Large nonprofit hospital systems are drawing the scrutiny they have long avoided. The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee, led by Chairman Jason Smith, is continuing its oversight of hospital affordability, tax-exempt hospital networks, and the federal policies that have allowed major systems to expand while families face higher medical bills. The committee’s work is overdue. Hospital spending has become one of the largest cost pressures in American health care, and many of t

Thomas Massie and his supporters have long presented him as one of Congress’s leading libertarian voices. That reputation deserves scrutiny after his vote against H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which delivered the Working Families Tax Cuts, major welfare reforms, and $1.3 trillion in net spending cuts over the first decade. Massie’s defenders can respect his rhetoric on spending restraint. They cannot ignore the record. When Congress had a real opportunity to preve

Colleges are facing two pressures at once: fewer freshmen and less federal loan money to prop up tuition. Fertility peaked in 2007, and the post-2007 baby bust is now starting to reach college campuses. At the same time, H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” capped graduate student loans and is already pushing universities to cut prices. The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board highlighted the shift in a new op-ed on MBA programs cutting tuition after Congress limited fede

Washington does not need another expensive housing program to see why buyers are struggling. Millions of homes already exist, but too many are being kept off the market by a tax code that has not kept up with reality. New data from the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) confirms what the Center for a Free Economy has been warning for months. The federal capital gains exclusion for primary home sales is outdated, unindexed, and increasingly out of step with home prices. Th

CFE has been warning CMS and Congress that Medicaid financing schemes are draining taxpayers, weakening program integrity, and turning a safety-net program into a payment machine for states and politically favored providers. CMS is now moving in the right direction. A new CMS proposed rule would strengthen oversight of Medicaid state directed payments, align more payments with Medicare standards, and bring more transparency to payment arrangements that have grown far beyond t

The Center for a Free Economy submits these comments in support of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s interim final order concluding that federal law preempts the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act. The OCC is right to act. Illinois is attempting to impose a state-level price control on the national payments system by prohibiting national banks and federal savings associations from charging or receiving payment card fees on the tax and gratuity portions of

American families are already paying more for groceries, gas, housing, insurance, and everyday goods. The latest inflation report shows the problem is not over, and Washington should stop pretending cheaper money will solve a price problem caused by too much money. Inflation Is Moving the Wrong Way Again CNBC reported that overall inflation rose 0.6 percent in April and 3.8 percent over the last 12 months, the highest annual inflation reading since May 2023. Core prices, whic

Americans keep hearing that Washington is cutting Medicaid. Paragon Health Institute looked at the actual numbers from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and the claim does not hold up. CBO’s new presentation on federal health subsidies shows federal Medicaid spending rising every year. Medicaid is projected to grow from $708 billion in 2026 to $981 billion in 2036, a 39 percent increase. CBO also projects federal Medicaid spending will total $8.4 trillion from 2026 throu

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz delivered a blunt warning about Medicare fraud in Los Angeles during a recent Fox News interview: “We believe that at least half of the hospices in the entire area around Los Angeles are fraudulent.” On May 13, CMS followed with a major enforcement action, suspending payments to roughly 800 hospices that billed federal taxpayers $1.4 billion last year. Those providers will no longer be paid while off

Washington debates often sound abstract until the results show up in family bank accounts. The final filing-season numbers now show that the Working Families Tax Cuts did exactly what supporters said they would do: return money to working families quickly, directly, and at a scale large enough to strengthen household budgets. According to final tax filing-season data highlighted by U.S. House Ways and Means Republicans, taxpayers received more than $310 billion in refunds thi

School choice keeps gaining ground because parents want options, students need opportunity, and political leaders in both parties are starting to recognize the demand. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has now signaled that New York intends to opt into the federal scholarship tax credit program, a major development for one of the nation’s largest and bluest states. According to the Commonwealth Foundation, Hochul has not yet formally submitted New York’s opt-in form to the IRS, but

Hospital spending is the biggest cost driver in American health care, and Washington keeps protecting the same hospital systems that drive costs higher. Patients need more competition, not more consolidation, facility fees, and payment rules that steer care into expensive hospital settings. New Congressional Budget Office projections show the problem clearly. From 2023 through 2034, fee-for-service Medicare hospital inpatient spending is projected to rise from $145 billion to

Senator Elizabeth Warren wants ordinary taxpayers pushed into an IRS-run tax prep system, but when her own taxes got complicated, she hired a CPA. That choice tells taxpayers plenty about why independent tax help still has value. Fox News reported that Warren did not use Direct File, the IRS-run tax filing system she spent years promoting, when it became available in Massachusetts. Her publicly released tax return showed that she used a private accountant instead. Fox also re

Large “nonprofit” hospital systems have spent years using tax preferences, payment rules, and market power to enrich themselves while patients and taxpayers carry the cost. Congress is finally taking a serious look at how that system works, and the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee is right to put hospital costs under the microscope. A new analysis from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget shows how much money is on the table. The options include reforms that coul

SNAP enrollment is finally moving in the right direction. A new analysis from Jack Salmon at The Unseen and The Unsaid finds that participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fell by nearly 4.3 million people between January 2025 and January 2026, with roughly 3.5 million of that decline occurring after Congress passed and President Trump signed H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” This is good news for taxpayers and for the program itself because SNAP

It is wrong when one part of the business sector uses government power to enrich itself and mug its competitors. It is even worse when that effort is sold as a plan to protect ordinary people. The “Main Street Depositor Protection Act,” S. 4198, fits that pattern. The bill sounds like it protects small businesses, but it would expand government-backed deposit insurance, weaken market discipline, and let smaller banks shift the cost of their preferred subsidy onto larger compe

New York City’s budget mess is quickly becoming a warning to every small and family-owned business in the country. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and City Council Speaker Julie Menin are pressing Albany to cut the New York City Pass-Through Entity Tax credit from 100 percent to 75 percent. They are presenting the plan as a way to raise new revenue from high earners while the city faces a budget crisis. The political sales pitch is familiar, but the target is far broader than the slogan

The fastest way to make a credit card useless is to let Washington decide who deserves one. A new Committee to Unleash Prosperity analysis reinforces the warning CFE has already made: capping credit card interest rates would hurt the same consumers politicians claim to protect. Supporters may call it relief, but a government cap would push millions of Americans out of the credit market, shrink credit lines, weaken rewards programs, and leave families with fewer safe options w

Hospital giants went before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and showed why Washington’s health care affordability debate should start with the hospital industry. The system pays hospitals more, taxes many of them less, shields them from competition, and then asks patients and taxpayers to cover the bill. The hearing featured CEOs from some of the nation’s largest health systems, including major for-profit and tax-exempt hospital chains. Under questioning from Ways and

Health care fraud is not a paperwork problem. It is a taxpayer rip-off that drains money from patients who need care, providers who follow the rules, and workers who fund the system. At Paragon Health Institute’s National Press Club event, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz laid out the scale of the challenge facing federal health programs. Dr. Oz estimated health care fraud at about $100 billion per year and warned that fraud in Medicare,