Christian; President of Paragon Health Institute; Special Asst. to the President at WH National Economic Council '17-'19; Happily married with 5 great kids.
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Cell phones have no place in American schools. They harm learning and social connection, and they should be banned during the entire school day.
This is based on the evidence & my experience as a father.
New op-ed from me: post-gazette.com/opinion/gue…
@Paragon_Inst
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Not good indeed.
And the #1 problem is the large cost growth of federal health care programs. For policymakers looking for reforms, @Paragon_Inst published a comprehensive set of reforms a few months ago: paragoninstitute.org/medicar…
🚨BREAKING🚨 The U.S. ran a $2 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2026, based on @BudgetHawks estimates.
Interest costs alone were $1.1 trillion, and debt hit 100% of GDP.
Not good!
(link to follow)
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Brian Blase retweeted
The IRA was supposed to reduce the cost of Medicare, but now that it has actually done the opposite, the people who broke the system want taxpayers to bail it out.
Read my latest on Medicare Part D subsidies in @dcexaminer with @JoinYoungVoices
washingtonexaminer.com/op-ed…
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Brian Blase retweeted
Exactly! Unfortunately the mainstream media almost universally reported it as “people losing coverage.”
Correction: they cancelled coverage for 760,000 phantoms! These were fake enrollments created by corrupt call centers and brokers to rip off taxpayers in a poorly designed program.
No SSNs, no claims, a fully subsidized premium, and no contact EVER with the insurer.
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Brian Blase retweeted
Phantom enrollees
Claims are nowhere to be found
Do ghosts fill the rolls?
Think you can terrify us in 17 syllables? KFF Health News’ eighth annual Halloween haiku contest is now open. Send us your most haunting healthcare verses.
kffhealthnews.org/news/hallo…
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Correction: they cancelled coverage for 760,000 phantoms! These were fake enrollments created by corrupt call centers and brokers to rip off taxpayers in a poorly designed program.
No SSNs, no claims, a fully subsidized premium, and no contact EVER with the insurer.
CMS cancelled federal marketplace coverage for more than 760,000 people and blocked new agents and brokers from offering coverage for 2027. Officials cited concerns about improper enrollment though unauthorized enrollments have dropped significantly. | Forefront
@Katie_Keith | @oneillinstitute
healthaffairs.org/content/fo…
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Brian Blase retweeted
Looking forward to joining this timely Paragon panel on the shortcomings of Medicaid managed care — and on which features of Medicare Advantage might be worth importing into Medicaid as remedies.
A truly awesome @Paragon_Inst virtual event will happen on October 14. We have an expert panel examining the differences between Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care, including @borisvabson and @CPopeHC.
Register here: paragoninstitute.org/event/m…
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Brian Blase retweeted
The previous administration weakened safeguards around the ACA marketplace and allowed bad actors to flood in.
That’s why @VP Vance’s @WHFraudTF took swift action and EVICTED 760,000 phantom enrollees tied to agents or brokers — cases where enrollees had no SSN, paid $0 in premiums, filed no claims, and never responded when insurers tried to verify their coverage.
The War on Fraud continues.
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A truly awesome @Paragon_Inst virtual event will happen on October 14. We have an expert panel examining the differences between Medicare Advantage and Medicaid managed care, including @borisvabson and @CPopeHC.
Register here: paragoninstitute.org/event/m…
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Brian Blase retweeted
Fraud has no place in health care.
That's why @VP Vance and @DrOzCMS are uprooting fraud and saving American taxpayers BILLIONS.
✅ $2.2 BILLION taxpayer dollars saved
✅ 760,000 phantom enrollments removed
Removing the fraud from the ACA Marketplace isn’t just a fiscally smart action for CMS to take — it’s the right one.
CMS and @VP Vance’s @WHFraudTF are saving taxpayers $2.2 BILLION by removing phantom enrollees and bringing trust back into our healthcare programs.
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Brian Blase retweeted
Removing the fraud from the ACA Marketplace isn’t just a fiscally smart action for CMS to take — it’s the right one.
CMS and @VP Vance’s @WHFraudTF are saving taxpayers $2.2 BILLION by removing phantom enrollees and bringing trust back into our healthcare programs.
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One of our most important comment letters.
Restoring US fiscal sanity requires reigning in the financing schemes that have allowed states to shift more and more costs to federal taxpayers.
