that vaccines against…
Regulatory Transparency Project
AUDIO: Explainer Episode 48 – The FDA & the Practice of Medicine: Possible Regulation of Off-Label Prescriptions
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joins the Regulatory Transparency Project to discuss possibly regulation of off-label prescriptions: On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations…
Citation
FDA’s Medical Interference, Time for ESG Antitrust Action and other commentary
Libertarian: FDA’s Medical Interference The Wall Street Journal quoted Joel Zinberg on FDA banning practices: “Secreted within the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill,” notes Joel…
Wall Street Journal
The FDA Wants to Interfere in the Practice of Medicine
Secreted within the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill—4,155 pages, spending $1.7 trillion—is a 19-line section that could change the way medicine is practiced. Physicians routinely prescribe…
City Journal
PODCAST: The Last Gasp of Pandemic Restrictions?
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joins Brian Anderson at City Journal to discuss the “tripledemic” of Covid, flu and RSV, the relationship of public health and…
Blog
Omnibus Bill Throws More Money at CDC, Does Not Reform It
Congress has passed the $1.7 trillion fiscal 2023 omnibus appropriations bill. The 4,155-page legislation, which covers everything from agriculture to veterans, includes a section…
City Journal
Ignore the “Tripledemic” Hype
Winter is back, and so are warnings from “experts” for Americans to don masks. A resurgence of influenza (flu) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)—respiratory illnesses…
National Review
Senate, Forget about Rolling Back the Government Takeover of Health Care
Elections have consequences. Republicans’ failure to capture the U.S. Senate means that the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions — known as the HELP…
City Journal
End the Vaccine Mandates
One year ago, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule requiring 15 types of health-care facilities that…
The New York Post
Biden Wastes Billions on COVID Boosters No One Wants
When it comes to wasting money, the Biden administration has few peers. Earlier in the year, Team Biden re-purposed billions of dollars to buy 170…
The New York Post
Team Biden’s Extending the COVID Emergency Again — to Expand the Welfare State
It’s official. Despite President Biden’s recent admission that the pandemic is over, his team will extend the COVID-19 public health emergency through at least April…
The New York Post
Team Biden’s Latest Welfare Expansion: Medicaid Payments for Housing, Food, even Furniture
Co-authored by Dr. Joel Zinberg and Gary Alexander The latest front in the Biden administration’s crusade to bypass the congressional appropriations process and expand the…
National Review
The CDC’s Premature Childhood-Vaccine Decision
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has proven once again how tone-deaf it is. The CDC’s independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted 15–0…
Wall Street Journal
The Bivalent Booster Boondoggle
The public-health bureaucracy is adopting yet another excessive vaccination policy. On Oct. 12 the Food and Drug Administration authorized bivalent Covid-19 boosters from …
Wall Street Journal
The Bivalent Booster Boondoggle
The public-health bureaucracy is adopting yet another excessive vaccination policy. On Oct. 12 the Food and Drug Administration authorized bivalent Covid-19 boosters from …
Blog
One Year on, FDA Sodium Guidance Still Wanting
It is the one year anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Guidance for Industry setting out goals to reduce sodium content in…
New York Post
California Makes it Illegal for Doctors to Disagree with Politicians
Conformity of thought is now required whether it is online, on college campuses, or, if you are in California, in a physician-patient relationship. PayPal recently…
News Release
Court Rules Against Vaccine/Mask Mandates Imposed by Federal Agency
Today, a federal judge in Louisiana ruled the federal government cannot require Head Start program teachers, staff and volunteers be vaccinated against COVID-19 nor that…
New York Post
It seems clear Dems pressured the FDA to delay the COVID vaccine to hurt Trump
For every week we didn’t have a COVID-19 vaccine, more people died, more children were kept out of school, and more damage was done to…
News Release
Judge Rules Illumina-Grail Merger is Legal Despite FTC Antitrust Accusations
In a decision reached today, an administrative judge ruled that a proposed merger between Illumnia and Grail can proceed after ruling against a move…
City Journal
A Pox By Any Other Name
Anyone wondering why medical authorities seem so ineffectual need look no further than their newfound obsession with renaming the monkeypox virus and the disease it…
National Review
Monkeypox Outbreak Leveling Off, No Thanks to Government
Something that apparently surprised government bureaucrats and left-wing commentators but is, in fact, completely predictable is happening: The growth in new monkeypox cases is leveling off…
The New York Post
Key to CDC reform is undoing mission creep — and tossing woke programs
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky has finally admitted what has been obvious to most observers for 2½ years: The agency has been…
C-SPAN
Video: Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg Joins C-SPAN to Discuss Senate Democratic Health Care and Prescription Drug Proposals
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joined the Washington Journal to discuss Senate Democratic Health Care and Prescription Drug Proposals. Click here to read more.
