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
City Journal
The FTC Jettisons Economics—and Law
The Federal Trade Commission is stepping up its pursuit of its new favorite bogeyman: Pharmacy Benefit Managers. Two months ago, the FTC issued an …
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Reforming red tape in the states with James Broughel
In this week’s episode we cover striking dock workers at US ports, free-market innovation in healthcare, and the changing pattern of federal…
Blog
Adam Smith on health policy
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute published my OnPoint essay, “The Innovation Imperative: What Adam Smith Can Tell Us About Health.” This was adapted from…
Search Posts
The Wall Street Journal
Why Your New Car Doesn’t Have a Spare Tire
Auto makers comply with fuel economy mandates by making cars lighter and more dangerous. Fewer tires, higher taxes. That may be what’s in store for…
Blog
Meet Your New Mom: Kathleen Sebelius and Cigarette Warnings
Health and Human Services Director Kathleen Sebelius recently made a revealing statement on how she perceives the role of government and her place within…
The Wall Street Journal
There’s No ‘Average’ Cancer Patient
On June 28, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold a hearing to decide the fate of Avastin, a drug taken by thousands…
Blog
Yet Another Way That Obamacare Is Unconstitutional: The Arguments in Florida v. HHS
In the Washington Examiner, I discuss the brief I recently filed on behalf of Minnesota and North Carolina legislators challenging Obamacare, which…
Blog
CEI Podcast for May 31, 2011: FDA Rescinds Approval of Breast Cancer Drug
Conko believes this battle boils down to one question: who decides which treatments patients can use? Will it be the FDA, or doctors and patients?…
Blog
200 More Obamacare Waivers Granted
204 more waivers of Obamacare’s onerous mandates have been issued over the past month, bringing the total to at least 1,372. As…
Blog
Republicans Filibuster Left-Wing Lawyer’s Nomination to Key Appeals Court; Block Confirmation of Goodwin Liu
"Goodwin Liu's nomination to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals appears to be done for" thanks to a Republican filibuster, says David Freddoso of…
Blog
CEI Files Another Amicus Brief Challenging Obamacare
Debate over the constitutionality of the massive health care law passed in 2010 has focused on its "individual mandate": the requirement that individuals buy health…
Legal Brief
Brief Amici Curiae of Minnesota Legislators and North Carolina Legislative Leaders in Support of Plaintiffs-Appellees/Cross-Appellants
Full Document Available in PDF Court below correctly found that the ACA…
The Wall Street Journal
Oregon’s Anti-BPA Packaging Legislation May Jeopardize Public Health
The Oregon Senate recently voted in favor of SB 695, which would ban BPA use for children’s food containers, baby bottles and sippy cups…
Blog
Clinic for Porn Actors Closes, AIDS Group Rejoices
After years of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation trashing them in the media, the Adult Industry Medical Foundation (aka AIM) has closed its doors for good,…
Baltimore Sun
BPA Poses Serious Health Risk to Children
One News Now
Unconstitutional to Take Unhealthy Foods off the Market
Blog
Union Health Dependent on Obamacare
The Obama administration through Obamacare (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) steadily gives competitive advantages to Big Labor. Benefits for top political donors of the…
One News Now
Under Obama, Running Out of Money Is a Success
Only in Washington would running out of money and prematurely limiting a program be considered a success. This Friday (May 6,) Obamacare’s first handout program…
Blog
Supreme Court Refuses the Speedier Route for Health Care Appeal
Monday morning the Supreme Court rejected Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's request to speed up the process for a ruling on Virginia's health care appeal.
