The Heartland Institute

Publications

Search/Filter
Topics
Select Topic
Document Type
Select Types

  • Research & Commentary: Federal Waiver Can Save Wisconsin’s Medicaid Program

    Published August 7, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    Fortunately, policymakers can reform Wisconsin’s Medicaid program through a federal waiver. President Donald Trump has strongly promoted state Medicaid waivers

  • Research & Commentary: Federal Waiver Can Save Alaska’s Medicaid Program

    Published August 7, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    Fortunately, policymakers can reform Alaska’s Medicaid program through a federal waiver. President Donald Trump has strongly promoted state Medicaid waivers

  • Research & Commentary: Federal Waiver Can Save Wyoming’s Medicaid Program

    Published August 7, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    Fortunately, policymakers can reform Wyoming’s Medicaid program through a federal waiver. President Donald Trump has strongly promoted state Medicaid waivers

  • Big ACA Plan Price Hikes Expected

    Published August 7, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    Preliminary filings by insurers on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges indicate premiums for the coming year will be 15 percent higher over last year, the biggest increase since 2018. An analysis by Peterson-KFF noted two factors insurers have already cited to justify higher premiums: the elimination of premium tax credits and imposition of tariffs […]

  • Research & Commentary: Federal Waiver Can Save Alabama’s Medicaid Program

    Published August 6, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    Fortunately, policymakers can reform Alabama’s Medicaid program through a federal waiver. President Donald Trump has strongly promoted state Medicaid waivers

  • Florida Takes New Approach to Hospital Price Transparency: Subpoenas

    Published August 6, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    Florida Attorney General James Ulthmeier has taken action against several hospital systems in his state, including subpoenas, to ensure they are complying with President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring hospitals to provide “clear, accurate and actionable health care pricing information.” Ulthmeier issued subpoenas on May 30 to Southern Baptist of Florida and AdventHealth, the Orlando […]

  • Medicare Advantage ‘Coding’ Loopholes Targeted in New Bill

    Published August 5, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    Responding to criticisms lodged against an otherwise popular program among seniors, Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced a bill to improve the way Medicare Advantage (MA) providers determine patients’ health risks, to eliminate overpayment. The bipartisan No Unreasonable Payments, Coding, and Diagnoses for the Elderly (No UPCODE) Act aims at saving […]

  • Senate Considers Ending More-Expensive Hospital Rates Under Medicare

    Published July 30, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    The U.S. Senate is considering legislation that would mandate “site-neutral” reimbursement in Medicare, eliminating the rule that pays hospitals more for services that can often be provided at a lower cost elsewhere. The Congressional Budget Office estimates implementing site-neutral payments for hospital outpatient departments could save taxpayers roughly $157 billion over 10 years. Over that […]

  • New Iowa Law Reins in Pharmacy Benefit Managers

    Published July 29, 2025
    Publication -
    A new law in Iowa requires pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) to reimburse pharmacies based on average state or national drug prices instead of negotiated rates and stops PBMs from favoring a specific pharmacy to fill a prescription. Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa signed the bill on June 11, saying it was necessary to improve accountability […]

  • CVS Faces Lawsuits for Using Patient Database to Evade PBM Law

    Published July 28, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    Pharmacy giant CVS is facing several lawsuits over allegedly sending text messages to customers in its prescription database to stop the state of Louisiana from enacting a law that would have threatened the company’s pharmacy benefit management (PBM) business. House Bill 358 would have banned ownership of a pharmacy and a PBM by the same […]

  • HHS Cracks Down on Removing Organs from Patients Declared Brain Dead

    Published July 25, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy announced a move to tighten oversight of the practice of removing vital organs from neurologically impaired patients. In a July 21 news release, Kennedy announced a “major initiative” toward reforming the organ transplant system. “Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs […]

  • AMA Rejects Doctor-Assisted Suicide Despite More State Approvals

    Published July 24, 2025
    By Harry Painter
    Publication -
    With several states having approved physician-assisted suicide, the American Medical Association (AMA) staked out a firm position opposing the practice. Reaffirming its long-held position at the annual meeting of its House of Delegates, which took place from June 6 to 11 in Chicago, the AMA “overwhelmingly rejected” a proposed change in policy, according to the […]

