New initiative will help states reduce fraud, lower health care costs, and protect the vulnerable

WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Paragon Health Institute, a leader in health care research and market-based policy proposals, is launching the State Health Reform Initiative focused on the implementation of state-level health policy.

Led by Paragon's Niklas Kleinworth, the State Health Reform Initiative will help states focus on the most vulnerable and transform state health care by advancing evidence-based, free-market policies rooted in rigorous, data-driven research. The Initiative recognizes that states are best positioned to implement policies close to the people they serve. States, as "laboratories of democracy," can innovate—demonstrating solutions that improve affordability, access, and quality by reducing burdensome regulations, encouraging competition, and ending the perverse incentives that divert resources away from patients and toward lobbying and rent-seeking. States are also well-positioned to pioneer ways to identify fraud by implementing common-sense verification that can save taxpayers billions.

To achieve this mission, the Initiative will initially focus on four strategic priorities:

• Strengthen Medicaid program integrity by ending self-attestation, improving eligibility verification, reinforcing enrollment standards, and identifying waste, fraud, and abuse.
• Refocus Medicaid on serving the truly vulnerable—children, pregnant women, the poor, and the elderly—while encouraging work and upward mobility and reversing incentives that prioritize able-bodied adults over those most in need.
• Hold accountable Medicaid managed care insurers through robust reporting requirements, enforcement, and transparency to ensure proper rate setting and value for taxpayers and beneficiaries.
• Work to remove barriers to care by expanding health care supply, increasing patient choice through alternative coverage options, diversifying physician training pathways, and promoting policies such as limitations on subsidies for junk food that support overall health and well-being.

Kleinworth coauthored a recent paper, Preserve and Improve Medicaid: State Action to Protect the Most Vulnerable and Taxpayers, with Paragon President Brian Blase, laying out Paragon's recommendations for state reform in the near-term.

"This important initiative presents new tools and fresh strategies for state policymakers to catalyze reforms at the state-level" Kleinworth said, expressing enthusiasm about the potential for policy innovation.

"Recent federal reforms, like those in the One Big Beautiful Bill, present critical opportunities for state lawmakers to implement much-needed improvements to their health systems," he added. "I am excited to support states in their efforts to expand patient choice, improve Medicaid integrity, and bolster access to care, which will benefit patients and taxpayers alike."

In launching the State Health Reform Initiative, Blase remarked, "In 2025, Congress and the Trump administration implemented historic reforms to federal health care programs, and it is vital that states seize the reform mantle and successfully implement them. Paragon is eager to take what we have learned at the federal level, work with other reform and action-oriented state-level organizations and lawmakers, and deploy research and analysis to support state reforms that expand choice and competition and hold government programs accountable to those who they are intended to serve and those who finance them."

Launched in late 2021 by Brian Blase, Paragon Health Institute provides health policy research as well as market-based policy proposals for improved outcomes in the public and private sectors. A 501(c)(3) non-profit, the organization is funded by donations from foundations and individuals. Paragon does not accept any funding from industry and does not conduct any lobbying. Journalists and healthcare analysts can review Paragon's latest studies and commentary at paragoninstitute.org/research/.

Contact:

Anthony Wojtkowiak
media@paragoninstitute.org
703.527.2734

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SOURCE Paragon Health Institute