Elizabeth Wright

The FDA Should Pave the Way to Tobacco Harm Reduction
Healthcare

The FDA Should Pave the Way to Tobacco Harm Reduction

July 26, 2017

Passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA) in June 2009 gave the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory control over tobacco products.  The purpose of the TCA, as stated in the bill’s report language, was to permit the FDA “to restrict the sale and distribution of tobacco products, including advertising and promotion” and to “take specified actions, including public notification and recall, against unreasonably harmful products.”  The law also required the FDA “to establish tobacco product standards to protect the public health” but prohibited the agency from “banning all cigarettes, all smokeless tobacco products, all little cigars, all cigars other than little cigars, all pipe tobacco, or all roll-your-own tobacco products,” or “requiring the reduction of nicotine yields of a tobacco product to zero.”  Notably, the law also set forth standards for the sale of “modified-risk tobacco products.”

Healthcare

Wasteful Spending by Hospitals Increased Under Obamacare

July 24, 2017

In 1998, Citizens Against Government Waste released “Are You Getting Your Money’s Worth from Nonprofit Hospitals?” which analyzed the level of charity care nonprofit hospitals were providing to their local communities as a requirement under their tax exemptions.  The report found that for-profit and nonprofit hospitals are not much different in terms of the charity they provide to their respective communities.  The only difference is that taxpayers are subsidizing the nonprofits.

Healthcare

They Were for It Before They Were Against It

July 19, 2017

Healthcare reform is not going well for the Republicans, even though they have called for the repeal of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, since the legislation was signed into law in 2010.  Republicans have had seven years to write, debate, and agree to a plan to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something.  They promised to repeal ACA for every election since 2010 and as a result, retook the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency.

Healthcare

Time to Move Forward and Pass an Alternative to Obamacare

July 14, 2017

Today, the Senate leadership released their revisions to H.R. 1628, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) and there are some important changes.  Whether the new language will be enough to garner the votes needed to pass a bill remains to be seen.  Importantly, the legislation continues to eliminate many of the onerous taxes and provides relief from the mandates contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, and reforms Medicaid.  The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste announced its support today for the legislation.

Healthcare

They’re Ba-ack! Congress Returns

July 10, 2017

With apologies to Poltergeist, the Congress returns this week from its Independence Day break.  All eyes are on the Senate as the country wonders if the Republicans can come together and pass healthcare legislation that will stabilize the individual health insurance market that has been devastated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare.

Healthcare

Senate Delay on Obamacare Repeal is a Pothole in the Road

July 2, 2017

On June 27, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced there would be no vote on the Senate’s bill, H.R. 1628, the Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA), to repeal and replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, until after the Independence Day recess.  Capitol Hill staffers have said the delay is simply a “pothole in the road.”  In other words, while efforts have slowed down, the legislative process is moving forward.

Healthcare

Obamacare Repeal and Replace: It’s the Senate’s Turn

June 21, 2017

Tomorrow, on June 22, Senators are supposed to receive a discussion draft of the Senate version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), an Obamacare repeal and replacement bill.  Currently, the goal is to vote on the legislation next week, just before the July 4 recess.  The House passed its version, H.R. 1628, on May 4, 2017, by a vote of 217 to 213.  Everyone in Washington is anxiously waiting to see and review the draft bill.

Energy, Environment, International

Au Revoir, Paris Accord

June 20, 2017

On June 1, 2017 President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Treaty, often called the Paris Agreement or Accord.  Based on the caterwauling and wringing of hands by environmentalists, the media, state and local officials, and foreign leaders, you would have thought that floods would be ensuing within days due to the polar ice caps melting overnight and the end of the world was nigh.

Healthcare

Supreme Court’s Decision on Biosimilars is Precedent Setting

June 13, 2017

Yesterday, with little notice, a big decision was made by the Supreme Court of the United States.  Their ruling means biosimilars, or “generic” versions of biologic drugs, will be able to be marketed immediately after approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), just as Congress intended.  The decision will save consumers and taxpayers billions of dollars.

Budget, Energy, Environment, International

We Won’t Always Have Paris

June 2, 2017

Yesterday, President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Treaty or, as it is often called, the Paris Accord.  He righted what has been a bone of contention since the agreement’s birth at the Paris climate change meeting in November 2015.  Many senators and policy analysts have rightfully argued the climate agreement was a treaty and should have been submitted to the Senate for advice and consent, as the Constitution requires.  But, President Obama did not want to submit it to the Senate because he knew it would not be ratified.  Instead, he continued his executive overreach and implemented the policy illegally with his “pen and his phone.”  Chris Horner and Marlo Lewis of the Competitive Enterprise Institute discuss in their May 2017 report the serious legal and economic consequences to the U.S. if President Obama’s actions were not reversed.