One News Now
Obama’s Generic Proposal Is No Prescription for Health Savings
President Obama has been taking shots at the pharmaceutical industry since announcing his deficit reduction plan in a speech last Wednesday (April 13). Despite relying…
Blog
Paul Ryan Attacked Because His Father Died Early, Resulting in Survivor Benefits
At the age of 16, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) suffered the death of his 55-year-old father. Because of his father’s early death, the government made…
Study
Anti-BPA Packaging Laws Jeopardize Public Health
Full Document Available in PDF In public policy, bad ideas have an unfortunate…
One News Now
Activists Sue USDA to Block Herbicide-Resistant Alfalfa
Blog
Six Pages of Legislation, 1,000 Pages of Regulation
HHS is about to issue over 1,000 pages of new regulations stemming from a 6-page section of last year's health care bill.
One News Now
Frankenfish Fatuity
I’ll say one thing for the most recent New York Times‘ rant about genetically engineered food: They got the headline — “Frankenfish Phobia”…
One News Now
Obamacare and the Constitution
One News Now
Are Obamacare’s health-insurance exchange requirements unconstitutional?
Usually, Congress can’t order state governments to do anything – it can only bribe them to do so, using federal grants. If it tries to…
Blog
Obamacare’s Costs Rise, as Obama Backers Get Preferential Treatment
The cost of Obamacare continues to explode and exceed its sponsors’ predictions. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has now admitted to double-counting in the Obamacare…
One News Now
A Toxic Consensus on Toxic Substances?
When ducks are in a row, stars align, and Republicans, Democrats, industry and environmentalists agree — it’s time to worry. Such forces materialized at recent…
One News Now
Compensate Donors for Giving Their Organs (Letter to the Editor)
The Feb. 24 front-page article “New kidney transplant rules would favor younger patients” reported on a proposal to modify the transplant distribution system. It would…
One News Now
What Would a Smoke-Free America Cost the Government?
One News Now
Tobacco addicts are the gift that keeps on giving
Quality Health
Today’s Cancer Trends
Blog
PolitiFact: Obama Made False Claims About Health Care, Taxes, and Court Rulings
PolitiFact, which earlier took Obama’s side about whether Obamacare is a government takeover of health care, now is criticizing President Obama for making…
Blog
Put Regulations on a Life-Cycle Budget
Reading through the headlines, the top economic stories are about scrutiny of regulation and spending proposals regarding the federal budget. But the similarities and differences…
Quality Health
Nutrition Labeling Mandate Will Cost Jobs and Hurt Small Brewers
Last month, President Barack Obama signed a highly publicized Executive Order demanding a government-wide review of existing laws to remove regulations that stifle job creation…
Quality Health
Obamacare Repeal Starts with 1099 Rule, OTC Drug Restrictions
Although the U.S. Senate voted along partisan lines Wednesday to defeat repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare…
Quality Health
Senate’s 1099 Repeal Shows Obamacare’s Edifice is Crumbling
Although the U.S. Senate voted along partisan lines Wednesday to defeat repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as…
Blog
Ruling Striking Down Health Care Law Was Not “Judicial Activism”
On Monday, a federal judge in Florida struck down Obamacare as unconstitutional. Judge Vinson concluded that the law’s cornerstone — a requirement that…
Blog
Senate Repeals Obamacare’s 1099 Mandate — OTC Drug Rules Should be Next
Although the U.S. Senate voted along partisan lines to defeat repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare —…
Study
Depoliticizing Groundwater
Full Document Available in PDF Groundwater management problems in Jakarta Indonesia, as recently highlighted in the Financial…
Blog
Suspend Obamacare’s 1099 and OTC Drug Rules Pending Supreme Court Action
Monday’s decision by Florida federal judge Roger Vinson striking down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — in its…
Blog
The GOP and the Health Insurance Mandate
With the health insurance individual purchase mandate looking more vulnerable than ever, Democrats are trying desperately to get some mileage out…
Quality Health
Suspend Obamacare Rules Until SCOTUS Decision
Quality Health
Suspend Obamacare’s Burdensome Rules Until SCOTUS Decision
Monday’s decision by Florida federal judge Roger Vinson striking down the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — in…
Quality Health
No Severability, No ObamaCare
Blog
Obamacare Struck Down by Florida Judge; Properly Applies Severability Principles to Invalidate Whole Law
A judge in Florida just declared the health care law known as “Obamacare” unconstitutional, ruling it void in its entirety. Judge Vinson rightly…
Quality Health
Second Federal Judge Rules Obamacare Unconstitutional
Quality Health
Judge Vinson Strikes Down PPACA
News Release
Florida Judge Strikes Down Obamacare, Amicus Author CEI Praises Decision
Washington, D.C., January 31, 2011 — A federal judge in Florida today struck down Obamacare, the president’s signature health care take-over. CEI, which had filed…
Quality Health
Obamacare Struck Down As Unconstitutional by Florida Judge
Blog
Yes, Obamacare is a Government Takeover of the Health Care System
In Tuesday’s Washington Post, Glenn Kessler looked at Republican claims about Obamacare, such as the claim that it “is a ‘government takeover’ of the health…
Quality Health
Are Biofuel Policies Fueling a Global Food Crisis?
