RealClearHealth Articles

President Trump has long touted his record of fulfilling his sweeping vision for America using the mantra “promises made, promises kept.” Unfortunately, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., doesn’t view that phrase as something worth modeling. Before and during his confirmation hearings to be HHS secretary, Kennedy vowed to keep vaccines available to those who want them. Ten months into his tenure, it’s clear Secretary Kennedy never intended to keep that commitment to those who confirmed him or to the American...

It doesn’t take a PhD in economics to understand that tariffs increase prices. A recent YouGov poll found that 73% of Americans think that tariffs imposed by President Trump have increased prices for the things they buy. That’s why the greatest threat to U.S. national security and health care affordability doesn’t come from imports, but from tariffs. A survey of health care industry experts found broad agreement that new tariffs would disrupt supply chains and increase hospital and health system costs, resulting in reductions in equipment purchases and upgrades. The...

The Trump administration is taking a victory lap for lowering the cost of injectable weight loss drugs. Starting in January, Americans can purchase GLP-1s at a substantial discount through the TrumpRx.gov website. Even lower costs will be available to some Medicare beneficiaries starting around mid-year.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services followed up this development by announcing that it would reduce Medicare payments per dose for Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy by 71% in 2027. President Donald Trump deserves credit for recognizing the...

America faces growing pressure to secure its pharmaceutical supply chains, but protectionist policies—especially those centered on tariffs and strongarming domestic production—offer the illusion of safety while threatening affordability, access, and global competitiveness. These approaches risk raising drug prices and reducing patients’ access to medicine. As policymakers grapple with how best to bolster supply chains, they must distinguish between resilience and isolation. Supply chain security lies not in cutting off trade, but in fostering redundancy, streamlining...

The Democrats’ pointless government shutdown at least put Obamacare atop the national agenda again—proof that even high wire acts of congressional lunacy can deliver golden opportunities for reform. Not missing a beat, President Trump offered a revolutionary patient-centered proposal to resolve Obamacare’s multiple deficiencies. It cannot come soon enough. The Affordable Care Act is unaffordable, evidenced by skyrocketing premium costs, crazy deductibles, and explosive taxpayer obligations to cover rising program costs. The return on the Obamacare investment has been in a...

Social Security could become insolvent in as little as eight years, with more people retiring and living longer and fewer paying into the program. Alzheimer’s disease is accelerating America toward this fiscal disaster. The number of patients is on track to double to nearly 14 million by 2060, with each one requiring substantial caregiving, often from working-age relatives or professional caregivers. Two-thirds of those patients—more than the current population of Virginia—will die in nursing homes. This future would cut meaningful lives short while...

We might come from different political parties with different perspectives on many issues, but we’ve long agreed on one thing: prescription drugs cost too much, especially for America’s seniors. That’s why we’re encouraged that the Senate is pressing forward with long-overdue reforms to the costly and wasteful 340B prescription drug program, a program that is directly and unnecessarily driving up prices. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), the Chair of the Senate HELP Committee, recently concluded a hearing on the 340B program, which was initially designed to help low-income...

Washington spends a lot of time talking about how to “fix” health care. But the biggest problem isn’t political; it’s process—a silent crisis that’s costing taxpayers more than any bill Congress will debate this year—undiagnosed, untreated chronic disease. Three in four US adults live with at least one chronic condition, consuming over $4 trillion in government health care spending. In many cases, these conditions go undetected and untreated until they become severe. The result? A system that is upside down, resulting in enormous spending to treat...

I was 19 and had just finished my first year of college when my life changed forever. At first, I noticed some numbness in my face. Then, my arm got weak. My dad thought it might be a stroke, and we rushed to the emergency room. There, I was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a rare neurological condition that caused my body to attack its own nervous system. My doctor told me, "There is no cure, but symptoms are treatable." It was a sentence I couldn't digest. I was overwhelmed at how quickly GBS took over my body. Soon, I couldn't move my arms or lift my head. My diaphragm was...

