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Tag: Ethics and Public Policy Center

Newsletters

Our newsletter features a commentary by Grace-Marie Turner on the major developments and issues of the week as well as summaries of writings by participants in the Health Policy Consensus Group and other articles of interest from the health policy world, plus announcements of coming events. It is emailed in an HTML format from the galen@galen.org email address, via Constant Contact, and you may have to adjust your email settings and junk mailbox to ensure that you don’t miss an issue.
October 23, 2009

The Fix Is Not In

Cost matters: The cost of health care remains the central issue in the health reform debate, and that's why the news this week was so bad for leaders on both sides of Capitol Hill. First, the Senate. Wednesday's vote on the "Doc Fix" stunned everyone, even, apparently, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. His plan was to shove $247 billion under the carpet and pretend that a permanent increase in Medicare's payment rates to doctors shouldn't count as part of overall health reform. But he ran into a firestorm of opposition, with 12 Democrats plus Independent Joe Lieberman voting with all 40 Republicans to reject the ploy (final vote 47-53).
Tags:
doc fix, Dave Camp, Rick Foster, Medicare Advantage, Galen poll, Washington Examiner, National Review Online, Tom Miller, American Enterprise Institute, Jim Capretta, Ethics and Public Policy Center, private insurance, WHO, The Wall Street Journal, Carl Bialik, Scott Harrington, competition, McCarron-Ferguson, America's Health Insurance Plans, Senate Finance Committee, Alex Brill, medical device manufacturers, Medicaid
Categories:
Health Reform


May 15, 2009

Health Care Brouhaha

The White House and its allies cheered on Monday when President Obama announced that six health groups had pledged to reduce the growth of health spending by 1.5 percent a year for the next 10 years. The president called it a "watershed event," saying that this could save as much as $2 trillion over a decade. But when the actual members of the organizations heard the news, all hell broke loose.
Tags:
Society for Innovative Medical Practice Design, MDVIP, Kevin Sack, concierge medicine, personalized health, AHIP, HDHP, HSA, high-deductible health plan, health savings account, comparative effectiveness, NICE, Britain, Imperial College School of Medicine, Karol Sikora, Eli Lilly and Company, John Lechleiter, innovation, private health insurance, Medicare, administrative cost, BNA, William Schiffbauer, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Yuval Levin, Jim Capretta, Economix, tax credits, National Review, physicians, American Enterprise Institute, Scott Gottlieb, Cato Institute, Michael Cannon, stimulus bill, The Wall Street Journal, tax treatment of health insurance, Uwe Reinhardt, Pfizer, Senate Finance Committee, public plan, National Health Insurance Exchange, mandates, Medicare Trustees Report, Nancy-Ann DeParle, America's Health Insurance Plans, American Hospital Association, health spending
Categories:
Health Reform


March 19, 2009

Where's the Money?

The New York Times carried a front page story on Sunday that said the Obama administration "is open to taxing health benefits." Forget the incessant 2008 Obama campaign ads. This is 2009, and they are searching for money to pay for a major overhaul of our health sector. It is important to modernize the tax treatment of health insurance, and we have long supported reform. But we fear the changes they are considering would turn what should be a gentle nudge into a sledgehammer.
Tags:
tax treatment of health insurance, The New York Times, Obama, uninsured, employer-based health insurance, John McCain, John Rother, AARP, John Sheils, The Lewin Group, Massachusetts, Jim Capretta, National Review Online, Ethics and Public Policy Center, drug development, comparative effectiveness, Gilbert Ross, American Council on Science and Health, The Washington Times, Wyeth v Levine, John Calfee, American Enterprise Institute, Medicare Part D, prescription drugs, Peter Pitts, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, The Sun, Canada, Brian Lee Crowley, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, Lessons from Abroad, cancer care, socialism, David Gratzer, Manhattan Institute, The New Atlantis, government-run health care, Europe, National Business Group on Health, Watson Wyatt, health care costs, consumer-driven plan, David Rehbein, American Legion, The Wall Street Journal, VA, veterans, health benefits
Categories:
Tax Treatment of Health Insurance