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  • Medicare Advantage Popularity Grows, Causing ‘Friction’ for Hospitals

    Published January 14, 2026
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Medicare Advantage (MA) penetration has reached as high as 70 to 80 percent in some markets, a hospital administrator tells Becker’s Hospital Review in a December 4, 2025, article, but it is creating “friction” and could lead to more hospitals cancelling MA contracts. MA plans are popular because of the “simplicity and potential cost savings” […]

  • Medicare Advantage Plans Profit When They Keep Enrollees Healthy – Commentary

    Published January 14, 2026
    By John C. Goodman
    Publication -
    The American health care system has two distinguishing characteristics. First, similarly situated individuals pay the same premium, regardless of their medical conditions. Put differently, no one who acquires health insurance ever pays an actuarially fair price. Second, insurers invariably lose money on people who are known to be relatively sick and make money on people […]

  • Judge Blocks Pilot Program to Improve 340B Accountability

    Published January 13, 2026
    Publication -
    A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order to block a pilot program aimed at keeping better tabs on the federal 340B hospitals use to receive drug discounts. The pilot was scheduled to begin on January 1. On December 18, U.S. District Judge Lance Walker of the District of Maine issued the order while a […]

  • AI’s Potential and Challenges in Health Care – New Economic Report

    Published January 12, 2026
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    “Medical knowledge is growing so rapidly that only 6 percent of what the average new physician is taught in medical school today will be relevant in ten years,” states a new National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) report, “The Potential Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Health Care Costs.” As AI transforms one sector after another, […]

  • CDC Makes Major Changes to Vaccine Schedule

    Published January 9, 2026
    By Harry Painter
    Publication -
    The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) drastically reduced the recommended vaccines on the childhood immunization schedule. Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill announced in an X post that he updated the schedule to recommend immunization against 11 diseases, down from the 17 that had previously been on the schedule. The total number of recommended childhood […]

  • Medicare Medical Savings Accounts Elude Enrollees

    Published January 5, 2026
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Medicare enrollees shopping for a “Medicare Medical Savings Account (MSA)” are coming up short in most states because insurers do not offer them.    After a limited demonstration in 1997, the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act made MSAs a permanent option for Medicare enrollees.  The plans combine a high-deductible health plan with a medical savings account. […]

  • The GOP’s Option to Fix Medicare Is Right in Front of Their Eyes – Commentary

    Published January 2, 2026
    By Chad Savage
    Publication -
    Following the federal government shutdown, health care, Medicaid, and Medicare have again surged to the forefront of national debate. Amidst all the finger-pointing, one truth is clear: America’s health care system remains bloated, costly, and unsustainable. For years, Republicans have excelled at identifying what’s wrong but have struggled to offer practical, free-market alternatives. Ironically, one […]

  • Hospitals Spending Billions on New Construction

    Published December 30, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    Hospital construction is experiencing a boom as the trend of consolidation of medical facilities continues, particularly in urban centers, even as most markets are experiencing net closures. An October 27 article in Becker’s Hospital Review, for example, cited 13 hospital construction projects in 2025 worth at least $1 billion each.  IBIS World, in an October […]

  • For the First Time, CDC Acknowledges Vaccine-Autism Link

    Published December 23, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    On November 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its website to address the vaccine and autism controversy. “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim,” the website now states, “because studies have not ruled out the possibility,” and health authorities have intentionally “ignored” studies supporting a link. […]

  • Trump Eases Marijuana Restrictions

    Published December 22, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Continuing the efforts from his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, President Donald Trump called for rescheduling marijuana to a Schedule III drug, which will remove a variety of regulatory and investment hurdles, to expand marijuana usage in the United States. “While this action does not resolve every regulatory hurdle, it meaningfully advances the conversation around […]

  • What the United States Can Learn from Canada’s MAID – Patient Activist

    Published December 17, 2025
    By Kenneth Artz
    Publication -
    On December 5, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill making Illinois the 12th state in the United States to legalize medically assisted suicide. The United States can learn from Canada’s expansion of “medical assistance in dying (MAID)” over the past 10 years, says Amanda Achtman, patient advocate and creator of the website, “Dying To Meet […]

  • CMS Creates Rural Health Grants to Improve Market Competition

    Published December 17, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    By December 31, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will announce how it will distribute the $50 billion Congress approved this summer for the Rural Health Transformation  Program (RHTP) under the  Working Families Tax Cuts Act   CMS says 50 percent of the funds will be distributed equally among the states it approves. The […]

  • Euthanasia Becomes More Mainstream in Canada – United States, Next?