  • Medicaid Cuts Would Cause Thousands of Deaths, Study Claims

    Published July 22, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    While the U.S. Senate was debating the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine projected cuts to Medicaid could lead to 16,642 premature deaths. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the City University of New York based their projections on an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office […]

  • Mental Health Counseling Student Exposes Sexualized Course Content

    Published July 18, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    A graduate student in marriage and family therapy at Santa Clara University is facing difficulty graduating after she requested an alternative class assignment requiring a “comprehensive sexual autobiography” that would be uploaded online and graded. “What began as a simple accommodation request in a required course called Human Sexuality turned into a case study in […]

  • New Rule Curtails Improper ACA Enrollment to Keep Costs Down

    Published July 16, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    In keeping with its pledge to rein in the soaring cost of health care in the United States, the Trump administration issued a new rule to clamp down on improper enrollment in Obamacare. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued “The 2025 Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Final Rule” on June 20. The rule will […]

  • Research and Commentary: New Hampshire Right to Try Legislation

    Published July 15, 2025
    By S.T. Karnick
    Publication -
    Research and Commentaries -
    Suffering patients deserve access to investigational treatments. In New Hampshire, HB 701 would expand access to drugs, biologics, and devices that have not yet been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but could help patients who have no other options. HB 701 would release doctors and health care providers from potential lawsuits, prosecution, or regulatory action for giving such treatments with the informed consent of the patient or guardian.

  • Investigation Heats Up After Biden Revealed Late Stage Prostate Cancer

    Published July 14, 2025
    Publication -
    The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has expanded its investigation of the cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s health, prostate cancer, and mental decline. On June 4, Chairman James Comer subpoenaed five former senior White House aides to appear for transcribed interviews in addition to Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, M.D. In May, Biden […]

  • Trump Administration Pressures Insurers to Streamline Prior Authorization

    Published July 11, 2025
    By Kevin Stone
    Publication -
    The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has secured a pledge from insurers to streamline the companies’ practice of requiring prior authorizations before covering a claim. “Americans shouldn’t have to negotiate with their insurer to get the care they need,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a June 23, 2025, news release. “Pitting patients […]

  • Supreme Court Decision Allows Task Force to Mandate HIV Prevention Drugs

    Published July 10, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the legality of a provision in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requiring insurers to cover preventative care services without cost sharing, including services that employers may find objectionable. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force determines what services should be covered. The plaintiffs in Kennedy, Sec. of H&HS v. Braidwood Management […]

  • ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Will Test Value of Medicaid, ACA

    Published July 10, 2025
    By Bonner R. Cohen
    Publication -
    Congress and President Donald Trump moved to cut the exploding costs of government-sponsored health-care programs, as part of the $3.4 trillion One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) budget package Trump signed into law on Independence Day. Ballooning enrollment in Medicaid and subsidized Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans has put increasing pressure on the federal budget. […]

  • Health Savings Account Expansion Survives in ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

    Published July 7, 2025
    By AnneMarie Schieber
    Publication -
    After nearly a month of debate, the U.S. Senate sent its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) to the U.S. House for final passage, in time to land on President Donald Trump’s desk by July 4. The House version of the budget reconciliation bill passed on May 22 included provisions to expand […]

  • Health Coverage Is Not the Only Measure of Success – Commentary

    Published July 7, 2025
    By John C. Goodman
    Publication -
    In evaluating the success of Obamacare in general and Medicaid expansion in particular, reporters and commentators have tended to focus on a single measure: health coverage, the increase in the number of people with health insurance. At the same time, in evaluating the health consequences of the House Republican reconciliation measure, almost all the focus […]

  • Kennedy’s CDC Vaccine Committee Meets for First Time

    Published July 3, 2025
    By Ashley Bateman
    Publication -
    The new vaccine committee appointed by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took minimal action in its first meeting. The seven members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met on June 25 and 26 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. The committee […]

  • FDA to Ban Sales of Prescription Fluoride

    Published July 2, 2025
    By Joe Barnett
    Publication -
    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will remove “ingestible fluoride prescription drug products” or supplements for children from the market effective October 2025 after completing a safety review, the agency announced in a press release on May 13. The FDA says these products were never approved by the agency. “Ingested fluoride has been shown […]

Heartland Newsletters

The Heartland Institute offers free email subscriptions to all of its newsletters and monthly public policy newspapers.

Subscribe Now!