Research comparing states with and without Certificate of Need (CON) laws suggests CON requirements can limit competition and reduce access to rural health care services. During the 2026 legislative session, Iowa passed significant CON reforms that reduce regulatory barriers and narrow the number of projects requiring state approval. The reforms should make it easier for providers to expand servic...
As a physician, my inclination is generally to respect scientific authorities—but I found the skepticism from the right more compelling than the trusting attitude of the left. After all, the essence of science is not trust, but doubt. Like many Americans, my trust in science was shaken during the COVID-19 pandemic. We were informed by public health authorities that the novel coronavirus could no...
As a physician, the most interesting part of this second Trump administration—of MAGA 2.0—is the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) component. Such a focus is sorely needed, as Americans’ health has clearly deteriorated over the past few decades. A useful overall metric is longevity. In my first 50 years, life expectancy rose from just under 70 years to nearly 79 years by 2010. This was driven lar...
When people receive benefits they’re not supposed to get, that leaves less money for everything else the government does. For months, advocates for more taxpayer-funded healthcare have warned of a looming drop in Medicaid coverage. They blamed this on the official end of the COVID-19 “public health emergency” and associated relief funds. But as I pointed out earlier this year, the real issue is...
West Virginia is only the latest state to take the step of eliminating restrictive barriers to health care, and Iowa should be the next. Policymakers in Iowa can increase access to health care and improve affordability by eliminating excessive restrictions on the expansion and introduction of facilities. Specifically, Iowa’s Certificate of Need (CON) laws limit patient access and provider competit...
Every time I write about healthcare reform, I receive at least one comment about the need to get the government out of healthcare entirely. I’m not unsympathetic to this argument, but I think it’s unrealistic. It is true that industries, which have seen the largest increases in costs over the past few decades, such as healthcare and higher education, are also some of those most highly impacted ...
Simplistic approaches to reform, such as “Medicare for All”, are unrealistic and would prove inadequate. To address our current healthcare problems, we should look to other countries for ideas, while looking within our own country to see what is possible. Then we can create a uniquely American solution for our citizens.
It is impossible for me to imagine that we will see any meaningful healthcare reform soon. Nothing substantive has been offered by President Joe Biden’s administration, despite earlier declarations that “Obamacare” would be expanded as “Bidencare”. Given the logjam in the Senate, thanks in large part to Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), any proposal which is unlikely to be of...
By Dr. Christopher Peters Between last fall’s election and inauguration day, many of us were speculating about what health care changes we could expect under President Joe Biden. Nearly three months into his presidency, the picture still is not crystal clear. Since President Biden’s inauguration, the administration has reversed some of the healthcare policy decisions enacted under the Trump admini...
By Dr. Christopher Peters With President-Elect Joe Biden’s administration due to take over in just over a month the nation will be faced with either a divided Congress or a razor-thin Democratic majority. What might we expect in the realm of healthcare reform in the near future? Probably not much. Democrats maintained their majority in the House, but […]
By Dr. Christopher Peters Right now, we have no choice but to wait for votes to be counted and 2020’s election results to become final. Those tallies will eventually tell us who will not only occupy the Oval Office but also control the United States Congress. While we wait, it’s worth diving into potential changes to our health care […]
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