Category: Policy Reports

Obamacare is enrolling too many sick people and too few healthy ones to prevent a death spiral. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a unit of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), has proposed a new rule to stabilize the Obamacare markets for individual health insurance. This was the first rule issued since Dr. Tom Price was appointed HHS secretary. The proposed Market Stabilization rule includes a number of measures to prevent people from entering the market when sick and exiting when healthy.

Executive Summary The number of diseases and conditions that can be treated using drug therapy has grown tremendously over the past 25 years. The vast majority of prescription drug costs are paid …

In March 2015, an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress voted for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). The so-called “doc fix,” a component of MACRA, was an attempt …

Executive Summary Congress has taken up the growing problem of opioid abuse. Yet for all the talk there appears to be little discussion of a commonsense solution: mandatory electronic prescribing (e-prescribing). This …

Executive Summary Medicare, the health care program for the elderly, now provides insurance coverage for over 50 million Americans, and accounts for 20 percent of the $3 trillion spent annually on health …

As Obamacare’s third open season wrap ups on January 31, 2016, a majority of enrollees in Obamacare exchange plans can expect to pay significant double-digit percentage rate hikes for 2016. Tax credits …

Executive Summary Medicare reform requires empowering seniors to manage more of their own health care spending using Medicare Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) coupled with high-deductible Medicare plans. A criticism of HSAs is …

Compared to the funds spent on doctors and hospitals, prescription drug therapy is a bargain. Generic drugs are especially inexpensive, accounting for 88 percent of drug prescriptions filled but only 28 percent of …

Executive Summary The long-term solvency of Medicare is the most serious domestic policy problem this country faces in the 21st century. Despite the rosy forecasts from politicians, the Medicare Trustees confirm that …

Executive Summary Compared to spending on doctors and hospitals, prescription drug therapy is a bargain. Generic drugs are especially cheap; accounting for 88 percent of prescriptions filled but only 28 percent of …

The U.S. Supreme Court decision in King v. Burwell, the lawsuit which asserts tax credits currently being paid to health insurers in 34 to 37 states that use the federal health insurance exchange (healthcare.gov) are illegal, could require almost seven million people to pay the full premiums for their Obamacare policies. This will cause a crisis, and demand a response, giving Congress the opportunity to remove some of the Affordable Care Act’s most harmful features.

Compared to hospital and physician care, drug therapy is by far the most cost-effective way to treat most diseases and health conditions. Americans spend twice as much for physician care and three times as much on hospital care as they do for drugs. And drug therapy often eliminates, lessens or delays the need for more invasive treatments such as surgery or inpatient care.