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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.
September 10, 2009

A Speech, Not a Plan

President Obama's speech last night soared with oratory but fell flat in delivering on his promise to present details or any substantive new policy initiatives for his health reform plan. He may get a few days of lift from the passion and cheers in the House chambers, but the hard realities of policy will continue to chill prospects for getting sweeping reform legislation enacted.
Tags:
Energy and Commerce Committee, Medicaid, fraud, Michael Tanner, Cato Institute, Birthright Israel NEXT, uninsured, Census Bureau, illegal immigrants, American Maggie, National Review Online, The Hill, Martin Feldstein, The Wall Street Journal, Obamacare, Tom Miller, American Enterprise Institute, Health Affairs, health exchange, performance measurements, physicians, BBC, Sen. John Cornyn, Ben Sasse, town halls, health spending, Brookings Institution, America's Health Insurance Plans, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Fee-for-Service
Categories:
Health Reform


July 30, 2009

Who's Scaring Whom?

A plethora of polls hit the news this morning, showing that the American people are increasingly worried about President Obama's health reform plan, fearing that their health costs will rise and the quality of their care will get worse if the plan goes into effect. The president spent much of his time during his speeches yesterday answering what he described as cynical scare tactics by critics.

 

Tags:
Juliette Cubanski, Lisa Potetz, Kaiser Family Foundation, medicare financing, Manhattan Institute, Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Aparna Mathur, medical debt, Cato Institute, Michael Cannon, public option, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Rep. John Boehner, states, AMA, William Plested, Donald Palmisano, Daniel Johnson, James R. Frogue, Newt Gingrich, Center for Health Transformation, abuse, fraud, American Enterprise Institute, Maine, American Affordable Health Choices Act, Institut economique Molinari, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, Valentin Petkantchin, Brian Lee Crowley, Lewin Group, Blue Dog Democrats, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, biologics, Massachusetts, Rep. Tom Price, Empowering Patients First Act, health reform, Obama
Categories:
Health Reform


June 12, 2009

Trouble Brewing

The first Democratic bill in the hopper this week came from Sen. Kennedy's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, taking 615-pages to turn most of whatever is left of our private health sector over to government. The normally-genteel Sen. Orrin Hatch was quoted in The New York Times this morning as calling the bill "the most liberal bunch of gobbledygook I've seen in my life -- a complete liberal mishmash of ideas." Keith Hennessey, director of the National Economic Council under President Bush, was the first to present a detailed analysis, which you can find here.
Tags:
HELP bill, public plan, mandate, AMA, Senate Finance Committee, Medicare, Patients' Choice Act, Paul Ryan, Tom Coburn, comparative effectiveness research, Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research, Massachusetts, Michael Tanner, Cato Institute, tax treatment of health insurance, Robert Helms, American Enterprise Institute, Tom Miller, Karl Rove, The Wall Street Journal, Jeffrey Anderson, Pacific Research Institute, Scott Gottlieb, Coleen Klasmeier, Canada, David Gratzer, Manhattan Institute
Categories:
Health Reform


May 22, 2009

Shaking Things Up

Four Republican members of Congress shook up the health reform debate this week when they were the first to reach the floor of the House and Senate with comprehensive health reform legislation. The Patients' Choice Act puts the $300-billion tax break for employment-based health insurance front and center in the debate. Reps. Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes and Sens. Tom Coburn and Richard Burr use it to create generous refundable tax credits for Americans to buy health insurance ($2,300 for individuals and $5,700 for families).
Tags:
colonoscopy, rationing, Obamacare, Michael Tanner, Medicaid, Nina Owcharenko, The Heritage Foundation, Dennis Smith, The Hill, Jeffrey Young, Senate Finance Committee, Health Affairs, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Donald Berwick, patient-centered care, Manhattan Institute, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, universal care, McKinsey, Harvard Business School, Manhattan Institute, Regina Herzlinger, Sen. Orrin Hatch, The New York Times, Robert Pear, Cato Institute, Michael Cannon, Charlotte Ivancic, Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquist, The Wall Street Journal, American Enterprise Institute, Joe Antos, tax treatment of health insurance, tax credits, Sen. Richard Burr, Sen. Tom Coburn, Rep. Devin Nunes, Rep. Paul Ryan, Patients' Choice Act
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