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  • CMS Signals Review of IRA Drug Price Negotiation Program

    Published March 10, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    The Trump administration signaled Medicare drug price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) signed in 2022 by former President Joe Biden may undergo a reexamination to add greater transparency and possibly other reforms.  A 125-word news release on January 29, 2025, stated that lowering drug prices is a “top priority” for President Trump, who […]

  • Research & Commentary: Texas Direct Primary Care Expansion

    Published March 5, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    HB 3015 would allow workers’ direct primary care fees to count toward insurance deductibles in coverage under the state’s Employees Retirement System. More than 548,000 people were enrolled in these plans in 2024.

  • Research & Commentary: South Carolina Direct Primary Care Reform

    Published March 5, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    South Carolina lawmakers are considering legislation establishing that direct primary care agreements are not insurance. ... Freeing direct primary care from insurance regulations is important because such agreements are not insurance. DPC practices provide routine health services, not insurance against expensive, catastrophic conditions.

  • Company Offers Supplemental Health Insurance for Direct Primary Care

    Published March 5, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    Atlas Direct, is offering supplemental insurance for people who use direct primary care and those looking for a limited alternative coverage to pricey Obamacare plans.   Atlas Direct launched on December 3 and is now available in 13 states: Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. […]

  • California Nurse Practitioners Fight Practice Restrictions

    Published March 4, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    The California Board of Registered Nursing is construing a five-year-old state licensing law for nurse practitioners (NPs) in a way that violates the law’s original intent, say attorneys for NPs challenging the law. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 890 in 2020 to encourage more people to become nurse practitioners, by protecting opportunities for […]

  • Research and Commentary: Iowa Bill Would Allow Expanded Access to Birth Centers

    Published February 28, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    CON laws are intended to reduce costs and improve access to health care by controlling the availability of medical facilities through state-based regulation. Unfortunately, CON laws decrease health care access, raise costs, lower quality, and stifle innovation by giving competing health care providers veto power over the construction or improvement of facilities or other capital improvements such as advanced imaging devices.

  • Testimony Before the Iowa Senate Health and Human Services Committee on House File 320 Regarding Right to Try for Individualized Treatments

    Published February 26, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick, Samantha Fillmore
    Publication -
    Testimony -
    Rep. Bradley has introduced this bill that picks up where Right to Try left off. HF 320 recognizes that advances in research offering individualized treatments to patients just don’t work in the current FDA approval process, which was designed for one-size-fits-all drug approval.

  • Research & Commentary: West Virginia Senate Introduces Certificate of Need Repeal

    Published February 26, 2025
    By Christopher Talgo
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    The West Virginia Senate has introduced a bill that would remove certificate of need (CON) requirements for virtually all health care services and providers in the state. If passed, the bill would also ensure that all prior CON decisions have “no force and effect” by 2026. CON laws are intended to reduce costs and improve […]

  • Research and Commentary: Texas Medicaid Expansion

    Published February 25, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    After resisting for 14 years, Texas lawmakers are considering Medicaid expansion under the proposed bills SB 637 and HB 2939. Texas is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) allows states to expand Medicaid coverage to people with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, currently $40,187.50 […]

  • Research and Commentary: Kansas Medicaid Expansion

    Published February 25, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    After resisting for 14 years, Kansas lawmakers are considering Medicaid expansion under the proposed Healthcare Access for Working Kansans (HAWK) Act, SB 257 and HB 2375.

  • Research and Commentary: South Carolina Medicaid Expansion

    Published February 25, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    After resisting for 14 years, South Carolina lawmakers are considering Medicaid expansion under House Bill 3109. South Carolina is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid.

  • Texas Medical Board Director Resigns After Conflict-of-Interest Surfaces

    Published February 25, 2025
    By Joe Barnett
    Publication -
    The medical director of the Texas Medical Board (TMB) resigned after proceedings against a Texas doctor revealed he also worked for Planned Parenthood of South Texas. Robert Bredt, M.D., a pathologist, had been employed by the TMB since 2012, while also working part-time since 2011 as medical director of the Planned Parenthood laboratory in San […]

  • Texas Medical Board ‘Conflict’ Goes Deeper, Legislator Says

    Published February 25, 2025
    By Joe Barnett
    Publication -
    The departure of Robert Bredt, M.D. as medical director did not resolve the issues with the Texas Medical Board (TMB), state Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) told Health Care News. “We are a pro-life state, and it is unbelievable that an executive branch agency hired a Planned Parenthood official to help regulate Texas doctors and the […]

