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
FDA deserves credit for approval pancreatic cancer drug
The FDA on August 26 approved a new breakthrough drug to treat pancreatic cancer. CEI Senior Fellow and Economist Jeremy Nighohossian praised…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Search Posts
C-SPAN
VIDEO: CEI’s Joel Zinberg joins C-SPAN to Discuss Vaccine Passports and Mandates
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joined C-SPAN to discuss the debate over COVID-19 vaccine passports and the role of government and the private sector:…
New York Post
The Feds’ Foolish J&J Vax Pause is Already Undermining the War on COVID
A little more than a week ago, federal officials called for a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine. The decision…
News Release
House-passed SAFE Banking Act Would End Federal Threat to Banks Dealing with Legal Cannabis Businesses
The House has passed a bill allowing banks to do business with cannabis companies, the SAFE Banking Act. While Senate action on the…
The Washington Examiner
Racially Charged Atmosphere Could Spell End Of Menthol Cigarettes
The Washington Examiner cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on menthol cigarettes: Michelle Minton, a senior fellow at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise…
National Review
The CDC Shouldn’t Treat Racism as a Public-Health Crisis
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was founded in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center, with a simple goal: prevent the spread of…
Orlando Sentinel
Desantis’ Ban Of Vaccine Passports Could Lead To Showdown With Businesses In Florida
The Orlando Sentinel cites Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg on vaccine passports: “Every business has economic and reputational incentives to ensure that…
The New York Post
Agencies are Being Cautious with J&J Vaccine — and it Could Cost Lives: Doctor
The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday that they are recommending a pause in the use of…
The Center Square
Study: Vaccine Passports May Soon be Obsolete
The Center Square cites CEI’s report by Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg on vaccine passports: The Competitive Enterprise Institute released a new …
Study
A Way Forward for Vaccination Passports
View Full Document as PDF Countries around the world have announced plans to implement vaccine passports—electronic or paper credentials that show…
City Journal
An Idea Whose Time May Never Come
Countries worldwide have announced plans to implement vaccine passports—electronic or paper credentials that show a person has immunity to Covid-19 through either vaccination or…
Blog
More Good News on the Road to Ending the Pandemic
A new study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which shows that a single dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the…
Blog
Debate over Vaccination Passports Gathers Steam in Europe and United Kingdom
The concept of a “vaccination passport” was raised in the European Union (EU) early in the pandemic. EU documents show a timetable for discussion…
National Review
The CDC Extends Its Illegal, Ineffective Eviction Moratorium
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has just announced that it is extending its nationwide eviction moratorium through June. The agency is…
City Journal
Open Schools Now
President Biden has continually intoned that we must “follow the science.” He needs to follow his own advice and lead on the…
Tobacco Reporter
Mail Ban Forces Vape Shops Out of Business
Tobacco Reporter cites Senior Fellow Michelle Minton on e-cigarettes and a USPS mail ban: Writing in the National…
City Journal
Crossing the Line
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued ever-changing, sometimes contradictory guidance throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. But the disparity between the agency’s treatment…
National Review
Don’t Ban E-Cigarette Delivery by Mail
Amid the economic devastation caused by COVID-19, one industry has actually thrived: the cigarette business. Some people are smoking to relieve the…
News Release
Covid ‘Relief’ Bill Spends Billions on Items Unrelated to Crisis Recovery and Risks Inflation
The House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on final passage of the ‘American Rescue Plan Act,’ a $1.9 trillion proposal touted…
National Review
Team Biden’s COVID-Vaccine Deceptions
Can somebody tell President Biden that the election is over? Since he was sworn in six weeks ago, he hasn’t stopped denigrating the Trump…
The Washington Examiner
A Federal Eviction Ban Infringes on Constitutional Rights
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, federal and state governments have imposed multiple policies that infringe on constitutional rights in the name of protecting public health.
