Publications
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- Health Care News
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Report: Medicaid Misspent $4.3 Billion in Duplicate Payments
Publication -U.S. taxpayers spent at least $4.3 billion over a three-year period covering the same Medicaid patients twice or more, The Wall Street Journal reported. Medicaid paid health insurance companies for hundreds of thousands of patients who signed up for the program in two or more separate states. This happened when a patient moved to a different state, […] -
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Supreme Court Considers State’s Selection of Medicaid Providers
Publication -The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on April 2 over whether federal law allows states free to select which medical providers they want to fund in their Medicaid programs. In Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, South Carolina defended its right to reject Medicaid vendors who provide abortions elsewhere in the nation, which the state […] -
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Teen Death Puts Spotlight on Abortion Dangers
Publication -A pro-life organization is investigating the death of an 18-year-old woman who died after a late-term abortion at a Colorado-based Planned Parenthood clinic. Keri Kasun, PharmD, told Colorado’s House Health and Human Services Committee the family of Alexis “Lexi” Arguello reached out to her for answers about the medical complication Arguello experienced after having her […] -
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No Better Time Than Now for Real Medicaid Reform – Interview
Publication -Republicans are taking much political heat for trying to cut $880 billion in federal spending, with Democrats saying the GOP will cut Medicaid benefits. Gary Alexander, director of the Medicaid and Health Safety Net Initiative at the Paragon Health Institute, talked to Health Care News about how Republicans can turn this challenge into a huge […] -
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Republican Medicaid Plan: Yes to Reform, No to Benefit Cuts
Publication -Partisan rhetoric over the federal budget has intensified with Democrat politicians claiming Republicans will cut Medicaid benefits. Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker, a Democrat, argued it will be impossible for Republicans to find $880 billion in spending cuts without touching Medicaid. The House budget reconciliation bill instructs the House Energy & Commerce Committee to cut […] -
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States Push to Allow Ivermectin to Be Sold Over the Counter
Publication -Ivermectin (IVM) will now be sold over the counter (OTC) in at least one state, with other states in the process of granting that status. Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas signed Senate Bill 189 into law on March 25, approving ivermectin for use without a prescription. Idaho’s SB 1211, a similar bill, was passed […] -
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Food Companies May Lose Option to Affirm Ingredient Safety
Publication -Food companies across the country may lose their authorization to self-affirm food ingredients, dyes, additives, and stabilizers are safe. Department of Health and Human Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has directed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner to explore revisions to the Substances Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) pathway that gives food manufacturers […] -
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Court Affirms Parents’ Right to Sue Over Forced Vaccinations
Publication -A recent court ruling may increase accountability of school and state employees who overruled parents’ rights to make health care decisions for their children during the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2021, Tanner Smith was sent to his high school’s clinic in Guilford County, North Carolina, for COVID-19 testing. Clinic employees allegedly forced Smith to get […] -
How States Can Push Back Against the Destructive Expansion of Industrial Solar Power
Publication -Policy Studies -As more states consider expanding their solar footprint, it is vital for policymakers to examine the full consequences of this energy source. -
- Health Care News
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Congress Looks at Fast-Tracking Drugs, Devices Approved in Other Countries
Publication -“Washington bureaucracy and regulations far too often interfere with health care decisions of patients and their doctors,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in joining forces with Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) to reintroduce the bicameral Reciprocity Ensures Streamlined Use of Lifesaving Treatments (RESULT) Act, opening the door for more drugs, devices. The legislation would allow the […] -
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New York Backs Off Ban on ‘Consent to Pay’ Patient Forms
Publication -The state of New York is revising a law that would have prohibited hospitals and health care practices from requiring patients to sign “consent to pay” forms before receiving treatment. NY Public Health Law (PHL) 18 was set to take effect in late 2024. It is in limbo after the New York State Department of […] -
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Baby Formula Will Get First Federal Review Since 1998
Publication -Government health agencies have launched an effort to ensure “quality, safety, nutritional adequacy, and resilience” of infant formula in the United States. Under Operation Stork Speed, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will review the nutrients in infant formula and increase testing for heavy-metal contamination. Companies will have to provide transparent and clear labeling on […] -