Nearly every day, news headlines are dominated by new ideas from the Trump Administration on how they plan to improve health outcomes, sparking nationwide debate about the best path forward. Central to these efforts is the Make America Healthy Again movement, which raises important questions about how we confront one of the nation’s most pressing public health crises: the alarming rise of chronic disease among children.  At CAI, we share this concern and urgency. We believe that achieving positive health outcomes in children requires community-based, locally led solutions that are...

While the 340B Drug Pricing Program has taken center stage in Congress this past month, many of its “beneficiaries” are unaware that they are enrolled in one of the government’s biggest healthcare discount programs. All those patients know is that they aren’t actually benefiting from the program, but are actually incurring enormous costs for their prescription drugs. Originally created to provide steep discounts on life-saving medications to safety-net hospitals and clinics that care for low-income, uninsured, and rural patients, the 340B Program now largely benefits...

It would be difficult today to find someone who feels that America’s health care system is on solid footing. The cost of care is rising, access to needed treatments is being blocked by a system focused on profits over patients, and research funding continues to be cut. According to a recent KFF.org poll, just under half of U.S. adults say it is difficult to afford health care costs, and one in four say they or a family member in their household had problems paying for health care in the past 12 months.     Fortunately, there are still important reforms happening that will...

When it comes to Medicare, seniors deserve something more simple, honest, and above all, transparent. Unfortunately, too often, the information they get is anything but clear. For too long, America’s seniors have been forced to navigate Medicare with far too little clarity … or simplicity. Every enrollment season brings a blizzard of charts, pitches, and fine print that confuses more than it informs. It shouldn’t take a legal pad, a pot of coffee, and sheer luck for retirees to figure out which plan protects their health – and their wallet. When we force seniors to...

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history came to a close last week after Democrats capitulated, thanks to pressure from their constituents, labor unions, small businesses and the GOP majority.  “The end of the Democrat Shutdown is welcome news for America’s 36 million small businesses,” said House Committee on Small Business Chairman Roger Williams (TX-25). “Each day of gridlock cost Main Street lost access to capital, delayed contracts, and weakened confidence. With the U.S. Small Business Administration lending and federal programs back online,...

As the obesity treatment advocacy community continues to push for greater coverage for older Americans, the administration has delivered another critical victory: a landmark Medicare and Medicaid price negotiation deal for GLP-1 medications like Wegovy and Zepbound. This crucial agreement to lower the cost of these highly effective treatments is a powerful, long-overdue acknowledgment that obesity is a chronic disease requiring comprehensive, affordable treatment. The negotiation and expansion to Medicare and Medicaid represent meaningful progress, but policymakers must ensure these actions...

The federal government is poised to undo years of hard-won progress in the fight against HIV-a deadly and highly infectious disease that seems to have lost its urgency due to our successes in prevention and treatment. But that could all change.  Firings at the CDC by DOGE and the Trump administration's 2026 budget request marked the start of this surprising and dangerous retreat. The administration proposed to eliminate all $800 million in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of HIV Prevention -- the backbone of the nation's HIV response...

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) promised lower costs for Medicare beneficiaries on drugs selected for price negotiation. However, gamesmanship by middlemen in the complex U.S. healthcare system has stopped the law short of delivering on that promise – instead, patients are seeing higher out-of-pocket costs and increased barriers to access for medicines. I must have a brand-name version of a heart medicine because the generic version causes unexpected and dangerous side effects. One therapeutic alternative even left me paralyzed in my right hand for a week. For me and millions of...

As a nurse, a Member of Congress, Chair of the Health sub-committee on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and as a consumer safety advocate, much of my life has been devoted to fighting for Americans to have affordable, transparent, quality healthcare. The No Surprises Act (NSA) was an important step forward in that effort. It was intended to protect patients from being blindsided by surprise medical bills from providers. But a loophole in its implementation is undermining the benefits it was meant to deliver, as healthcare providers continue to exploit the system. Picture a family taking...

Few diseases touch every American family the way Alzheimer’s does. It robs loved ones of their memories and independence and forces millions of families to become full-time caregivers overnight. But science now gives us something we’ve never had before: the ability to detect it early, giving patients more time, options and hope. As someone who represents one of the oldest districts in the nation—and as a former caretaker for an elderly parent struggling with cognitive decline—I’ve seen firsthand how urgently we need to change the way we detect and treat this...