Robert Emmet Moffit, PhD., is a Senior Research Fellow in Health and Welfare Policy at the Heritage Foundation, and coeditor of Modernizing Medicare: Harnessing the Power of Consumer Choice and Competition from Johns Hopkins University Press.
View all authorsSocietyCommentary
I first met Kate O’Beirne, my new colleague at the Department of Health and Human Services, in 1986. At the time she was the deputy… Read More
Health CareCommentary
A couple weeks ago, President Donald Trump nominated Dr. Scott Gottlieb to be commissioner of the powerful Food and Drug Administration. A prominent physician, Gottlieb… Read More
Health CareCommentary
The Senate Finance Committee has completed nearly four hours of confirmation hearings for Seema Verma, President Donald Trump’s nominee for administrator of the Centers for Medicare… Read More
Health CareCommentary
On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee completed a confirmation hearing for Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., to become America’s next secretary of health and human services…. Read More
Health CareCommentary
On Wednesday, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the nominee to be the next secretary of health and human services, went before the Senate Committee on Health,… Read More
Health CareCommentary
President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Rep. Tom Price of Georgia as the next secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is an… Read More
Health CareCommentary
Taxpayers are being squeezed financially in Obamacare’s tightening vice. On one side, taxpayers already are funding Obamacare entitlements, notwithstanding President Barack Obama’s high-profile promise to… Read More
Health CareCommentary
Obamacare, a veritable fountain of unintended consequences, is a 21st century showcase of government central planning. Let’s be clear. This is what President Barack Obama… Read More
Health CareCommentary
The Affordable Care Act has a serious “affordability” problem. For President Barack Obama, the latest round of insurance cost hikes once again undercut his iconic—and… Read More
Health CareCommentary
President Barack Obama’s speech Thursday will likely highlight the “successes” of Obamacare, but this complex health law—with interlocking parts—is really becoming more like a patient… Read More
Health CareCommentary
President Barack Obama is calling for the resurrection of his failed “public option” ( a “Medicare-like” plan) to compete directly against private health plans in… Read More
Health CareAnalysis
The House of Representatives has passed a short, but significant, 31-page Medicare bill, Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act (H.R. 5273). The House measure would improve… Read More
Health CareCommentary
The Obama administration has proposed regulatory changes in payment for Medicare Part B drugs. They’re looking to impose a broad, multi-year change through a demonstration… Read More
Health CareCommentary
It seems that federal officials have worked overtime to undermine public trust. Benghazi, the IRS abuses, the “fast and furious” gun-running fiasco, the solar power… Read More
PoliticsCommentary
Self-identified conservatives are at odds with each other. What American conservatism means today, who defines it, and who is or is not a “true” conservative,… Read More
Health CareCommentary
Obamacare, a partisan product full of broken promises, is six years old. Burdened by mounting problems, it’s not mellowing with age. Notwithstanding the president’s notorious… Read More
Health CareCommentary
Hawking the Affordable Care Act (ACA) six years ago, President Barack Obama said, “Every single good idea to bend the cost curve and start actually… Read More
Health CareCommentary
Have senior citizens really “paid for” the Medicare and Social Security benefits they enjoy in retirement? Many believe so. But for the vast majority, the… Read More
EconomyCommentary
The recent Boehner-Obama budget deal is bad public policy. Formally known as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, it’s devoid of serious entitlement reform and allows… Read More
Health CareCommentary
The Obama administration is perfecting the art of the “boondoggle”—a colorful term for a taxpayer-funded project characterized by wasteful spending, gross inefficiency, or political favoritism…. Read More
Health CareCommentary
Next year, millions of Medicare enrollees will see their premiums jump from $104.90 to $159.30, a stunning 52-percent increase. Today’s bureaucratic premium setting is inherently… Read More
Health CareCommentary
Americans are concerned about rising drug prices, and they want Congress to do something about it. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, one of the… Read More
Health CareCommentary
Medicare is still in trouble. The Medicare Trustees just issued their 2015 report. Like last year’s report, it says that the Hospital Insurance trust fund… Read More
EconomyCommentary
Fifty years ago, on July 30, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation creating the nation’s two largest federal health entitlements, Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare… Read More
Health CareCommentary
Employers, not politicians, can spark a health care revolution. For many years employers have struggled with providing health insurance to workers and their families. Competing… Read More
Health CareCommentary
The new Congress isn’t getting Washington’s crazy spending under control. In fact, it’s just made it worse. By enacting the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance… Read More
Health CareAnalysis
The Boehner-Pelosi deal to replace Medicare’s physician payment system has been unveiled. As Congress awaits the Congressional Budget Office’s assessment of the budgetary impact of… Read More
Health CareCommentary
On Friday night, House leaders released details of a proposal that would increase spending on doctors paid through Medicare (called the doc fix). Based on… Read More
Health CareCommentary
The House Republican congressional leadership is poised to announce a major “deal” with House Democrats on repealing the troublesome “Sustainable Growth Rate” (SGR) formula for… Read More
SocietyAnalysis
2015 marks a milestone in American history. One hundred and fifty years ago, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant and… Read More
