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  • HSAs ‘Too Restrictive,’ Should Be Expanded: Report

    Published February 5, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    In his new report on “The Case for Healthcare Freedom,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) argues Congress should make health savings accounts (HSAs) available to more people, raise the money contribution limits, and reduce restrictions on what the money in the accounts can be used for. “Until Americans control more of their healthcare spending and middlemen […]

  • Congressman Proposes Cure for U.S. Health Care System

    Published February 5, 2025
    Publication -
    The Daily Signal: Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) issued a diagnosis for America’s broken health care system, and the congressman says the problem isn’t what people think. America’s health crisis doesn’t come from health insurance, Big Pharma, or even food additives, Roy says. “It’s the fact that politicians, bureaucrats, and corporations are all benefitting from a broken, cronyistic […]

  • Californians Face Unhealthy Air Quality After Wildfires

    Published February 4, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    In addition to the loss of life, property, livelihoods, and vegetation caused by the raging wildfires in greater Los Angeles, residents of the stricken area will have to cope with the effects of smoke-related unhealthy air, the Los Angeles County Health Department warned in a January 11, 2025 advisory. The lingering health effects of the […]

  • Trump Withdraws U.S. from World Health Organization—Again

    Published February 3, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Hours after taking office for a second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO). Trump had pulled the United States out of the WHO on July 6, 2020, during his first term. Under an Act of Congress enacted in 1948, the move required one […]

  • Shakedown Lawsuits, Not Safety, Explain Drug Shortages – Commentary

    Published January 31, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Robert Califf, M.D. to take “appropriate actions to investigate and recall products with unacceptable levels of benzene.” In a letter to Califf on October 31, 2023, Blumenthal alleged an “independent quality assurance company,” a fancy phrase for a lab, found “unacceptable” […]

  • $1 Million Prize at Stake in Debate on Safety, Effectiveness of COVID-19 Shots

    Published January 29, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    A businessman is offering $1 million to anyone who can prove the mRNA COVID-19 inoculations did not kill more people than they saved. Entrepreneur, vaccine critic, and alternative therapy advocate Steven Kirsch, the inventor of the optical mouse and founder of Infoseek, Frame Technology Corp, Abaca, and OneID, issued the challenge during the COVID-19 crisis. […]

  • Report: Child Died During Clinical Trial of COVID-19 Shots

    Published January 28, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    Concerns about the safety and efficacy of mRNA COVID-19 shots have increased after a January 3 report that drug maker Moderna failed to inform the U.S. government of the death of a child during clinical trials of its vaccine, as required by law. “A preschool-aged child died of cardio-respiratory arrest after getting a booster shot […]

  • Lockdowns Caused Changes in Teen Brains, Study Finds

    Published January 27, 2025
    By Harry Painter
    Publication -
    The COVID-19 lockdowns caused significant changes in adolescents’ brains, a scientific study has found. Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle used MRI data to show the normal thinning of the cortex that happens during adolescence was accelerated in teens during the lockdowns. The effect was greater in female brains than in male brains, […]
  • People who watch TV see many drug ads.

    What the FDA Gets Wrong About Drug Ads – Commentary

    Published January 24, 2025
    By John C. Goodman
    Publication -
    There are only two countries in the world where drug manufacturers are allowed to advertise their products directly to consumers: the United States and New Zealand. Drug companies in the United States spend $4 billion a year on TV ads alone. The typical TV drug ad these days usually touts the benefits of a drug—maybe with a lot of […]

  • Where to Draw the Line on Outrageous Health Care Prices – Commentary

    Published January 23, 2025
    By Devon Herrick
    Publication -
    I often write about high prices in health care. Some gene therapy drugs cost more than $1 million for a one-time treatment. The latest oncology drugs are especially expensive. Danyelza (for neuroblastoma) and Kimmtrak (uveal melanoma) cost $1.2 million and $1.1 million, respectively. The average annual cost of a new cancer drug is more than $250,000. […]

  • Spending, Not Coverage, Is Biggest Problem in Health Care – Commentary

    Published January 22, 2025
    Publication -
    By Douglas Holtz-Eakin Roughly a decade ago, on October 1, 2013, the ignominious launch of the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) healthcare.gov website signaled the end of an era. The years leading up to the passage of the ACA featured two pressing national health policy issues: covering more (or all) Americans with health insurance, and the […]

  • States Differ in Responses to 340B Program Abuse

    Published January 21, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    Widespread and longstanding abuse of a federal program designed to provide prescription drugs to low-income patients has prompted lawmakers in Minnesota and Michigan to try to rein in the 340B program in the absence of significant reforms by the federal government. Minnesota recently enacted a law requiring covered entities to begin providing annual reports with […]

