At a time when spending in just about every area of the federal government is coming under intense scrutiny and review, the latest edition of The Ripon Forum examines the importance of investing in health research and why is it critical that the United States remain a global leader in that regard.
“There has been more change in healthcare and how we think about healthcare in the last 25 years than the collective healthcare advances of all time before that,” writes former Missouri Senator Roy Blunt in the cover essay for this latest edition. “There are many reasons to believe that the next quarter century, and maybe even the next decade, will make the same kind of incredible progress.”
Blunt knows the issue better than most. Before his retirement from Congress in 2023, he served as Chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that funds the National Institutes of Health and other key federal healthcare agencies. In this position, he helped lead the effort to make sure America was a global leader in medical research. It is a priority, he said, that the federal government should renew its commitment to invest in today.
“The United States should commit itself to making the most of that next generation of healthcare and maintain our position as the world’s premier leader in medical breakthroughs,” Blunt writes. “When a country is first in health research, the people of that country benefit the most, but the economic opportunity of being first is also significant. Just a few of the areas that will rapidly develop include CRISPR technology, microbial medicine, the AI applications in healthcare research, and analyzing healthcare data.”
According to Georgia Congressman Buddy Carter, lawmakers should also make it a priority to confront the crisis facing America’s pharmaceutical supply chain. “The United States should never be dependent on the Chinese Communist Party for antibiotics and essential medicines. But that’s exactly the dangerous position we are in today. In 2002, the United States manufactured 72 percent of the pharmaceuticals it consumed. By 2023, that number had dropped to just 37.5 percent. We didn’t just outsource manufacturing — we outsourced the sovereignty and safety of our health care system.”
In another essay, Michael Baker of the American Action Forum examines the vital role that vaccines have played in American life over the past six decades. “The creation, development, and deployment of vaccines – a U.S. federal priority since the 1960s – has been one of the greatest healthcare achievements in history,” Baker writes. “Routine childhood immunizations in the United States from 1994–2023 are estimated to have prevented around 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and more than 1 million deaths.”
Also writing for this latest edition, Matthew A. Kahn of the Hoover Institution examines the cost of chronic disease in America, while Dr. Vikas Saini, the president of the Lown Institute, makes the case that America is overprescribed as a country and it is costing us billions of dollars each year. Lucy Orr-Ewing of the Coalition for Health AI shares her thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence in health care, and, in our featured debate, Sally Pipes, President & CEO of the Pacific Research Institute squares off against Paul Ginsburg of USC and Steve Lieberman of the Schaeffer Center in a discussion over drug prices and whether the government should control them.
In our Politics & Perspective section, political observers Lee Drutman and Dustin Wahl look at Nebraska Congressman Don Bacon’s decision to retire from Congress and whether there is room for his brand of centrist conservatism in American politics today. Alex Durante of the Tax Foundation examines the hype and reality of today’s trade wars, and strategist Matthew Bartlett assesses New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte’s first six months in office.
In another essay, I examine author and attorney Philip K. Howard’s latest book, which follows up on the DOGE cuts taking place around Washington and asks a simple question — what comes next? And in our latest Ripon Profile, North Carolina Congressman Greg Murphy discusses his career as a doctor and how that has shaped his service in the House.
As always, we hope you find this edition of The Ripon Forum interesting and informative, and welcome any questions or comments you may have.
Lou Zickar
Editor of The Ripon Forum
louzickar@riponsociety.org