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Feds Allocate Another $1 Billion to Stop Bird Flu, Cut Egg Prices
Publication -The federal government is allocating an additional $1 billion to combat the avian flu, an outbreak of which led to the killing of millions of healthy chickens and soaring egg prices over the past 12 months. Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins unveiled a “comprehensive strategy to curb highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), protect the U.S. […] -
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Trump Administration Downsizes Federal Health Agencies
Publication -Ten thousand staffers at federal health agencies received pink slips on April 1 in a major overhaul to shrink the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) headcount from 82,000 to 62,000. “Our hearts go out to those who have lost their jobs,” posted HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy on X. “But the reality is […] -
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Trump Orders Hospitals to Disclose Prices, ‘Not Estimates’
Publication -President Donald Trump ordered the Departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services to develop a framework to enforce hospital price transparency, within 90 days. Trump originally established the rule during his first term in office, but compliance and enforcement under the Biden administration were weak. Trump signed the new “Making America Healthy Again […] -
Tax Cuts & Jobs Act: An Updated Study on the Effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on U.S. Personal Income Taxes
Publication -Policy Briefs -The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) reduced the average amount of personal income taxes paid by filers in every income bracket, with the largest benefits going to lower- and middle-income households. -
Defending American Sovereignty: Opposing the EU’s Overreach Through the CSDDD
Publication -American policymakers must take decisive action to protect U.S. businesses from the destructive influence of foreign ESG mandates that serve political interests rather than economic well-being. -
CSDDD: The European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive Is a Direct Threat to U.S. Sovereignty, Free Markets, and Individual Liberty
Publication -Policy Studies -It is difficult to overstate the wide-ranging negative impacts the CSDDD will have on the sovereignty and democratic institutions of the United States. -
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Federal Court Blocks NIH Research Grant Administrative Fee Rate
Publication -A federal judge in Massachusetts issued a nationwide preliminary injunction to stop the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from setting “indirect costs” for grants at a flat rate of 15 percent. “Indirect costs” are paid to universities and research institutions to cover administrative expenses attributed to research projects. Indirect costs can run as high as […] -
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Judge Blocks President’s Ban on Child Trans Treatments
Publication -A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order defunding institutions that perform transgender treatments on children. U.S. District Judge Brendan Hurson in the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction on March 4 preventing the order, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” from going into effect. The judge ordered the injunction in response […] -
Research and Commentary: Florida Bill Would Reform Flawed Step Therapy Program
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Florida lawmakers are considering a bill that would empower health care providers to prescribe the best-suited medications for Floridians on Medicaid suffering from “serious mental illnesses” without having to initially prescribe possibly inferior, cheaper medications. The bill, SB 264, “would create an exception to what is known as ‘step therapy’ for a series of psychiatric […] -
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ID Verification for Entitlements Can Save $1 Trillion a Year, CEO Tells Congress
Publication -Simply verifying recipients’ identification could save $1 trillion in entitlement spending per year, LexisNexis Special Services CEO Haywood Talcove told a congressional committee. “Between federal, state, and local government, you can save one trillion dollars a year by simply putting in front-end identity verification, eliminating self-certification, and monitoring the back-end of the programs that are […] -
Research and Commentary: North Carolina Medical Licensure Compact
Publication -Research and Commentaries -Through House Bill 67, North Carolina would join the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC), which “offers a voluntary, expedited pathway to licensure for qualified physicians who wish to practice in multiple states,” as the IMLC websites states. The legislation would grant physicians licensed in North Carolina “the opportunity to apply for issuance of an expedited license to practice in Compact states, subject to the requirements and restrictions provided in the Compact,” the bill summary states. The bill establishes application procedures, provides for eligibility appeals, and mandates other processes to implement the compact in North Carolina. -
Research and Commentary: North Carolina Bills Would Increase Access to Health Care
Publication -Research and Commentaries -North Carolina Senate Bill 370 and House Bill 455 would eliminate the certificate of need requirement for all health care facilities in the state. This CON reform would greatly improve access to health care in North Carolina while putting beneficial pressures on costs and quality by encouraging greater investment in new facilities and improvements of existing ones.