City Journal
No More Masks
Covid-19 cases are on the rise again in the United States. Even President Biden is infected. But the biggest danger is not the virus—the now-dominant…
National Review
Regulators’ Misguided Crackdown on Nicotine Products and Their Makers
Federal agencies must really love black markets. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a plan to limit nicotine in cigarettes and …
Blog
The FTC vs. the Right to a Fair Trial
The Food and Drug Administration recently proposed capping the nicotine in cigarettes, which will encourage many smokers to smoke more to get the same nicotine…
Blog
FDA’s Juul Ban Part of Deadly War on Nicotine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it denied the application of Juul Labs, maker of the Juul e-cigarette, to market its…
The City Journal
Better Late Than Never?
The federal requirement for a negative Covid-19 test prior to flying into the U.S. and the New York City toddler-mask mandate have both just ended.
Wall Street Journal
A Permanent Pandemic Means a Huge Medicaid Expansion
Covid is now endemic, yet the Biden administration keeps extending the public-health emergency. Its goal is to preserve the expansion of the welfare state through…
New York Post
How the FDA bungled the nation’s baby-formula supply
Infant formula provides the sole source of nutrition for infants who are not being breast fed and often supplements breast milk for those who are.
Blog
Banning Menthol Cigarettes Will Do Nothing to Promote Racial Justice
Public support for the War on Drugs has never been lower, due in no small part to increased awareness about the devastation drug criminalization…
New York Post
Billions in COVID relief haven’t been spent … but Biden still demands more!
That great sloshing sound you hear is the tens of billions of dollars of unspent COVID-19 relief funds slopping around federal, state and local government…
Inside Sources
Point: There’s No Evidence That Masks Work
Joe Biden proclaimed, “Wearing masks is not a political statement, it is a scientific imperative.” He was wrong. There is little evidence supporting generalized use of masks.
The New York Post
Studies Prove that Most Politicians and Experts Handled COVID Terribly
During the 2020 election, multiple public health “experts” claimed President Trump had “blood on his hands” and was responsible for “preventable” loss of life. They…
The Federalist Society
AUDIO: CEI’s Joel Zinberg Joins the Federalist Society to Discuss Mask Mandates
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joined The Federalist Society to discuss the CDC’s mask mandate and examine the strategy behind the Department of Justice’s decision to…
The Regulatory Transparency Project
AUDIO: Joel Zinberg Joins the Regulatory Transparency Project to Discuss CDC Mask Mandates
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joined the Regulatory Transparency Project to discuss the CDC travel mask ruling and more: Click here to read more.
National Review
Breathing Easier: End of the Mask Mandate?
There was almost an audible sigh of relief nationwide following Monday’s ruling by a federal district-court judge in Florida vacating the Centers for…
City Journal
A Breath of Fresh Air
In the latest of a long line of judicial rebukes to the Biden administration’s expansive view of administrative-agency power, a federal district court in Florida…
Blog
New Inflation Numbers Show Folly of Price Controls
Today’s release of inflation numbers by the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that the loudest voices in favor of price controls are usually the…
National Review
New York’s Child-Masking Madness
One of the more curious storylines playing out in the early days of Eric Adams’s tenure as mayor of New York City is his stance…
City Journal
Obamacare’s Hollow Celebration
Last week, Barack Obama joined President Biden at the White House to mark the 12th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, also known…
C-SPAN
VIDEO: Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg Joins C-Span to Discuss the ACA and more
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joins C-Span to discuss the Affordable Care Act and the future of healthcare: Click here to read more.