Study
Reject the Precautionary Principle, a Threat to Technological Progress
Liberate to Stimulate Index Increasingly, governments and environmental activists are demanding that producers of both new and old technologies prove that their…
Study
Reduce Burdensome Regulation of Medicines and Medical Devices
Liberate to Stimulate Index Over the past century, American consumers have benefited from thousands of new pharmaceuticals and medical devices to help…
Study
Improve Food Safety and Quality through Greater Information, Consumer Choice, and Legal Accountability
Liberate to Stimulate Index Few issues are as important to consumers as the safety and quality of their food—from microbial contaminants to…
Study
Protect Incentives for Pharmaceutical Innovation
Liberate to Stimulate Index In recent years, Congress has faced mounting public pressure to “do something” about the rapidly rising prices of…
Quality Health
No Call to Arms in Fight Against Health Care Reform (Letter to the Editor)
When I first heard about the Tucson shootings, I expected people to rush out and blame talk radio, regardless of contrary evidence. But I never…
Blog
US Loses Ground in 2011 Index of Economic Freedom
The U.S. dropped from 8 to 9 on the just-released “Index of Economic Freedom” put out by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street…
Quality Health
The FDA Needs Strong Medicine
Christmas came a couple of weeks late to the business sectors regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The greatest threat to the success of…
Quality Health
Sack Vilsack!
Something is very wrong at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The secretary, Tom Vilsack, is letting hypothetical claims by organic farmers–who produce less than 1%…
Quality Health
A Spoonful of Sugar Will Soon Cost More
Despite many years of success with genetically modified plants, various environmentalists won’t stop trying to obstruct biotech foodstuffs. First they tried to frighten consumers away…
Quality Health
Premium Power Grab: Feds Take Control of Insurance Prices
Quality Health
Obamacare Litigation: The Pennhurst Argument
Quality Health
December 23 roundup
Quality Health
Activists Target Important Agricultural Fertilizer
Study
Protect Incentives for Pharmaceutical Innovation
Full Document Available in PDF In recent years, Congress has faced mounting public pressure…
Study
Improve Food Safety and Quality though Greater Information, Consumer Choice, and Legal Accountability
Full Document Available in PDF Few…
Study
Recognize the Deadly Effects of Over-Regulating Medicines and Medical Devices
Full Document Available in PDF Over the past…
Study
Reject the Precautionary Principle, a Threat to Technological Progress
Full Document Available in PDF Increasingly, governments and environmental activists…
Blog
Obamacare Makes State Budget Problems Worse
Obamacare is making state budget problems much worse, as governors now lament. Earlier, CEI filed an amicus brief in Florida v. HHS on…
Quality Health
Food Safety
Quality Health
Happy Meal Lawsuit, cont’d
Blog
Should Obamacare Be Struck Down In Its Entirety Rather Than Just Having Its Unconstitutional Parts Severed?
