CENTER FOR HEALTH POLICY

For 14 years, CRI has advocated for advancing healthcare services in Delaware on a more free-market basis. Free-market reform would reduce costs by hundreds of millions of dollars a year to taxpayers, medical centers and hospitals, third-party payers, insurers, and individual patients while increasing quality and access to care.

The two impediments to the goal are the inaptly named Affordable Care Act and Delaware’s Certificate of Need (CON) legislation. The top priority of the Center for Health Policy is the repeal of Delaware’s Certificate of Need program.

CRI has repeatedly presented data to state legislators advocating the elimination of the CON law. Due in great measure to CRI’s efforts, the HRB’s wasteful dysfunction has not gone unnoticed by the Delaware Legislative Review Council. In 2022, CRI will persist in finalizing the Legislature’s “sunsetting” of the CON program and redirecting the HRB to solely serve as an advisory board.

The Center will also continue to publish documentation on the unsustainable growth of Delaware’s Medicaid costs within the state’s budget.

Will This Government Shutdown Change Your Health Insurance Rates?

As the federal shutdown continues, most Delawareans won’t see changes in their health insurance premiums. The current debate in Washington only affects temporary ACA marketplace subsidies that help a small share of insured residents. Medicare, Medicaid, and employer-based coverage remain stable. Even if enhanced subsidies expire, higher rates would impact only some ACA enrollees. For most Americans, coverage and costs will stay the same. Learn more at CaesarRodney.org.

C. D. Casscells

Oct 23

No Need for a ‘Hospital Review Board’ in Delaware

We commend Representative Valerie Longhurst's efforts to rein in hospital costs in Delaware. However, the creation of a "Hospital Review Board" in Substitute 1 for House Bill 350 will not succeed. The fundamental problem of high hospital costs in Delaware is due to a lack of competition. NOTE: Hospital costs are clearly the largest component of healthcare costs in Delaware, and they have been currently and historically excessive in comparison to those nationally and in nearby

Christopher Casscells, MD, Stacie Beck, PhD, and John Toedtman

May 2, 2024

Tragic Incentives and Transgender Medical Care

Tragic Incentives and Transgender Medical Care By Stacie Beck, Ph.D. , Associate Professor of Economics and C.D. Casscells, M.D. Center for Health Policy at the Caesar Rodney Institute October 20, 2023 The 2011 burst in transgender medical treatments came shortly after the passage of the Affordable Care Act. This accelerated after passage of a non-discrimination federal Health and Human Services regulation on private insurance in 2016. The US experienced a dramatic in

Christopher Casscells, MD, Stacie Beck, PhD, and John Toedtman

Oct 20, 2023

Is ‘Gender Ablation’ Indicated or Ethical as Policy?

The United States is experiencing an endemic health crisis. There is a regional outbreak (on both the East and West coasts) of young girls self-identifying as “trans.” Previously, in 2018 , according to the U.S. National Health Interview Survey on sexual orientation, 97.3% of men and 96.8% of women identify as “straight,” 1.9% of men identify as “gay,” 1.4% of women identify as “lesbian,” and 0.8% of men and 1.8% of women identify as “bisexual.” Also, recently, the Cent

C. D. Casscells

Aug 28, 2023

Fentanyl Eclipses COVID-19 as a Public Health Crisis

As the hysteria wanes from almost three years of COVID-19, and we continue to suffer the collateral damage from the ill-advised lockdown policies, our need for a return to normal is shattered by the harsh data emerging from Fentanyl death statistics. Nationally, there are now more daily Fentanyl deaths than COVID-19. Over the past three years, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), there have been four times wherein the death toll rose to 140% of expected; Ap

C. D. Casscells

Oct 7, 2022

ChristianaCare & Crozer Health Fall Out Explained

ChristianaCare & Crozer Health Fall Out Explained By Dr. Christopher Casscells, M.D. Center for Health Policy at the Caesar Rodney Institute August 30, 2022 The second week of August 2022, the planned take-over of the Crozer Health (four hospitals in Delaware County, PA) by ChristianaCare (three hospitals, outpatient & other services in Delaware and Maryland) fell apart. The News Journal asked what happened, but nobody is talking. Other media sources vaguely referenced fi

Christopher Casscells, MD, Stacie Beck, PhD, and John Toedtman

Aug 30, 2022

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