Blog
Affordable Care Act Anniversary Gives Little Reason to Celebrate
President Obama is joining President Biden at the White House to commemorate the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. But there is…
Blog
CEI Joins Coalition Urging FDA Not to Ban Synthetic Nicotine
This week CEI joined a coalition of groups urging Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf not to prohibit synthetic nicotine (read the…
New York Post
Mayor Adams Wants the Tots to Stay Masked Up, Instead of Listening to Science
Mayor Adams and his new health commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, have decided to extend the city’s school mask mandate for children under 5. This makes…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter on FDA Ban on Synthetic Nicotine
Dear Commissioner Califf, We write to you in opposition to a new regulation signed into law by Congress that will effectively ban vapor products that…
News Release
House Votes to Decriminalize Marijuana – an Important First Step
The House on Friday passed legislation to decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (or MORE) Act…
The Chicago Morning Answer
Radio: Joel Zinberg Joins Chicago’s Morning Answer to Discuss Vaccine Mandates
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joins the Dan Proft Show to discuss vaccine mandates and more. Click here to read more.
New York Post
Eric Adams Needs to Expand Vaccine Exemptions to Everyone, Not Just Elites
Mayor Adams has exempted professional athletes and performers from the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for private employers. This overdue and commendable action highlights the absurdity of…
Blog
FDA’s Dysfunctional Regulation of E-cigs Created the Synthetic Nicotine Problem
Winston Churchill once said that “If you destroy a free market you create a black market” and nowhere is the validity of that statement…
National Review
Now, Voyager: Ending the Covid Travel-Testing Charade
As Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to plummet, lawmakers around the country are beginning to lift restrictions. The Biden administration, however, is clinging to…
Forbes
Yes, Cannabis Banking Liberalization — SAFE Banking Act — Would Indeed Make U.S. More Competitive
As war continues in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, interest by policymakers and the media has spiked in the America COMPETES Act, legislation…
New York Post
CDC’s Silly Stalling on Flight Masks
The Transportation Security Administration, following the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will extend its mask mandate for airplanes through mid-April. Once again,…
Op-Eds
Watch Us Fight Covid
The Biden administration’s 97-page National Covid-19 Preparedness Plan, released this month, features a “Test to Treat” initiative that would set up “one-stop”…
Reason
Can the FDA’s New Commissioner Save the Agency from Itself?
Public trust in the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is at an all-time low, largely due to its bumbled handling of the pandemic. But…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Opposing March-In over Drug Prices
Dear Secretary Becerra, On behalf of millions of Americans across the country, we urge you to ignore calls and petitions asking you to deliberately twist…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Urging Congress to End Ban on DC Marijuana Sales
Dear Members of Congress, As you and your colleagues in Congress continue to finalize funding levels and bill language in the FY22 appropriations bill, the…
City Journal
Leading from Behind
Long after many states and localities dropped their mask mandates, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finally revised its metrics to guide community…
New York Post
Biden Wants to Waste More Money on COVID on Top of the Trillions Spent
The Biden administration has released a new National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan that — surprise, surprise — calls for billions in new spending. The initiative is unnecessary,…
National Review
Testing Our Patience
A few days ago, a large, plain manila envelope arrived at my home. It was unmarked except for a mailing label headlined “USPS Connect.” I…
The Mike Gallagher Show
AUDIO: CEI’s Joel Zinberg Joins the Mike Gallagher Show
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joins the Mike Gallagher show to discuss how Florida managed Covid more effectively than blue states like New York. Click…
New York Post
Without Mandates or Lockdowns, Florida Better Managed COVID than New York
When the final history of the COVID-19 pandemic is written it will likely conclude that most of the non-pharmaceutical public health measures taken to combat…
New York Post
If There Was Any Benefit To Masking Kids, It’s Long Since Disappeared
States around the nation, including Democratic ones such as New York and California, are lifting indoor mask mandates. But the Centers for Disease Control and…
Fox News
Video: Doctor Explains Why Vaccine Mandates are Unnecessary
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joins Fox News to discuss why he believes vaccine and other COVID mandates are unnecessary due to natural immunity and falling hospitalizations:…