City Journal
The Third Vaccine
Chalk up another victory for America’s innovative pharmaceutical sector in the battle against Covid-19. An FDA analysis has found that Johnson and…
Wall Street Journal
Biden and Allies Stoked Vaccine Fears
President Biden has proposed an “unprecedented” information campaign to persuade people to get Covid-19 vaccinations. Why, when a pandemic has killed 500,000 Americans, does…
Blog
Prescription Drug Price Controls are a Trump Legacy Worth Eradicating
During his first month in office, President Biden has seemingly been more interested in eradicating Donald Trump’s legacy than pushing his own proposals,…
Blog
Biden Should Choose Science over Politics and Embrace Tobacco Harm Reduction
Will the new Biden administration choose science over politics? The commandment to “believe science” has become a rallying cry, one echoed by Joe…
City Journal
False Hero of the Pandemic
Something is rotten in the state of New York. And, as in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, it starts at the top. For the past year, New York…
National Review
Atlas, Mugged
Stanford’s campaign against Dr. Scott Atlas for the sins of working for former president Donald Trump and advocating for balancing the costs and benefits…
National Review
Don’t Tax Prescription Opioids
Co-authored by Sally Satel and Joel Zinberg In 1819, U.S. Supreme Court chief justice John Marshall aptly warned that “the power to tax involves…
Inside Sources
Bloomberg’s Philanthro-Colonialism: A Threat to Global Health and Science
Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is in hot water overseas —and potentially at home—with members of the Philippines government accusing Bloomberg-funded charities…
Inside Sources
Beating COVID-19: Five Simple Steps
Inside President Biden’s expansive and expensive plan to combat COVID-19 are a few hundred billion dollars to increase vaccination. Despite the scientific triumph of…
New York Post
Our Leaders Failed Us on COVID, but Miracle Science Brings Hope for Relief
It seems like a lifetime, but it was only one year ago that the world learned about a cluster of pneumonia cases linked to…
City Journal
Don’t Wait to Reopen Schools
President Biden has asked governors to reopen schools at the end of his first 100 days in office. Why wait? No Covid-19…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposed to Most Favored Nation Drug Pricing Final Rule
View Full Document as PDF Introduction On behalf of the undersigned federal and state-based organizations, we write to express our…
Blog
The Growing Groupthink Problem in Science and Policy
Government Dietary Guidelines issued jointly by the Departments of Agriculture (USDA) and Health and Human Services (HHS) every five years are meant to provide…
National Review
Why Is Israel Doing Better Than Everyone Else in COVID Vaccinations?
Eleven years ago, Dan Senor and Saul Singer dubbed Israel the “Start Up Nation” for its disproportionately large number of technology start-ups and NASDAQ stock…
Blog
Employers Will Pay Workers to Get a Covid-19 Vaccine
The federal government, through Operation Warp speed, helped develop and bring to market vaccines against the new disease COVID-19 in less than a year,…
City Journal
AUDIO: Joel Zinberg Joins the 10 Blocks Podcast to Discuss COVID Vaccine Rollout
Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg joins Brian Anderson at City Journal to discuss the slow rollout of coronavirus vaccines, why states…
City Journal
End Covid Now
More than 22 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been distributed in the United States so far, yet only …
National Review
Why Are We Vaccinating People Who Have Recovered from COVID-19?
Now that Pfizer and Moderna have received emergency-use authorizations for their COVID-19 vaccines, the tough work of deciding how to allocate the limited supply of…
Blog
2020 Was Difficult. It Was Not the Worst Year Ever
It’s been a hard year, and I am hardly alone in being glad it’s almost over. But was 2020 the worst year ever?…
The Dan Profit Show
AUDIO: Joel Zinberg Joins The Dan Profit Show
CEI’s Joel Zinberg joins The Dan Profit Show to discuss Biden’s COVID response.
