The Blog at MSPC

For many families, childbirth is the single largest medical expense they will incur. Yet in most cases, parents enter the hospital with little idea what they will ultimately be charged.

The Wyoming Legislature is considering a bill that would require hospitals in the state to post prices. The language of SF 57 would essentially force hospitals to list prices for services and materials, which would allow patients to become informed consumers of health care.

Although unstated, the goal of SJR 8206 is a constitutional amendment to force Washingtonians into a thinly veiled state-run, taxpayer-funded health care system.

Society should work towards putting patients in charge of their health care, reducing the role of government, and focusing on access, not health care as a supposed “right.”

The most important aspect of a country’s health care delivery system is its responsiveness and success in treating specific diseases. When a person becomes ill, the critical issue is the medical system’s ability to reduce the morbidity and mortality of that patient.

You don’t need to tell Americans that health care costs are out of control. This includes the prices for prescription drugs. Thankfully, there is a bipartisan proposal in Congress to address these costs led by Idaho Senator Mike Crapo.

Congress is now at odds with itself on how to offer the country a new or revised plan for our health care system. Interestingly enough, a promising and comprehensive plan was presented a few years ago in 2019.

Remember when Americans were told that the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) would lower health care costs and that if you liked

Eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in the program would seem to be a noncontroversial first step to decrease the financial burden on taxpayers and guarantee that future generations of seniors have access to Medicare.

The Treasure State is taking important steps to help control the exploding costs of Medicaid while providing critical care to the neediest. Montana is submitting a 1115 Medicaid Demonstration waiver application to allow experimentation with reform. Other states should follow this good example.

Medicaid is a joint federal and state-controlled health care insurance entitlement. It is not financially sustainable in its current form unless the federal debt or taxes are significantly increased.

Yet, health care is simply an economic activity, albeit where the activity between a provider and a patient is the most personal interchange an individual will ever have. However, because of the complexity, the vast majority of patients in the U.S. don’t completely control their medical finances and, in many cases, their medical decisions.

Despite claims that “the sky is falling,” the Medicaid reforms are actually a start at guaranteeing that the program will survive into the future and be available for the country’s most vulnerable people.

For years, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has ignored the pleas of states wanting to study the implications of removing Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs) from Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits in small pilot programs. Though many studies incentivizing improved nutritional choices have been approved by the USDA.

Is the liberty of American health under threat? Are Americans still free to make their health choices? The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement would have you believe the threat is dire, with Big Food and Big Pharma’s crony capitalism pervasively controlling all aspects of American health. But a quick trip around the grocery store combats this myth – apples or Cheetos anyone?   The food and medicine options in developed countries are more in line with choice overload ve

The stated Republican goal is a continuation of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of this year and need offsetting savings somewhere else in the budget.

The EO allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate with pharmaceutical manufacturers to obtain the same or better prices on drugs that other nations have.

One glaring omission from the state legislature’s recently released final list of topics it will consider before the next session is hospital price transparency.

Only when people can see the true costs and direct their medical spending intelligently through a free market will costs become transparent and likewise come under control.

The long debate in Idaho surrounding Medicaid this year has concluded with lawmakers sending Governor Little an updated Medicaid budget (...