Research Guide · Annotated Bibliography
Every specific, named claim on this site — a GAO audit, a JAMA study, a CDC report — traces to a real source. This page collects them in one place: the full citation, a link to read it yourself, a plain-language note on what it actually shows, and which page or book cites it. Built as a resource for researchers, journalists, and readers who want to check the work, not just take our word for it.
Every entry below was independently verified against the primary source — not just checked for a working link, but read to confirm it actually says what it's cited for. Where our own research surfaced a mismatch between a claim and its source, we corrected the claim on the page in question rather than publish a citation that doesn't hold up; see How We Source Claims. This bibliography currently covers the sourced claims already published across the site and will grow as new investigations are added.
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Topic
The evidence behind Before the Counter and the Prescription Drugs research guide.
Government Report
U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-21-111 · December 2020
Comparing prices for 399 matched brand-name and generic drugs, GAO found the VA paid on average 54% less per unit than Medicare Part D in 2017, even after accounting for Part D rebates and discounts.
Cited in: Before the Counter, Prescription Drugs guide
Read the source →Government Report
Federal Trade Commission, Interim Staff Report · July 2024
The FTC found the three largest PBMs — CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx — managed 79% of U.S. prescription drug claims in 2023, up from 70% in 2016, each owned by the same corporate family as a major health insurer.
Cited in: Before the Counter, Prescription Drugs guide
Read the source →Peer-Reviewed Study
Venker, Stephenson & Gellad · JAMA Internal Medicine, 2019
This research letter found Medicare Part D spent $32.5 billion on the top 50 oral drugs in 2016; at VA prices, the same drugs would have cost $18.0 billion — a $14.4 billion gap.
Cited in: Before the Counter, Prescription Drugs guide
Read the source →Research Report
RAND Corporation, Report RRA788-3 · February 2024
RAND found U.S. brand-name drug prices ran 3.22 times those of 33 comparison countries, even after accounting for estimated manufacturer rebates.
Cited in: Before the Counter, Prescription Drugs guide
Read the source →Peer-Reviewed Study
Cleary, Beierlein, Khanuja, McNamee & Ledley · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018
NIH-funded research was linked to every one of the 210 new drugs the FDA approved between 2010 and 2016, backed by more than $100 billion in NIH project funding over that period.
Cited in: Before the Counter, Prescription Drugs guide, Beyond Reform
Read the source →Government Report
Congressional Budget Office · December 21, 2023
CBO estimated that over the next 30 years, 13 fewer new drugs of roughly 1,300 expected will reach the market as a result of Medicare's new negotiating authority — about a 1% reduction.
Cited in: Before the Counter, Prescription Drugs guide
Read the source →Government Report
Congressional Budget Office · August 3, 2022
CBO's official cost estimate projected roughly $101.8 billion in Medicare savings from 2022–2031 from the IRA's drug-negotiation provision — the basis for the commonly cited "$102 billion" figure.
Cited in: Before the Counter, Prescription Drugs guide
Read the source →Peer-Reviewed Study · Author's Own Research
Coleman, Rodondi, Kaubisch, Granzella & O'Hanley · The American Journal of Medicine, 1991
Robert Coleman's own published research on VA antibiotic stewardship found prospective review of IV antibiotic orders cut antibiotic costs by about a third with no increase in mortality — the pilot that became the basis of a national Medicare/Medicaid stewardship requirement in 2019.
Cited in: Before the Counter
Read the source →Topic
The evidence behind Behind the System, the Insurance & Financing research guide, and A Case for Single-Payer Healthcare.
Survey / Research Report
Richards, Collins, Gupta & Roy · The Commonwealth Fund, 2025 Affordability Survey · June 2026
A nationally representative survey found that among people whose care was blocked by prior authorization, 63% reported worry or anxiety, 41% said the denial delayed their care, and 28% said a health problem worsened as a result.
Cited in: Behind the System, Healthcare Financialization guide
Read the source →Peer-Reviewed Study
Horný · JAMA Network Open, 2024
A cohort study of more than 1.5 million privately insured patients found Black patients and lower-income patients faced measurably higher denial rates for no-cost preventive care than white and higher-income patients.
Cited in: Behind the System, Healthcare Financialization guide
Read the source →Peer-Reviewed Study
Kannan, Bruch & Song · JAMA, 2023
Using Medicare claims data on 662,095 hospitalizations, this study found a 25.4% increase in hospital-acquired conditions — including a 27.3% rise in falls and a 37.7% rise in central-line infections — after private equity acquired a hospital.
Cited in: Behind the System, Healthcare Financialization guide
Read the source →Systematic Review
Borsa, Bejarano, Ellen & Bruch · BMJ, 2023
A systematic review of 55 studies (2000–2023) covering private-equity ownership across hospitals, physician practices, nursing homes, and other healthcare settings found PE ownership was most consistently linked to higher costs — nine of twelve cost-focused studies found increases, none found decreases.
Cited in: Behind the System, Healthcare Financialization guide
Read the source →Peer-Reviewed Study
Chan, Card & Taylor · American Economic Review, 2023
Using a natural-experiment design among veterans eligible for both VA and Medicare-financed private hospital care, this study found the VA reduced 28-day mortality by 46% and 28-day spending by 21% relative to comparison hospitals.