  • Trump Opponents Get Ready to Pounce on Medicaid Cuts

    Published February 21, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    With the Trump administration aiming for large cuts to the federal budget to eliminate waste, the federal portion of the Medicaid program is shaping up as a primary budgetary battleground. Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), chair of the House Budget Committee, has circulated a proposal for mandatory spending cuts to various programs, including Medicaid. Senate Democrats […]

  • Australian Doctors Pledge to Oppose Future Pandemic Crackdowns

    Published February 20, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    Health care professionals from Australia across the globe are expanding grassroots efforts to end censorship in the practice of medicine. In Australia, freedom-seeking physicians and health care professionals formed the Cape Byron Lighthouse Declaration in response to what they characterize as tyrannical measures in the name of disease control, such as those implemented during the […]

  • Software Tool Helps Parents, Patients Navigate Immunization Maze

    Published February 19, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    A software developer has enhanced an online platform to help parents make more personalized decisions about vaccines for their children. Software designer Chris Downey introduced VaxCalc in November 2023, and this February he incorporated AI into the service with a tool he calls VaxBot. VaxCalc promises to “simplify vaccine decisions with tools you can trust,” […]

  • Research and Commentary: Mississippi Bill Proposes Easing of Certificate of Need Laws

    Published February 18, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    The Mississippi House of Representatives has passed a bill to remove Certificate of Need (CON) requirements for many health care services and increase the amount a provider can spend before having to get permission from the state. The bill would also provide a faster appeal process for when proposals are denied approval.

  • Ohio Becomes First State to Require Hospitals to Publish Prices

    Published February 17, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Ohio hospitals must now comply fully with the federal price transparency rule that went into effect on January 1, 2021, but was only loosely followed by the nation’s hospitals and not strongly enforced. Gov. Mike DeWine signed H.B. 49 on January 3, legislation passed unanimously by both chambers on December 18, 2024 and supported by […]

  • Trump Blocks Gender Treatments for Children

    Published February 14, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) on January 28 blocking gender treatment for children in the United States. The order, “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” defunds government research and grants involving “chemical and surgical mutilation of children,” authorizes action against Medicare or Medicaid providers who participate in such treatments, stops the […]

  • AI Needs Continuing Education, Too – Commentary

    Published February 13, 2025
    By Devon Herrick
    Publication -
    Humans aren’t the only health care providers requiring continuing education to maintain their competency. Artificial intelligence (AI) also needs a regular reboot. This is a factor many people overlook when they get excited about AI, especially after the announcement of the $500 billion investment in Project Stargate and President Donald Trump’s Removing Barriers to American […]

  • Controversial Brain Death Diagnoses Under Fire

    Published February 12, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    Recent dubious brain death diagnoses have some calling for an end to the controversial protocol. Brain-Death Declaration A prominent recent case involved a 23-year-old Jamaican woman who admitted herself to Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx, New York, for elective surgery on July 30, 2024. In February, Amber Ebanks, a business student attending school in New […]

  • U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Fate of Planned Parenthood Medicaid Funding

    Published February 11, 2025
    Publication -
    The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether states can block Medicaid eligibility from health care providers who offer abortions, such as Planned Parenthood. The high court agreed on December 18 to hear Kerr v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, in which the regional chapter of Planned Parenthood and an individual plaintiff sued South Carolina Health […]

  • Gain-of-Function Research Funding Ends, EcoHealth Alliance Out

    Published February 10, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    In the advent of President Donald Trump’s second term, four significant actions related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath took place in quick succession. First, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under President Joe Biden banned gain-of-function research and debarred EcoHealth Alliance and its former president, Peter Daszak, from receiving federal grants […]

  • Gig Workers, Too, Deserve HSAs – Commentary

    Published February 7, 2025
    Publication -
    By Joel White, David A. Hyman, and Ge Bai Approximately 59 million Americans currently participate in the gig economy. For most, this is a part-time way to make money, but 17 million people derive all their income from contracted opportunities. Gig workers are found in various industries, including transportation (for example, Uber, DoorDash, and InstaCart), freelancing (Upwork), e-commerce […]

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