Op-Eds
Cannabis Legalization Clears One Hurdle, but Political Parties Must Compromise to Succeed
Last week, the House passed an historic bill to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level. Despite growing public and political support for such a…
City Journal
A Path to Better Days
It seems like a lifetime, but it was only one year ago that the world learned about a cluster of pneumonia cases linked to…
Blog
Documentary Exposes Global Nicotine Misinformation Campaign
What if, instead of a deadly “addictive” chemical, nicotine was a revolutionary therapy able to treat several debilitating conditions and, potentially, save billions of…
Wall Street Journal
Trump Isn’t the One Politicizing Science
Politics has infected many issues over the past four years and has now reached the supposedly objective halls of official medicine. In an editorial…
News Release
New CEI Paper Calls on EPA to Revise Faulty Assessment of Key Medical Supply Sterilant
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) finds faulty science by an EPA program led to an unfounded health scare around…
Study
EPA Should Revise Its Assessment of Medical Supply Sterilant
The COVID-19 crisis is a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining critical medical supplies. Not only must policy makers ensure that the market…
Blog
COVID-19 Vaccine Shows that the World Needs More Refrigeration and Less Anti-Refrigeration Climate Policy
Refrigeration has had a substantial positive impact on public health in the U.S. and other developed nations where it is in widespread use. Increased…
News Release
House Vote to End Cannabis Prohibition Complicated by Big Government Provisions
The House today passed legislation that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level. CEI led a coalition supporting that provision of the bill. But…
The Hill
Time to Rein in Government’s Pandemic Overreach — Starting with CDC’s Eviction Ban
Co-authored by Steven D. Anderson When the history of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 is written, it will need a section on the…
Letters
CEI Leads Coalition Letter Supporting MORE Act Provision to De-Schedule Cannabis
Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader Hoyer, Leader McCarthy, and Whip Scalise: On behalf of the many of Americans whose views and values our organizations…
Hawaii Public Radio
05:49 Hawaii Public Radio
Hawaii Public Radio cites CEI senior fellow Joel Zinberg on COVID-19 vaccine. Most of the direct actions are going to have to take place…
FOX23 News @ 9
FOX23 News @ 9
FOX23 News @9 cites CEI senior fellow Joel Zinberg about COVID-19 vaccine. “The New York surgeon lawyer and economist with the competitive enterprise institute, COVID-19 is…
WFLD-CHI (FOX) — Good Day Chicago at 6A
WFLD-CHI (FOX) — Good Day Chicago at 6A
WFLD-CHI (FOX) — Good Day Chicago at 6A cites CEI senior fellow Joel Zinberg on COVID-19 vaccine and legal challenges. “Zinberg says: “COVID-19 is…
KRIV-HOU (FOX) — Houston's Morning Show 8am
KRIV-HOU (FOX) — Houston’s Morning Show 8am
KRIV-HOU (FOX) — Houston’s Morning Show 8am cites CEI senior fellow Joel Zinberg on the legal challenges to COVID-19 vaccine. “Legal challenges are…
Blog
COVID-19 Vaccine Development Is Testament to the Market’s Ability to Develop Life-Saving New Products
The announcement by drug maker Moderna that preliminary data from its still ongoing trial shows its COVID-19 vaccine is 95 percent effective is extremely…
Inside Sources
Drugs (Except Nicotine) Win on Election Day
Americans sent a clear message on Election Day that it is time to end the war on drugs. Every ballot measure to decriminalize or…
City Journal
Andrew Cuomo, Vaccine-Resistant
New York governor Andrew Cuomo has done it again. Following his earlier pledge to delay distribution of a prospective, FDA-approved Covid-19 vaccine…
The Wall Street Journal
We Don’t Need Government Mandates for Covid Vaccination
Covid-19 vaccines are almost here. Pfizer announced Monday that its vaccine has proved more than 90% effective in clinical trials. But vaccines are useless unless…
Blog
President Trump Should Waive Dodd-Frank Provision Harming Vaccine and Ventilator Production and Distribution
The announcement by Pfizer that the vaccine it is developing with German firm BioNTech may be 90 percent effective against COVID-19 is worth…