    Published December 16, 2025
    By Kenneth Artz
    Publication -
    Canadians are expressing outrage over the increased normalization of medical-assisted suicide in the country’s single-payer system. Several reports have come forward of loved ones being pressured into suicide by either a physician or nurse practitioner, a practice known colloquially as “medical assistance in dying” or MAID.  In a new short film by Amanda Achtman, a […]

  • Ag Department Air-Drops Vaccines to Control Rabies

    Published December 15, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has begun airdropping rabies vaccines into fields in several states as part of an ongoing campaign to reduce the spread of the disease in wild animals. The USDA conducted operations in northeastern and mid-Atlantic states starting this summer, followed by drops in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and […]
  • Organ donor

    Organ Donor Retractions Rise in Wake of Government, Media Investigations

    Published December 12, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    A series of investigative articles and government reform initiatives over the summer has resulted in a record-breaking number of organ donors exiting the system. Several articles published over the summer called nationwide attention to allegations of major inconsistencies and problems within the organ procurement industry. In July 2025, a New York Times news article described […]

  • Longing for the Days of Indemnity-Style Health Insurance – Commentary

    Published December 5, 2025
    Publication -
    Obamacare plans have reached the edge of a cliff. The U.S. government has shut down because Democrats and Republicans disagree on how much taxpayers should subsidize premiums. Health care is a service, not an entitlement, so why should taxpayers have to support any of it, except for the neediest? Does the government help Americans pay […]

  • More Hospitals Drop Medicare Advantage

    Published December 3, 2025
    Publication -
    Thirty-three hospital systems are dropping their Medicare Advantage (MA) contracts, reports Becker’s Hospital Review. The publication has been monitoring participation rates for several years. In 2024, citing contracts ending in 2025, Becker’s lists 33 hospitals as becoming “out of network” for Medicare Advantage contracts. In 2023, 13 hospitals ended their contracts. In 2024, the publication […]

  • What Trump Gets Right About TrumpRX – Commentary

    Published December 1, 2025
    By John C. Goodman
    Publication -
    Donald Trump is the first American president to take an active interest in what is happening to patients when they buy drugs at a local pharmacy. Without any new legislation, private companies are responding. Cigna Scripts, the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit manager (PBM), just announced that for many of its clients it will end its […]

  • Trump Administration Gives Mixed Signals on Marijuana Market

    Published November 26, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    The Trump administration has stalled in its effort to determine whether to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I to a Schedule III drug, a new filing by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in an administrative law hearing acknowledges. “This doesn’t constitute a new delay of rescheduling’s consideration, which has been stalled out for months after […]

  • FDA Approves New Generic Abortion Pills

    Published November 25, 2025
    Publication -
    The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone in October, making chemical abortion more affordable and accessible to pregnant women who wish to terminate the lives of their unborn children. Mifepristone is used in two-thirds of American abortions, according to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute. Republicans such as Sen. […]

  • Costco to Sell Ozempic, Wegovy at Almost Half Current Price

    Published November 24, 2025
    By Harry Painter
    Publication -
    The company that sells Ozempic and Wegovy, drugs known for promoting easy weight loss, is now selling the products at Costco. Novo Nordisk, which manufactures the injectable pen semaglutide drugs for type 2 diabetes and weight loss, said in October it is making the prescription drugs available at Costco pharmacies for $499 for a four-week […]

  • Florida Becomes First State to End Vaccine Mandates

    Published November 21, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, M.D., and Gov. Ron DeSantis are working with the legislature to end all vaccine mandates for schoolchildren in the state. The two leaders announced their decision at a September 3, 2025, news conference. “The Florida Dept. of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end […]

  • Merck Leaves UK Over Fears of Drug Price Controls

    Published November 19, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    Pharmaceutical giant Merck announced the cancellation of a planned $1.3 billion research center in London and the termination of all research and development activities in the United Kingdom (UK). The company said on September 10 its decision “reflects the challenges of the UK not making meaningful progress addressing the lack of investment in the life-science […]

  • Research & Commentary: Right to Try Individualized Investigational Treatments Is the Future of Health Care in the States

    Published November 14, 2025
    By Samantha Fillmore
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    As 2026 approaches, now is the time to reflect on the victories from the year and the lessons to be taken moving forward. Right to try legislation is at the front of the list when it comes to free market health care solutions. While federal right to try legislation was signed into law on May 30, […]

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