PRI's Focus on Health Care

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To help patients save money, Congress needs to tackle the middlemen in health care

Lexington Herald-Leader | Sally Pipes
January 6, 2023

A year ago, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) released a comprehensive report on the role of pharmacy benefit managers in the nation’s healthcare system. The result does not make for pleasant reading. It is largely a tale of how greedy middlemen have taken advantage of existing legal loopholes and lax oversight to create an industry that raked in $28 billion in profits in 2019 — while providing no actual healthcare to patients.

Read more. . . ([link removed])

Democrats' deceptive rhetoric on Obamacare prices

Washington Examiner | Sally Pipes
January 7, 2023

More than 11.5 million people have enrolled in Obamacare exchanges as of Dec. 15, according to ([link removed]) the Department of Health and Human Services. That’s an 18% increase from the same time last year. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra boasted that the “unprecedented results” were the result of “unprecedented investments” in the program. Those “investments” include billions of dollars worth of new subsidies that have lowered what people have to pay out of pocket for coverage. But those subsidies simply mask the underlying cost of coverage, which has been rising for years. Ultimately, future taxpayers will foot the bill.

Read more. . . ([link removed])

Deregulating Medical Devices Will Increase Innovation and Safety

Times of San Diego | Sally Pipes
January 6, 2023

Government regulation is supposed to make products safer. But new research shows that, at least for medical devices, regulation can have the opposite effect.

In a paper published this past November, UC San Diego economist Parker Rogers ([link removed]) found that when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ([link removed]) reduces regulation on a category of products, innovation and competition in that category increase, prices decrease, and safety actually improves.

Read more. . . ([link removed])

How to give patients a right to save on health care

Las Vegas Review-Journal | Sally Pipes
January 7, 2023

Shopping around has never been easier. With a few clicks, consumers can easily find deals on flights, get multiple quotes on car insurance or price-match items in their local shopping mall.

Yet when it comes to spending money on something really important — their health — consumers are largely in the dark.

Read more. . . ([link removed])

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