Pacific Research Institute

Byzantine State Regulations Delay Vaccine Access at Pharmacies, Global Healthy Living Foundation Study Reveals

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Science, Public Policy, Government, Biotechnology, Research, Pharmaceutical, General Health, Health, Healthcare Reform, Second Continental Congress, Conditional sentence, Congress, Innovation, Fellow, Policy, Data science, Doctor of Pharmacy, Associate, Physician, Risk, Patient, Pharmacy, Social media, Pharmacist, Doctor of Philosophy, RSV, Health policy, Pacific Research Institute, Publication, CDC, Vaccination, Safety, Vaccine, PRI, FDA, Economics, Legislation

The research shines a light on the significant obstacles faced by pharmacists, who are often the most accessible health care providers for vaccinations.

Key Points: 
  • The research shines a light on the significant obstacles faced by pharmacists, who are often the most accessible health care providers for vaccinations.
  • “Post-pandemic data unequivocally reveals adult patients' preference for vaccinations at pharmacies, with nearly 90 percent of immunizations provided by pharmacists or pharmacy technicians.
  • This situation is particularly troubling for patients in low-income communities who have better access to pharmacies than health care provider practices.
  • Such a move would promote equity in health care access and elevate vaccination rates to recommended levels.

New Pacific Research Institute Brief: Regulatory Roadblocks Hinder Development of New COVID-19 Treatments for the Immunocompromised

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Innovation, Health, Freedom, Food and Drug Administration, FDA, Food, Immunodeficiency, Government, Vaccine, CDER, COVID-19, Policy, Patient, Hook effect, Pacific Research Institute, PRI

Monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs, work by mimicking the body's natural antibodies, which is why they are so valuable to treating the immunocompromised. Six different mAbs were authorized by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) early on during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the predominant COVID-19 strain -- the JN.1 variant -- shows numerous mutations all at once. As a result, the FDA has pulled authorization for current treatments as the current virus continues to mutate.

Key Points: 
  • "That's why it is so important that only scientific constraints limit patient access to mAb treatments, not misguided government policy or regulatory inefficiencies."
  • Monoclonal antibodies, or mAbs, work by mimicking the body's natural antibodies, which is why they are so valuable to treating the immunocompromised.
  • Winegarden argues that the federal regulatory environment should promote a wider array of treatment options, including the continued development of potentially efficacious mAbs.
  • The Pacific Research Institute ( www.pacificresearch.org ) champions freedom, opportunity, and personal responsibility through free-market policy ideas.

New Brief: End Anti-Market Distortions in Current PBM System Would Lower Patient Costs, Increase Access to Life-Saving Drugs

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Congress, Patient, Health, Freedom, Pacific Research Institute, Sale, PRI, Innovation, Pharmacy, PBM, Pharmaceutical industry

PBMs earn revenues from fees charged to pharmacies and plans, a percentage of negotiated discounts with manufacturers, and fees tied to the drug's list price.

Key Points: 
  • PBMs earn revenues from fees charged to pharmacies and plans, a percentage of negotiated discounts with manufacturers, and fees tied to the drug's list price.
  • They earn more money when drug list prices are high, which has encouraged a rise in list prices in recent years.
  • However, patient costs are rising because their out-of-pocket costs are based on the inflated list prices.
  • He rejects the arguments of reform critics, who say eliminating PBM abuses would push the U.S. healthcare system "one step closer" to a socialized system.

New Free Cities Center Book: Reforms to Increase Affordability, Homebuilding Would Go Far to Alleviate State's Housing, Homeless Crises

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Policy, Homelessness, Barack Obama, Housing, Climate change, Crime, Freedom, Social mobility, Pacific Research Institute, Education, Culture, PRI, CEQA, Housing First, Organization

"Homelessness is a social problem that's compounded by exorbitant housing prices," said the book's authors, Dr. Wayne Winegarden and Steven Greenhut.

Key Points: 
  • "Homelessness is a social problem that's compounded by exorbitant housing prices," said the book's authors, Dr. Wayne Winegarden and Steven Greenhut.
  • "Regions with lower-cost housing have much lower levels of homelessness because a lack of low-cost housing leaves those people on the economic margins with nowhere to go."
  • The law's maze of costly reports, multiple approvals, and potential for out-of-control lawsuits has become a major obstacle to homebuilding.
  • PRI's Free Cities Center cultivates innovative ideas to improve urban life based around freedom and property rights -- not government.

New Book: Latin America's Experience Shows How Markets Can Help Urban America Overcome Government-Created Problems

Retrieved on: 
Monday, November 13, 2023
Bitcoin, PRI, Developed country, Pacific Research Institute, City, Socialism, Transport, Homelessness, Housing, Freedom, Education, Urbanism, Crime, NIMBY, Social mobility, Drug, Tourism

The book builds upon the experiences of Beyer, the founder and editor of the Market Urbanist, traveling through Latin America exploring how market urbanism -- or private-sector actions that create organic growth and voluntary exchange within cities -- works in developing countries. It offers lessons from the cities visited on his trip that should be studied by urban centers in the U.S.

Key Points: 
  • "For all its high-level socialism, Latin America is in many ways a place where it's easier to own a home, start a business, or move as you choose," said Scott Beyer, the author of "Latin America's Urban Experience."
  • "California shouldn't copy everything about Latin America -- especially the socialism that is built into its political history and fabric.
  • But state policymakers would do well to learn from the best aspects of Latin America's urban policy."
  • PRI's Free Cities Center cultivates innovative ideas to improve urban life based around freedom and property rights -- not government.

