RealClearHealth Articles

America's economy faces a looming threat -- not from abroad, but from misguided domestic policy.For decades, U.S. inventors and startups have spearheaded global progress in biotechnology. And that leadership isn't a coincidence. American innovators lead because our market rewards risk-taking and investment, and our laws protect intellectual property rights. But now, a proposed drug pricing policy modeled on foreign price controls -- the so-called  "Most Favored Nation" (MFN) approach -- risks undermining the very foundation that makes this leadership possible.Under MFN pricing, the U.S....

The U.S. economy has long depended on innovation; it’s a big part of why we are the most prosperous nation on earth. From Silicon Valley startups to groundbreaking pharmaceutical research, American ingenuity drives growth, creates high-paying jobs, and ensures our global leadership. However, the proliferation of spurious information known as “junk science” puts a damper on the development of new ideas and products, making us less competitive and weaker on the international stage.   Legal actions underpinned by junk science are not supported by credible scientific...

America’s healthcare infrastructure is being put to the test. Too many underserved communities across the country continue to face barriers to accessing quality care, and rural communities are having to grapple with a devastating rise in hospital closures. Nearly 200 rural hospitals have closed in the past two decades, and hundreds more are at risk of shutting down in the coming years. Every American, regardless of zip code, deserves access to the healthcare services that they and their families need. However, without adequate investment, this vision could slip further out of...

A major milestone for patient transparency and integrity in hospital care has been reached, as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched a new 340B Drug Rebate Pilot Program.Just recently, the Office of Pharmacy Affairs (OPA) announced the voluntary 340B rebate model. The program applies to a select group of eligible medicines and participating manufacturers, and aims to inform and guide the development of future 340B-aligned models through enhanced reporting and transparency.The lack of transparency and accountability measures in the current discount model has enabled...

If Republicans in the House and Senate vote to extend Obamacare subsidies, this will break a promise they have made over the years to dial back that law that increased cost on American health care consumers. The so called “Affordable Care Act” (ACA) has proven not all that affordable over the years. Now is the time for a Republican controlled federal government to start the process of dialing back that law. During the Covid panic, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan that expanded eligibility for Obamacare subsidies for people enrolled in health plans provided in the...

Republicans demonstrated a commitment to reforming government healthcare programs in their major policy win this year – the One Big Beautiful Bill. But they shouldn’t rest on their laurels while others continue to take advantage of the government’s generosity with taxpayer dollars. Consolidated hospital organizations have continually exploited patients and the government alike by marking up the price of treatments for patients on Medicare. Currently, hospitals are permitted to charge Medicare patients more for the same treatment offered for less at an...

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing a new Medicare rule could have devastating consequences for millions of seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities. And here’s the kicker – it’s a policy that President Trump rejected, that Dr. Mehmet Oz would never support, and that cuts directly against the very conservative principles many in Congress claim to defend. Here’s what’s happening: CMS has proposed expanding its Competitive Bidding Program (CBP) to include urological, ostomy, and tracheostomy supplies. On paper, that...

The recent $7.4 billion opioid settlement signed onto by all 50 States and U.S. territories with Purdue Pharma marks another milestone in the national effort to combat the opioid epidemic. The Purdue settlement – along with earlier settlements with other drug manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacy chains – brings the total amount of funds available to over $50 billion. States will receive these payouts and hopefully use them to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to rebuild lives, restore communities, and turn the tide in a crisis that has...

With the passage of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Americans can let out a sigh of relief. Tax cut provisions within the package mean the country will avert what would have been a $4.5 trillion tax hike. But fiscal policy changes are not the only improvements secured by the legislation. The bill also expands healthcare choice for millions of Americans.  In short, the package gives individuals and families more options on how to spend the money they accrue in health savings accounts. This financial tool is essentially a tax-free piggy bank that can be tapped...

President Trump recently set an ambitious goal -- ensure that Americans pay lower prices for medicines than patients in any other developed country. He's rightly frustrated that other wealthy nations artificially suppress their drug prices, which shifts the global research burden onto Americans and forces us "to pay almost three times more for the exact same medicines, often made in the exact same factories."  But while his executive order mostly deals with a proposal to directly tie U.S. drug prices to the lower "most-favored-nation" prices offered abroad,...

