Improving the U.S. healthcare system remains an important issue of political economy. Despite efforts at reform, American healthcare suffers from inadequate access, excessive costs, harmful market power, and vulnerable supply chains.
VPA’s work on healthcare focuses on bold ideas to strengthen our system, including through public options, public manufacturing, and stronger regulation.
6/23/26
Dana Brown and Alejandro Molina propose the creation of “AmericaRx,” a network of publicly owned and operated pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities designed to increase drug production capacity and improve the affordability of prescription medications.
6/23/26
Alejandro Molina and Reed Showalter call for the creation of a public pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) that would operate with transparent pricing and a public-service mandate.
6/15/26
Joel Dodge and Dana Brown propose public-powered pharmacies to improve healthcare access in New York City.
2/4/26
While drug prices skyrocket and many Americans struggle to afford essential medications, Big Pharma gets richer and more powerful while actually delivering an ever more meagre research and development (R&D) pipeline. This paper proposes a transformational approach to the sector via a “public option” in pharmaceutical R&D aimed at filling innovation gaps, providing competition in key market sectors and maximizing public return on public investment.