New Brief: COVID-19 Restrictions Led to Small Health Benefits Negated by Tradeoff of Huge Economic, Education Losses

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 26, 2023
PRI, Employment, Food, Freedom, Public, Infection, COVID-19, Innovation, Pacific Research Institute, Death, Student, Health, Mortality, Pharmaceutical industry

 "Looking at the data, states with stricter COVID-19 public health policies did see small health benefits from reduced infections and mortality rates -- but at the expense of sizable decreases in economic growth and education outcomes," said Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI's Center for Medical Economics and Innovation and the study's co-author. 

Key Points: 
  • "Given these significant tradeoffs, it is essential for states to consider the large costs that interventions impose upfront while devising future pandemic responses.
  • Future policies should be tailored to tightly target the most vulnerable populations while minimizing the costs students and working adults must bear," he concluded.
  • "No Solutions, Only Tradeoffs," authored by Winegarden and McKenzie Richards, examined whether the states rated as having more restrictive interventions realized health benefits from fewer COVID-19 infections and deaths.
  • However, these small health benefits were offset by the increase in other health risks, such as the increased number of late cancer identifications due to delayed cancer screenings.

New 'Free Cities Index' Ranks America's Best and Worst Pro-Growth Cities

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, September 5, 2023
PRI, Housing, Freedom, Crime, Education, Homelessness, Policy, Pacific Research Institute, City, Social mobility, Drug

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cities that promote pro-growth policies, encourage entrepreneurship, and efficiently provide core public services ranked at the top of a new "Free Cities Index" of the nation's most 50 populous cities released today by the Free Cities Center at the nonpartisan, free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute. 

Key Points: 
  • No city was ranked toward the top of every category, showing that every city has room for improvement.
  • Comparing the rankings to the population growth trends of the largest 50 cities illustrates a clear pattern -- the cities with growing populations tend to maintain pro-growth policy environments while the cities with declining populations maintain anti-growth policies.
  • "The Free Cities Index rankings make clear -- people, voting with their feet, are expressing their support for pro-growth policies by moving to those cities whose policies promote freedom," concluded Winegarden.
  • PRI's Free Cities Center cultivates innovative ideas to improve urban life based around freedom and property rights -- not government.

New PRI Poll: As New School Year Begins, Voters See Room for Improvement with Local Schools

Retrieved on: 
Monday, August 28, 2023
National Center for Education Statistics, PRI, Pacific Research Institute, Probability, Freedom, Education, Parent, Student, Reading, Tutoring

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- As students head back to school, a new national survey commissioned by the California-based, nonpartisan, free-market think tank, the Pacific Research Institute finds that voters are more dissatisfied with their local school boards than their neighborhood schools, and see room for improvement in public education.

Key Points: 
  • When asked how they rated their local public schools, 45 percent rated them as being excellent or good, compared to 47 percent who rated them as being fair, poor, or very poor.
  • Just 36 percent gave their local school board an excellent/good rating, compared to 49 percent who rated them as being fair/poor/very poor.
  • "PRI's new survey shows that, as a new school year begins, parents and the public see room for improvement with public schools and school boards," said Lance Izumi, senior director of the Center for Education at the Pacific Research Institute.
  • "Voters want school boards to listen to parents and focus on what public schools historically have been tasked to do – raise student achievement in math, reading, and the core subjects."

Americans Satisfied With Their Current Health Coverage, Lean Against Single Payer, Finds New PRI Survey

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
Government, Pacific Research Institute, All, Medicare, PRI, Congress, CT, Policy, Probability, Freedom, Education, Health insurance

90 percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied with their current health insurance plan, compared to 9 percent who said they were dissatisfied.

Key Points: 
  • 90 percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied with their current health insurance plan, compared to 9 percent who said they were dissatisfied.
  • This represents a 4 percent increase in people's satisfaction compared to PRI's 2022 survey.
  • "Americans are satisfied with their current health care plans, and aren't looking for a government takeover of our health care system," said Sally Pipes, PRI President, CEO, and Thomas W. Smith Fellow in Health Care Policy.
  • This is a 5 percent increase in those approving of their coverage compared to PRI's 2022 survey.

New Study: Americans Pay $1,300 'Tort Tax,' Fixing Legal System Would Grow Economy by 2 Percent

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
PRI, Pacific Research Institute, Perryman, Freedom, AGS, Tax, Economic methodology, Lawyer, Legal pluralism, Research, Congress, Injury, Renewable energy, Insurance

"Frivolous lawsuits reduce economic opportunities, jobs, and tax revenues while increasing costs for all Americans," said the study's co-authors, Dr. Wayne Winegarden and Kerry Jackson.

Key Points: 
  • "Frivolous lawsuits reduce economic opportunities, jobs, and tax revenues while increasing costs for all Americans," said the study's co-authors, Dr. Wayne Winegarden and Kerry Jackson.
  • "As our study shows, policymakers can help grow the economy, reduce inflation, and boost tax revenue by embracing reforms to end lawsuit abuse."
  • Winegarden and Jackson calculate that this is a "tort tax" of $1,300 per person.
  • Winegarden and Jackson note that tort reform does not prevent people who suffer injuries from attempting to receive just compensation through the court system.