Congress is away, President Bush is out of the country, and there were few new policy developments in Washington this week. This, then, seems a good time to update you on a few of our activities at the Galen Institute over the last couple of weeks to help advance free-market health reform ideas.
- The Consensus Group met this week with the top health policy advisers from the White House and Health and Human Services to discuss the president’s health care initiatives. The Consensus Group will meet again next week to plan our own activities to continue to educate the public about the wisdom of solutions that engage the power of consumers and competition.
- Galen unveiled our latest publication, “Six Questions Everyone Should Ask about Health System Reform: An Application of Basic Economics,” at an AEI forum this morning hosted by Bob Helms. This paper, written by American Medical Association Principal Economist Jesse Hixson, offers guidelines for achieving effective health system reform through free-market incentives. You can view the paper online at the following PDF Six Questions
- I have written a paper explaining how reforming the tax treatment of health insurance will facilitate both health reform and tax reform and presented the paper at an Institute for Policy Innovation conference, “Road Map to Tax Reform,” on Capitol Hill on February 12.
- I attempted to describe the U.S. health care “system” in a talk before a group of skeptical French journalists.
- We continue to work hard to refine and price our Prescription Drug Security Card Plan.
- Next week, I will testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on new ideas to help the uninsured obtain private health insurance.
We also have a new policy analyst at Galen, Joe Moser, to help us produce more studies and research. Joe holds degrees from Miami University and Marian College and has experience in state health reform through his work in the Indiana state legislature. Joe’s academic health policy work has focused on Medicaid research, and he is eager to join the fight for free-market health care reform.Grace-Marie Turner
Grace-Marie Turner is president of the Galen Institute, a not-for-profit research organization focusing on ideas to promote free-market health reform. She can be reached at P.O. Box 19080, Alexandria, VA, 22320.