Policy Proposals

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On this page, you’ll find our analysis on key state and federal pharmaceutical policy proposals, with a focus on providing the expected economic impact from these proposals.

April 3, 2026 Blog, Policy Proposals

Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI's Center for Medical Economics and Innovation, responded to the Trump administration's new plan to impose pharmaceutical tariffs. The Trump administration's new 100% tariff on certain patented pharmaceutical imports will hurt American families. Tariffs are taxes, plain and simple. Doubling the cost of importing many lifesaving medicines will inevitably increase spending for patients, employer-sponsored health plans, and taxpayer-funded insurance programs. At a time when 59% of American adults worry about paying for their medication -- and 19% have...

October 8, 2025 Blog, Policy Proposals, Price and Costs

Sen. Sanders and President Trump are reading from the same playbook. They are trying to address a real problem – the U.S. spends way too much on healthcare – but their playbook misdiagnoses the causes. Consequently, their cures will only worsen the problem. Whether it is Sanders vilifying pharmaceutical companies or Trump’s emphasis on imposing price controls, they both allege that drug spending is a primary driver of the nation’s rising healthcare costs. Even a cursory look at the data demonstrates...

October 1, 2025 Briefs, Policy Proposals, Price and Costs, Studies

SACRAMENTO – As California prepares to restrict access to proven private health insurers for dual eligible Medicare and Medi-Cal patients, the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research Institute – the nonpartisan, California-based, free market think tank – today released a new brief showing that expanding competition—not imposing new government restrictions—is the best way to lower costs, expand access, and improve patient outcomes. Download the new brief at www.medecon.org “California mistakenly believes that reducing health care choices will save...

April 3, 2025 Issues, Policy Proposals

President Donald Trump’s executive order on global tariffs have pushed downward the stocks of biopharma and med-tech companies, even though the impacts of his 10% baseline tariff – which excludes pharmaceuticals – and his reciprocal tariffs affecting about 60 countries across the globe, are still unclear. “The story for the day is there’s still a lot of uncertainties in terms of pharmaceuticals,” said Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow and director of the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the Pacific Research...

October 23, 2024 Issues, Multimedia, Policy Proposals, Radio

“On the other side of the political spectrum is Wayne Winegarden, Ph.D., the Senior Fellow in Business and Economics at Pacific Research Institute, and Director of PRI’s Center for Medical Economics and Innovation. “He and his colleagues believe that patients are not in control of the health care system and that we suffer from an opaque and complex pricing structure that harms patients. “Winegarden’s free market approach means he advocates for doing away with the Obamacare subsidies that Congress must consider, as...

October 9, 2024 Innovation, Multimedia, Policy Proposals, Price and Costs

Low-cost biosimilars generated $19 billion in savings value in today’s dollars in 2023. But obstacles in the current drug pricing system meant that billions of dollars in potential savings were left unrealized. Join the Pacific Research Institute’s Center for Medical Economics and Innovation and panel of experts for a brief, informative webinar discussing how potential reforms can improve competition, generate more savings, and better serve patients and taxpayers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m7lNXr_dAw...

September 9, 2024 Policy Proposals, Price and Costs

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) effectively imposed price controls on a portion of the pharmaceutical market. Worse, by design, the reach of these price controls will expand every year. The intended consequence of the policy is to reduce overall spending on drugs, but all regulations have unintended consequences, too. While these consequences may be unintended, they need not be unexpected. In the case of the IRA, these unintended impacts now threaten to undermine the entire purpose of the policy. Read the full...

August 15, 2024 Blog, Innovation, Policy Proposals, Price and Costs

The federal government has announced the long-awaited results from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) drug price negotiations.[1] The Biden Administration has been crowing that they have achieved “a historic moment that will help lower prescription drug prices for millions of people across America.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The Biden Administration has sold out patients and the hope for future cures to achieve results that pale in comparison to the benefits enabled by efficient market competition. According to...

May 7, 2024 Issues, Policy Proposals

Americans collectively owe some $220 billion in medical debt. In response, a growing number of states, including New Jersey and Connecticut, are using public funds to relieve those debts. Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., proposed doing something similar in his state earlier this year. But is canceling medical debt the best way to help cash-strapped Americans? Click to read the full article in Newsmax. ...