States have used provider taxes to draw more federal Medicaid dollars while limiting their own contribution.
In a new comment letter, Paragon supports CMS’s effort to curb these arrangements and recommends stronger safeguards against circumvention.
ow.ly/JK8250ZT37P
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When an arbiter issues a decision, the insurer should promptly pay it. And there should be penalties for failing to pay promptly. We agree.
But prompt payment should be paired with reforms to a completely broken process. There are two other massive problems with the NSA arbitration system.
1. It is being used a lot for elective services when patients schedule the care well in advance of receiving it. The system creates incentives to use arbitration even in many cases where patients could know network status and prices beforehand. We should instead rely on transparency measures around pricing and network status. No one should compel providers into a network, but patients should know network status and the price before receiving care. Then, let the market work.
2. Many payments are outrageously high and make no sense. These outliers need to be addressed.
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Brian Blase retweeted
NEW PROGNOSIS:
Claims of declining children's health coverage don't show up in the latest Census data.
From 2024 to 2025, the estimated child uninsured rate fell from 6.1% to 5.8%, with about 226,000 fewer uninsured children.
ow.ly/B3o450ZSBKG
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Brian Blase retweeted
WAPO: JD Vance is not ripping away anyone’s health insurance coverage
washingtonpost.com/opinions/…
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I know Dr. Heidi Overton very well. She cares deeply about improving health care and health outcomes for Americans. She has high integrity, exercises sound judgement, and would make an excellent FDA commissioner.
We need a bold and permanent FDA Commissioner willing to unleash cures, bypass the Soviet style bureaucracy and beat China.
Heidi has big plans; Americans should be in her corner, rooting to ensure we are the safest & fastest place for new cures and AI innovation in the clinic.
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Yes. There are at least 760,000 phantom ACA enrollees.
Particularly since this is only the universe of enrollees without a Social Security number.
Plus, a fully-subsidized premium, no claims, and no response to insurers who had massive incentives to get in touch with them!
HHS Affirms Criteria Used For ACA Plan Cancellations ow.ly/Z1ve106Fgzu
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.@jrovner, your podcast discussion today ignored 3 of the factors present for ALL of the phantom enrollees removed - 1) their application was submitted by a broker and did not contain the applicant’s Social Security number, 2) they were in a fully-subsidized plan, and 3) the insurer NEVER had any contact with the enrollee. You only mentioned the 4th - they filed no claim.
You and your guests also failed to disclose that anyone removed who was a real person and submitted a verified SSN would be restored.
🔥BREAKING: I just learned how commonsense @CMSGov actions were today to remove phantom enrollees in federal exchange states. Here is what they did.
This should not be controversial in any way, unless you support fraud, sending billions of dollars to insurers on behalf of phantoms, and large taxpayer-financed commissions for unscrupulous brokers who made things up on applications, including creating fake applicants.
First, enrollees had to meet 4 criteria: 1) have an application submitted by an agent or broker that lacks a Social Security number or immigration number; 2) have no record of actual contact with the insurer; 3) pay $0 in premiums themselves (meaning taxpayers paid 100% of the premium); and 4) have NO medical claims.
Of note, the combination of these factors is a red flag for a potential phantom enrollee.
Second, assuming those 4 criteria were met, the insurer sent the enrollee two forms of notice and gave them 30 days to respond.
Third, if there was no response, CMS determined the enrollment to be unauthorized, and it was canceled. (Of note, insurers have large incentives to get in touch with the enrollee to keep that subsidy payment flowing.)
IMPORTANT DETAIL THAT SAFEGUARDS LEGITIMATE ENROLLEES: CMS has a safeguard in place. If a legitimate enrollee was affected, they can contact the call center, provide a verified Social Security number, and be reinstated.
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Brian Blase retweeted
A great evening celebrating 5 years of the @Paragon_Inst!
I really enjoyed hearing from @brian_blase and @DrOz, and I’m grateful for the important work Paragon is doing and the impact they’re having on health care policy.
Also great to be with my dear friends @ElleMinarik and Ryan Long!
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Brian Blase retweeted
Paragon Health Institute (@Paragon_Inst) president @brian_blase discussed Vice President JD Vance's announcement yesterday that the Trump administration is removing 750,000 allegedly fraudulent enrollments from the Affordable Care Act exchanges.
For more, visit: c-span.org/classroom/documen….
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