One of the more surprising developments in the retirement policy debate is coming from the political left. A new explainer from the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), an organization generally associated with progressive economic policy, acknowledges that the Trump administration's proposed TrumpIRA initiative could help millions of workers who currently lack access to workplace retirement plans. While disagreements remain over implementation and long-term

A federal program created to help vulnerable patients access affordable medications has increasingly become a financial windfall for large tax-exempt hospital systems. The Trump administration's proposed 340B Rebate Model Pilot Program seeks to bring greater transparency and accountability to a program that now exceeds $80 billion in annual discounted drug purchases. The Health Resources and Services Administration recently announced a request for information on a pilot progr

Americans are not imagining the affordability crisis. Real wages have stopped gaining ground, inflation remains embedded in household budgets, and new cost pressures from tariffs and energy instability are making everyday life more expensive. According to New York Times economics reporter Ben Casselman, inflation-adjusted wages have shown no net gain since President Trump returned to office. Price increases over the past few months have erased the real wage gains workers made

Obamacare created several costly federal programs, but the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) has become one of its clearest failures. The agency was supposed to reduce healthcare costs and improve quality through new payment models. Instead, it has spent billions of taxpayer dollars while producing little evidence that it has improved care or delivered savings. Congress now has an opportunity to end this wasteful experiment. Rep. Aaron Bean has introduced H.R

Joe Rogan’s discussion of nonprofit hospital abuses pushed a long-running health care problem into the national spotlight: many of America’s largest tax-exempt hospital systems are operating more like corporate conglomerates than charitable institutions. The Center for a Free Economy has been working extensively to expose this problem and advance reforms that bring more accountability, transparency, and competition to the hospital sector. CFE has repeatedly highlighted how la

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is considering S. 2658, the "Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act," a bill that supporters claim would improve transparency between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). In reality, the legislation would weaken intellectual property protections, encourage more litigation, and burden federal agencies with new paperwork that could slow innovation and dr

President Trump has put a long-running problem in clear terms: foreign governments are using drug pricing policies that leave American patients paying too much of the world’s pharmaceutical research and development bill. Congress now has legislation that would help turn that concern into action. H.R. 4780, the “USTRx Act,” introduced by U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington and other lawmakers, would create a Chief Pharmaceutical Trade Negotiator within the Off

A new report from the Paragon Health Institute finds that 28 states now have more low-income Obamacare exchange enrollees than eligible residents in the income range receiving the program’s most generous subsidies, a striking sign that the program’s enrollment problems remain far from resolved. Paragon estimates that 6.2 million individuals are improperly enrolled in Affordable Care Act exchange plans in 2026. While that figure is slightly below the institute's estimate of 6.

A growing coalition of conservatives is raising alarms about S. 4668, the "Protect College Sports Act," arguing that the legislation would move far beyond establishing rules for college athletics and instead place Washington at the center of the industry. The latest warning came from House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who told Politico that the Senate bill faces serious obstacles in the U.S. House. Scalise specifically cited concerns over student-athlete employment status a