August 16, 2022

Brian Blase, Dean Clancy, Joe Grogan, and Tomas Philipson Quoted in The Daily Caller

Brian Blase, Dean F. Clancy, Joe Grogan and Tomas J. Philipson

Brian Blase

President at Paragon Health Institute

Brian Blase, Ph.D., is the President of Paragon Health Institute. Brian was Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy at the White House’s National Economic Council (NEC) from 2017-2019, where he coordinated the development and execution of numerous health policies and advised the President, NEC director, and senior officials. After leaving the White House, Brian founded Blase Policy Strategies and served as its CEO.

Dean F. Clancy

Public Advisor

Dean F. Clancy is a senior health policy fellow at Americans for Prosperity and a nationally-known health care freedom advocate with more than 20 years’ high-level policy experience in Congress, the White House, and the U.S. health care industry.

Joe Grogan

Public Advisor

Joe Grogan is a health care expert with a unique blend of private sector and government experience spanning over two decades in the Washington, D.C. health care arena.

Tomas J. Philipson

Public Advisor

Tomas J. Philipson, PhD, is the Daniel Levin Professor of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and directs the Becker Friedman Institute’s Program on Foundational Research in Health Care Markets and Policies within the Health Economics Initiative. He is also an associate member of the Department of Economics and a former senior lecturer at the Law School and visiting faculty member at Yale University. His research focuses on health economics.

Paragon President Brian Blase and Paragon Advisors Dean Clancy, Joe Grogan, and Tomas Philipson were quoted in The Daily Caller‘s story “Biden Just Signed The Inflation Reduction Act — Here’s How It Can Transform Your Healthcare.”

The story states:

President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Tuesday, codifying into law some of Democrats’ most sought-after healthcare reforms since the passage of the Affordable Care Act under former President Barack Obama.

The healthcare provisions of the law — which also include significant changes to climate and tax policy — are aimed primarily at lowering prescription drug prices and expanding access to Obamacare. Democrats are touting the IRA as a major legislative achievement, but some experts are skeptical they’ll achieve its stated goals.

One of those experts is Brian Blase, who explained why the bill will be counterproductive:

“By extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies, the IRA promotes wasteful health spending for the benefit of insurance companies and the wealthy, and will likely increase inflation.”

“The overall health care provisions in the Act will grow government’s already sizeable control over the health sector, worsen Americans’ health, and probably cost taxpayers more than what CBO estimates.”

Paragon Advisor Tomas Philipson was also quoted for the story, saying:

“The Act will cut American lifespans. Over the next 17 years, the bill would reduce drug industry research and development by about $663 billion, resulting in 135 fewer new medicines. This will amount to a loss of 330 million life-years, about 30 times the loss from COVID-19 so far.”

Paragon Advisor Dean Clancy also expressed concern:

“Drug price fixing and billions more in health insurance subsidies will do nothing but incentivize insurers to continue raising rates.”

Paragon Advisor Joe Grogan was also quoted for the story.

The full article can be found in The Daily Caller.

Medicare, Private Health

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Drug Prices, Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, Medicare Part D, Prescription Drugs