Cited in: A Case for Single-Payer Healthcare
Read the source →Preprint · Not Yet Peer-Reviewed
Pandey, Wells, Ye, Fitzpatrick & Galvani · medRxiv preprint, Yale School of Public Health (CIDMA) · July 2026
This preprint projects that single-payer coverage would cut U.S. national health spending by $1.04 trillion a year (about 20%) while covering everyone, driven mainly by lower drug prices, Medicare-level provider payment rates, reduced administrative overhead, and reduced fraudulent billing. The authors' own more conservative assumptions on drug pricing and fraud reduction still project at least $663 billion in annual savings. Not yet peer-reviewed; updates the same research team's earlier, similarly-structured model, which independent critiques have flagged for excluding long-term-care costs and assuming no increase in care-seeking among the already-insured — open questions this update does not appear to resolve.
Cited in: A Case for Single-Payer Healthcare
Read the source →Investigative Report
Levey · KFF Health News, with NPR · June 16, 2022
Drawing on an original KFF poll and Urban Institute/JPMorgan Chase Institute data, this investigation found more than 100 million Americans (41% of adults) carry some form of healthcare debt, driving many into bankruptcy.
Cited in: Behind the System, Healthcare Financialization guide
Read the source →Topic
The evidence behind Broken Trust and Science Under Siege.
National Poll
de Beaumont Foundation & Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health · June 2026
A national poll found trust in CDC health recommendations fell from 77% in spring 2025 to 50% a year later — the steepest decline among Democrats (92% to 34%), with a modest rise among Republicans (63% to 67%).
Cited in: Broken Trust, Science Under Siege, homepage
Read the source →National Poll
de Beaumont Foundation & Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health · 2025
The baseline spring-2025 poll establishing the 77% CDC-trust figure used as the starting point for the one-year comparison above.
Cited in: Broken Trust, Science Under Siege
Read the source →News Report
Government Executive · June 2025
Reports that CDC lost approximately one-quarter of its workforce following HHS's March 2025 restructuring, with roughly 2,400 positions cut in the initial reduction before partial recalls.
Cited in: Science Under Siege, When Science Became Political
Read the source →News Report
CNN · June 9, 2025
Confirms HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed all 17 sitting members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on June 9, 2025.
Cited in: Science Under Siege, When Science Became Political
Read the source →Peer-Reviewed Study
Oliveira, Huang, Woodruff & Uzzi · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2026
Peer-reviewed analysis confirms NIH terminated 2,291 active research grants between February and August 2025, withdrawing $2.45 billion from the federal research budget.
Cited in: Science Under Siege, When Science Became Political
Read the source →Topic
The evidence behind When Science Became Political.
Government Report
CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Vol. 75, No. 9 · March 2026
Official CDC report confirming New Mexico ran 60 mobile MMR vaccination clinics across 11 counties, coinciding with a 55% increase in statewide MMR doses administered, before the 99-case outbreak was declared over in September 2025; it also documents one death, in an unvaccinated adult.
Cited in: When Science Became Political
Read the source →News Reporting
CIDRAP and Newsweek reporting · 2025
Combined reporting documents four measles deaths in the U.S. in 2025, three of them children, including 8-year-old Daisy Hildebrand of Lubbock, Texas — unvaccinated, with no underlying conditions.
Cited in: When Science Became Political
Read the source →Government Reference
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · reviewed 2026
CDC's standard reference confirming two doses of MMR vaccine are 97% effective against measles (one dose, 93%).
Cited in: When Science Became Political
Read the source →News Report
STAT News · July 2025 – January 2026
Documents Congress rejecting the administration's proposed roughly 40% cut to NIH funding, ultimately increasing FY26 NIH appropriations.
Cited in: When Science Became Political
Read the source →Court Ruling
U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 1:25-cv-11916 · March 2026
A federal court found HHS/CDC's narrowing of the universally recommended childhood immunization schedule likely violated the Administrative Procedure Act.
Cited in: When Science Became Political
Read the source →Professional Endorsement
AAP News, American Academy of Pediatrics
Confirms twelve medical organizations representing more than a million clinicians formally endorsed the American Academy of Pediatrics' independent 2026 vaccine schedule.
Cited in: When Science Became Political
Read the source →Data Tracker
KFF · as of January 2026
KFF tracking confirms 28 states (plus DC) had departed from CDC's revised childhood vaccine recommendations for at least some vaccines as of January 2026.
Cited in: When Science Became Political
Read the source →Topic
The evidence behind Unnecessary Deaths.
Government Data
CDC / National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics System
CDC's official excess-mortality tracker, defining excess deaths as observed deaths minus deaths expected from pre-pandemic trends; the roughly 1.3 million U.S. total cited on this site reflects cumulative excess mortality through 2022.
Cited in: Unnecessary Deaths
Read the source →Research Report
National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Columbia University Earth Institute (Irwin Redlener) · October 2020
Comparing the actual U.S. COVID-19 death toll through October 2020 to what it would have been had the U.S. matched six peer nations on testing, lockdown timing, and national mask mandates, this report estimated 130,000–210,000 avoidable deaths.
Cited in: Unnecessary Deaths
Read the source →Government Report
CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2022
During the Delta-dominant period (October–November 2021), unvaccinated people had 12.7 times the risk of death compared with fully vaccinated people without a booster, and 53.2 times the risk compared with those who had received a booster.
Cited in: Unnecessary Deaths
Read the source →Peer-Reviewed Study
Adams et al. · Vaccines (MDPI), 2023
Across 164 countries, a 10-percentage-point increase in vaccination coverage was associated with an 18.1% decrease in COVID-19 mortality at six months.
Cited in: Unnecessary Deaths
Read the source →Found a source that doesn't hold up, or have a citation you'd like added?