News and perspective on public policy issues affecting Washington's economy and quality of life, brought to you by the Economic Opportunity Institute.
New research examining the effects of gaining Medicaid coverage on health outcomes shows mixed results. With a number of states opting to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, many have questioned whether the investment will ultimately pay off – for both patients and the state’s bottom line. Fortunately, new data from Oregon is available […]
Americans pay far higher prices for prescription drugs than do people in other wealthy countries. The reason that other countries spend so much less on drugs is that their governments negotiate prices with the pharmaceutical industry. The United States government could adopt the same approach with the Medicare drug program and use its market leverage […]
U.S. health care costs grew by 3.9% in 2011 (as it did from 2009-10), which looks pretty modest compared to the average 6.8% increases of the last decade. But keep in mind that the total U.S. health care was $2.7 trillion in 2011 — far more than any other country in the world, and equivalent […]
Raising the age for Medicare eligibility from 65 to 67 is front and center in the GOP plan to avoid the fiscal slope – but it’s merely a budgetary sleight of hand that shifts costs to seniors and their families, employers and the states.