  • Report: Hospital Executives Are Getting Paid Millions of Dollars a Year

    Published January 20, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Crain’s Detroit Business published a list of the 25 highest-paid hospital executives in Michigan, and all received compensation in seven figures, based on data from 2022. Philip Incarnati of McLaren Health Care topped the list at $10,783,705 a year, a 9 percent increase in 2022, which happened at the tail end of the COVID-19 restrictions […]

  • There is a Way to Avoid Paying for Other People’s Health Care – Interview

    Published January 17, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    As health care spending soars (see page 20) and health insurers increasingly delay or deny claims (see pages 7, 17), consumers are retreating to indemnity-style insurance protection, which pays a cash benefit for adverse health events. Indemnity-style health insurance is a feature of Plan for America (PFA,) a voluntary private savings proposal designed to rescue […]

  • Consumers Seek Solutions to Health Insurance Shortcomings

    Published January 16, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Consumers are looking for ways to safeguard themselves financially in the event of a catastrophic illness or injury when health insurance runs out or an insurer denies coverage. Insurance denials are up, according to recent reports, and this year new limitations on short-term, limited-duration health insurance (STLDI) policies go into effect. The use of supplemental […]

  • Why are So Many People Angry at Health Insurers? – Commentary

    Published January 15, 2025
    Publication -
    The public reaction to the fatal shooting of health insurer UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been nothing short of shocking. A post on X wishing that the killer would never be caught racked up 95,000 likes. UnitedHealthcare’s own bereavement message online was cruelly mocked by 77,000 laughing responses. What causes that kind of reaction? Before delving into what’s wrong […]

  • Health Insurers Denying, Delaying More Claims

    Published January 14, 2025
    By Joe Barnett
    Publication -
    The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 3 focused national attention on the denial of coverage claims by health insurers, purportedly a motive for the killing. After Thompson’s death, patients and doctors aired their personal stories on social media, while others posted vitriolic comments about insurers, and Thompson’s alleged assassin became a media […]

  • What Health Insurance Should Be, But Isn’t – Commentary

    Published January 13, 2025
    Publication -
    By William M. Briggs Now that a health insurance guy has been whacked by an assassin, it’s useful to review why health insurance is such a mess now. Here is an expanded version of a thread I did on Twitter—which is all a repeat of (ignored) arguments I made back when Obamacare was being discussed. […]

  • Is Vaccine Hesitancy Causing a Surge in Infectious Diseases?

    Published January 10, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    An uptick in mentions of measles in 2024 online discussions and forums shows many people are wondering whether vaccine hesitancy contributes to recent increases in the incidence of the disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 284 cases of measles were reported in 32 states and the District of Columbia in […]

  • Congress Failed to Fix Price Transparency in Lame Duck Session

    Published January 9, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    The Lower Cost, More Transparency Act (LCMTA) and the Health Care PRICE Transparency Act 2.0 (HCPTA 2.0) will have to be reintroduced in 2025 in the wake of the GOP winning control of the White House and Senate and keeping its slim majority in the House. Two bipartisan health care bills failed to gain traction […]

  • Bureaucracy and Band-Aids: How Government Red Tape is Holding Back Health Care Innovation – Commentary

    Published December 24, 2024
    By Heartland Staff,
    Publication -
    By Steve Cohen RN MSN CHt Visualize for a moment: you walk into a hospital with a minor scrape, and instead of the doctor reaching for a Band-Aid, he hands you a clipboard. You are confused until he says, ‘You will need to fill out these 17 forms before we can administer any adhesive medical […]

  • New Guidebook Helps Seniors Avoid Costly Medicare Mistakes

    Published November 5, 2024
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Medicare’s annual enrollment period has begun, and a nonprofit policy organization has released a first-ever guidebook to help seniors make decisions they will not regret. The Medicare How-To Guide, a 120-page PDF publication from the nonprofit Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF), helps seniors cut through the confusion and fine print of the numerous options, […]

  • States Should Protect Patients from AI and Federal Regulators

    Published October 10, 2024
    By Matt Dean
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    Last year, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) shut down its chatbot named “Tessa” after the group’s executive director found the service was directing patients seeking “eating disorder” information to ways to lose “one to two pounds a week” by limiting calorie intake to 2,000 per day.

  • Research & Commentary: States Turn to Reference-Based Pricing to Reduce Health Care Costs

    Published October 1, 2024
    By Matt Dean
    Publication -
    State health care budgets are driven by many costs that are difficult and, in some cases, impossible to predict. For instance, an unexpected economic downturn can lead to massive job losses, thereby driving up the number of people on public health care programs. Moreover, under these circumstances, states experience a double whammy as tax revenue […]

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