In his ruling striking down Obamacare’s individual mandate (requirement that people buy health insurance), Judge Hudson in Richmond declined to strike down the rest…
Quality Health
Judge Should Have Struck Down Entire Law (Letter to the Editor)
This editorial about a federal judge striking down Obamacare’s individual insurance-purchase mandate rightly noted that the law lacks a severability clause. Because of…
Blog
Is Obamacare’s Government Healthcare Takeover a “Civil Right”?
Doug Powers takes aim at the silly argument by the Obama administration that opposing Obamacare is analogous to opposing basic civil rights. As he…
Blog
Reactions to Court Ruling Striking Down Part of Obamacare in Virginia v. Sebelius
Yesterday, a federal judge in Richmond struck down Obamacare’s requirement that individuals buy health insurance. Cato Institute’s Ilya Shapiro reacts to the decision…
Blog
V.A. Judge Rules Against Obama’s Health Care Law
A Virginia federal judge has declared federal health care legislation unconstitutional. In response to the decision, which was handed down earlier today, CEI General…
Blog
Ruling in Virginia’s Challenge to Obamacare Individual Mandate Expected Today
A ruling in Virginia’s constitutional challenge to Obamacare’s individual mandate is expected later today. The Competitive Enterprise Institute joined in an amicus brief filed…
Quality Health
Food Safety: Why Is the Food Safety Bill So Controversial?
Quality Health
Judge to Obamacare architects: Ahem. Meet the Constitution, power-grabbers.
Quality Health
Federal Judge Strikes Down Obamacare Mandate as Unconstitutional
Quality Health
The Health Care Law Under the Judicial Knife: Some Early Reactions
Quality Health
McDonald’s Obesity Class Action Dismissed
Blog
People Do What You Pay Them to Do
This seems like an obvious statement. But Big Government is shocked — shocked! — when it pays doctors to perform surgeries instead of taking time for…
Washington Examiner
Government Health Programs Skew Incentives; People Respond
Forget QE2; this is QED. When a health-care providing government pays doctors according to how many procedures they perform, rather than by the effectiveness or…
Washington Examiner
The Food Industry Plays Regulatory Roulette
Washington Examiner
Food safety bill update (and welcome readers)
Washington Examiner
More FDA Authority Won’t Improve Food Safety
In its rush to enact sweeping new food safety legislation during the lame-duck session, Congress hit a procedural roadblock that may put the bill off…
Washington Examiner
The Environmental Impact Subterfuge
Action needs to be taken to prevent anti-biotech activists from co-opting environmental law to derail the planting of transgenic crops that have already received regulatory…
Washington Examiner
Trimming the Fat
Study
Safe Drinking Water Act Overview
Full Document Available in PDF Since passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)…
Study
Pesticides and Public Health
Full Document Available in PDF In recent years, public health authorities have expressed serious…
Study
Pesticides and Agriculture
Full Document Available in PDF In 1989, environmental activists claimed that a chemical called Alar…
Study
Food Quality Protection Act
Full Document Available in PDF In 1996, the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) amended the two…
Study
International Fisheries
Full Document Available in PDF The history of fisheries management in the United States largely…
Legal Brief
Amicus in Obamacare Litigation on Behalf of Minn., Rhode Island Governors
Full Document Avalible in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute is representing Governors Tim Pawlenty (R, Minn.) and Donald Carcieri (R, Rhode Island)…
Study
Population
Full Document Available in PDF In his 1798 Essay on the Principle of Population, Thomas Malthus argued…
Study
Cancer Trends
Full Document Available in PDF In recent decades, many have claimed that cancer is rising…
Washington Examiner
‘Natural’ Foods Activist Gets It Wrong
Washington Examiner
Does FDA’s Caffeinated Alcoholic Beverage Ban go too Far?
Washington Examiner
Brief of Governors Tim Pawlenty and Donald L. Carcieri As Amici Curiae In Support of Plaintiffs’ Motion for Summary Judgment
Washington Examiner