USA Today
Invalidate Entire Affordable Care Act
The fate of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act is, once again, before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the justices will hear arguments…
CNN Politics
Energy Department’s plan for faster dishwashers draws environmental worries
CNN cites CEI on dishwashers and regulatory policy. According to the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, today’s average dishwasher cycle is more…
Legal Brief
Brief of Amicus Curiae – Supreme Court of Oklahoma: District Court Case No. CJ-2017-816
INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE The Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”) is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of limited government,…
Daily Caller News Foundation
The Affordable Care Act Is Likely Here To Stay Even If Amy Coney Barrett Fills Supreme Court Vacancy, Experts Say
Daily Caller News Foundation cites CEI Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg on Affordable Care Act. Dr. Joel Zinberg, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise…
Study
Science May Be the Easy Part
The COVID-19 pandemic has already infected more than 7 million Americans, claiming over 200,000 lives in the U.S. Since the disease is caused by a…
Blog
How Could We Have Known: Prohibiting E-cigarettes Leads to Smuggling and Smoking
Anyone with a passing knowledge of American history is aware of the failures of prohibition. Both the now-repealed ban on alcohol and the ongoing…
News Release
Report : Making Sure a COVID-19 Vaccine Is Used
A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report examines what employers, businesses, and political leaders can and should do to help people get vaccinated against the coronavirus,…
Blog
New CEI Report: Making Sure a COVID-19 Vaccine Is Used
One or more COVID-19 vaccines will likely be approved in the next few months. But this scientific achievement may prove to be the easy…
Wall Street Journal
Democrats Assured ACA Would Come Before ACB
California and the House asked the Supreme Court to fast-track’s Texas’ challenge to the law. Democrats now claim they oppose Judge Amy Coney…
Issues & Insights
COVID-19 Lockdowns Have Been A Disaster — End Them Now
Issues & Insights cites CEI Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg on COVID-19. “The lockdowns led to wide unemployment and economic recession, resulting in …
Blog
Amazon Claims Worker COVID-19 Infection Rates below Norm
Amazon’s critics have made a point of saying the company is endangering its employees by keeping its fulfillment centers active during the…
City Journal
Cuomo’s Vaccine Overreach
The New York governor’s incorrect claim that his state can review FDA vaccine approval will lead to more contagion and illness. New York…
Inside Sources
The Double Standard for Nicotine and Cannabis
The U.S. House of Representatives may soon vote on a historic measure to end federal prohibition on cannabis. Ironically, just as the public…
Study
The Double Standards of Cannabis and Nicotine
View Full Document as PDF Executive Summary The principal benefit of recreational cannabis, as the name implies, is recreation. Many who…
National Review
Cancel Culture Comes to Medicine
Cancel culture has come to medicine. Dr. Scott Atlas, who was chairman of neuroradiology at Stanford’s medical school until 2012 and more recently a senior…
News Release
Report: Politics, Not Science, Drives Double Standard on Cannabis, Nicotine Policies
As the House votes on a bill this month to end the federal prohibition on cannabis – once unthinkable – a new Competitive…
Blog
Trump’s Drug Price Controls are a Lousy Deal for Patients
Prescription drug prices are popular targets for lawmakers—especially in an election year. Still, it came as quite a surprise when President Trump issued an…
The Washington Examiner
Government Alcohol Advice Should be Based on Evidence, Not Agendas
Should adults cut their alcohol consumption in half for health reasons? That’s what a federal government advisory committee is recommending. It matters because…
Blog
FDA Rules on E-cigarette Makers Go into Effect Today, to the Detriment of Public Health
The world was simpler in 2009 when Congress enacted a law that gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the power to regulate tobacco.