Imagine there is a drug that can save Medicare as much as $245 billion over 10 years, can increase survival and quality of life, and can reduce the risk of chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This is the promise of biopharmaceutical innovation and the potential of obesity drugs today. However, we have yet to reap the full potential of these innovations, not because they do not exist, but because Medicare and most commercial insurance plans will not cover them. Biopharmaceutical innovators have researched, developed, and gained regulatory approval for multiple obesity...

In 2023, obesity and excess weight cost U.S. businesses and employees $425.5 billion, according Global Data. If we are serious about tackling the obesity crisis in America, then we must start with the foundation: food. Nutritional well-being is not a luxury—it is a prerequisite for lasting health. And yet, far too often, our healthcare system treats nutrition as an afterthought, not a cornerstone of care. Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT), delivered by registered dietitian nutritionists, is an evidence-based intervention that helps patients manage and improve chronic...

In Washington, there is always a heated debate about government efficiency and effectiveness. But that debate has moved outside the Beltway and the consensus is sobering. A recent Gallup poll shows that more than half (56%) of Americans believe the federal government is “almost always wasteful and inefficient.” Only 8% say they think the government is responsive to the needs of the people it serves, according to data from the Pew Research Center.  Budgets increase but outcomes don’t seem to improve—and in some cases they backslide....

In just two weeks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) managed to do what no slow-moving bureaucracy should ever achieve: it squandered the confidence of patients, investors, and medical innovators in one fell swoop. If only the agency moved as fast to approve life-saving therapies as it did to sabotage its own credibility.   At the center of the FDA fiasco was Dr. Vinay Prasad, who until recently held three powerful roles—Chief Medical Officer, Chief Scientific Officer, and Director of CBER. This unusual consolidation gave him unilateral control over gene therapy...

President Trump’s executive order on drug prices will make things much worse. I should know — I’m writing from Hungary, where our government tried something similar. It was a disaster. Trump should learn from Hungary’s mistakes. Trump wants to make drugs cheaper through ‘Most Favored Nation’ (MFN) pricing. The proposal would effectively link American drug prices to European prices. The idea is Americans will get a bargain by paying cheaper European prices for drugs. Unfortunately, price fixes like this come with a wide range of problems. MFN would make the...

Since his appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has wasted no time in reshaping the country’s public health priorities. True to his controversial past, Kennedy is already steering the nation’s health agencies down a dangerous path, most recently by rescinding the federal recommendation for flu vaccines containing thimerosal – a preservative that has long been a target of debunked anti-vaccine rhetoric. Kennedy’s move doesn’t just lack scientific justification; it has dangerous real-world implications. Thimerosal is...

On Wall Street, it is good advice to “buy low and sell high,” making money off the difference. Many hospital chains have developed their own version of this trade, except their swap relies on misusing an obscure federal program. You may not have heard of the 340B program. Lawmakers set it up in the 1990s to help poor people, particularly those who are on Medicaid or lack insurance coverage, to afford prescription drugs. The program requires drugmakers to sell prescription drugs at a deep discount to hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies that qualify. It has grown into the...

Medicare doctors are set to receive a modest pay increase next year. When Congress enacted President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025,” they included a one-time 2.5 percent pay hike for Medicare physicians, effective January 2026. Following that, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the agency that runs the Medicare program, issued an 910-page rule incorporating further regulatory changes to the Medicare physician fee schedule. On top of the 2.5 percent statutory pay increase, CMS has proposed changes in base payment rate (the...

According to Ronald Reagan the scariest phrase in the English language is “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”  But when regulators neglect to enforce laws already on the books, it’s the American people who pay the price. Case in point: the FDA’s failure to stop illegal, unsafe and unregulated mass-compounded, knock-off versions of GLP-1 drugs (medicines like Ozempic and Wegovy used to treat diabetes and obesity). These FDA-approved drugs have passed rigorous safety and efficacy protocols, and their manufacturing is carefully regulated....