March 28, 2024 Issues, Policy Proposals

By Sally Pipes & Wayne Winegarden  Question: What’s worse than government bureaucrats in Washington declaring the value of your medicine? Answer: Bureaucrats from Boston, London, Ottawa and Diemen establishing that value. Unfortunately, this is not a joke. It is the direction that the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review is pushing our healthcare system. ICER is a Boston-based private organization that has granted itself the right to declare how much a new medicine is worth to you. This is as troubling as it...

March 22, 2024 Issues, Policy Proposals

Medical students recently celebrated “Match Day,” when aspiring doctors learn where they’ll be spending the next few years in residency to complete their training. America needs many more physicians — as many as 86,000 by 2036, according to projections released this week by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Policymakers can help plug that gap by easing regulatory burdens that keep qualified, internationally trained physicians from practicing in the United States. Click to read the full article in the Washington Examiner....

March 11, 2024 Issues, Policy Proposals

Any list of the world's most inhumane healthcare bureaucracies has to include Britain's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence at the top. For over two decades, the agency has employed ruthless cost-benefit analyses to effectively deny British patients access to the latest medicines. Now NICE is looking to export its expertise rationing life-saving drugs to the United States. The body recently announced a collaboration with the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, a U.S. group that purports to determine the cost-effectiveness of medical treatments. Similar...

November 13, 2023 Issues, Policy Proposals, Price and Costs

The price of health insurance has skyrocketed in recent years, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Average annual premiums for employer-based family plans have risen by 22% percent since 2018, to nearly $24,000. It's tempting to see these hikes as a shameless cash-grab by avaricious insurers. But there are more systemic factors fueling the growth of health costs. Only by attacking these root causes can policymakers bring down the cost of coverage without compromising the quality of...

October 5, 2023 Policy Proposals, Price and Costs

The Biden administration recently announced the first 10 drugs that will be subject to price controls under Medicare as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The president celebrated the occasion, saying, "We took on Big Pharma and special interests, overcoming opposition from every Republican in Congress, and the American people won." "Won?" The next generation of American patients will not feel like they "won" when they're stuck waiting even longer for effective treatments -- if those treatments ever materialize. Read the full...

September 26, 2023 Policy Proposals, Price and Costs

The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability met last week for a hearing on the Inflation Reduction Act's first year. As one of the witnesses pointed out, the law's implementation — particularly its drug pricing reforms — have already run afoul of some of our government's most basic norms of transparency and accountability. The IRA gives federal officials the authority to dictate what Medicare pays for certain medicines — a scheme intended to reduce the government's drug bill. Late last month,...

September 6, 2023 Policy Proposals

New vaccines for scourges like malaria and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. New cancer drugs that can cut death rates by half or even cause complete remission. The discovery of a biomarker that could identify people who would benefit from investigational drugs for Parkinson’s Disease. Breakthrough treatments that curb obesity and other addictive behaviors. Innovations like these have led The New York Times to declare the 2020s a “golden age for medicine.” But this golden age might be cut short, and a...

August 14, 2023 Issues, Policy Proposals

Immigration, always a strength for the U.S. economy, has the potential to fill a dangerous and growing labor shortage of skilled nurses. According to nurse.org’s 2023 State of Nursing report, “91% of nurses believe the nursing shortage is getting worse, and 79% report that their units are inadequately staffed.” And it’s not just nurses who recognize this problem. 90% of hospital CEOs report that nursing shortages are their most pressing workplace issue. Burnout from Covid-19 is an important contributor to this problem. A survey by NCSBN (an organization...

August 14, 2023 Issues, Policy Proposals

Congress is looking to narrow our nation's doctor shortage. After introducing legislation that would reform our primary care system, Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said last month , "Tens of millions of Americans live in communities where they cannot find a doctor while others have to wait months to be seen." The Vermont socialist is right. Too many people do struggle to find a doctor. But his preferred solution — spending tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to recruit and train...

August 2, 2023 Issues, Policy Proposals

Beneficial healthcare change is occurring – in a bipartisan manner too. The reform, referred to as the Transparency in Coverage (Tic) rule, improves the functioning of the healthcare market; and unlike the calls for price controls or increased government distortions, improving the efficiency of the healthcare market can achieve the core goals of promoting greater healthcare affordability and improving the quality of care. TiC went into effect July 1, 2022. Unique among today’s partisan rancor, the TiC rule was issued under the Trump...