The Hill
Ending Counterproductive, Counterintuitive Regulation
Early in the COVID-19 crisis, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chided the Trump administration’s response and demanded “testing, testing, testing.” Yet,…
Letters
CEI Joins Premarket Tobacco Authorization Coalition Letter
View Full Document as PDF Commissioner Hahn: On behalf of taxpayers and consumers across the country, the undersigned 15 organizations…
City Journal
Pointless Quarantine
New York’s restrictions on interstate travelers are overbroad and punish rather than protect New Yorkers. At the end of March, Rhode Island governor…
National Review
How Trump Can Help Reopen America’s Schools
It’s almost the middle of August, and many parents still have little idea if their kids will be able to go to school in a few…
The Wall Street Journal
The White House Prepared for a Pandemic
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched the Democrats’ broadside against the Trump administration’s Covid-19 response. “Our current federal government is dysfunctional and incompetent,” he told…
Letters
CEI Joins Coalition Letter Opposing Most Favored Nation Drug Pricing Proposal
On behalf of the undersigned federal and state-based organizations, we write to express our grave concerns with the “most favored nation” (MFN) executive order to impose foreign…
City Journal
Following The Science — Where?
When doctors meet a patient for a new complaint, we make a list of different possible explanations for the problem—a differential diagnosis—and try to determine…
Inside Sources
Government Contact Tracing Won’t Help Get Americans Back to Work, but Innovation Will
Contact tracing identifies people who have an infectious disease (cases) and people they came in contact with (contacts) who may have become infected.
News Release
Price Controls for Medicines Risk Harming Innovation When Breakthrough Drugs or Vaccines May Mean Life or Death
President Trump is expected to issue an executive order today directing his administration to take a series of actions related to pharmaceuticals and the price…
Study
#NeverNeeded Price Gouging Laws Would Harm COVID-19 Response
Price gouging becomes a hot topic during every crisis. It has become especially topical during the COVID-19 crisis. Almost overnight, the need exploded for goods…
National Review
Stop the Youth Vaping ‘Epidemic’ by Ending Youth Anti-Vaping Campaigns
Anyone who has raised teenagers knows that forbidding an activity is a sure way to pique their curiosity. Yet this is the approach American policymakers and…
City Journal
Death By Policy
Many years ago, one of my duties as a young surgical intern was to fill out death certificates for recently deceased patients. Under “cause of death,” Part…
Blog
Air Conditioning Can Help Fight COVID-19—If Federal Policy Allows It To
COVID-19 persists into the time of year when most Americans rely on air conditioning, so many are asking whether cranking up the cold air helps…
Letters
CEI Joins ATR Letter In Opposition to Buy American Mandates in FY21
View Full Document as PDF Dear Member of the House Armed Services Committee: I urge you to reject any amendment…
Duluth News Tribune
National View: Media Giving Free Pass to Protests After Months of Lockdown Mania
The Duluth News Tribune cites CEI Senior Fellow Joel Zinberg: “Public health,” America has learned, is more ideology than science. Many of…
Resource
What Does The Future Hold For Reusables Post-COVID?
Resource cites CEI’s Angelo Logomasini’s report on single use plastics: In the US, there have been calls that reusable bags are hindering the fight…
Inside Sources
Media Gives Pass To Protests After Months Of Lockdown Mania
Inside Sources quotes CEI senior fellow Joel Zinberg: Public health,” America has learned, is more ideology than science. Many of the officials…
News Release
#NeverNeeded Regulation Report: Trump Administration Should Stop Funding WHO Agency Pushing Faulty Findings About Cancer Risks
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is calling for the Trump Administration to defund the International Agency for Research on Cancer. A division of the World Health…
Study
End All National Institutes of Health Grants to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer
As the Trump administration considers defunding the World Health Organization (WHO) because of its handling of the COVID-19 crisis, it should also make sure that…
Blog
Perverse Psychology: How Anti-Vaping Campaigns Backfired
We have spent years and countless billions trying to deal with the supposed epidemic of youth vaping. It has only gotten worse. A new CEI…
News Release
Dr. Nancy Beck Will Bring Thoughtful Consideration of Science to Consumer Product Safety Commission
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation will today hold a hearing to consider the nomination of Dr. Nancy Beck to be chair…
Inside Sources
Are Protests Safe From COVID-19? Politics Guide Answers.
For months, a constant refrain in discussions of the COVID-19 pandemic has been: follow the science, listen to the experts.
