Some members of Congress are threatening to use a hatchet to fix a problem in the health sector that requires a scalpel. Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) has reintroduced the misguided patients' bill of rights in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision this week saying that employees don't have the legal right to sue their health plans in state courts. Dingell's legislation would layer more crushing … [Read more...] about Solutions through Tax Reform
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Promises and Pitfalls
The Senate and drug importation: A bill (S. 2328) sponsored by Senators Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) is yet another based upon the fiction that the Food and Drug Administration could set up a system to assure the safety of massive imports of prescription drugs from Canada and eventually dozens of other countries. The bill has bi-partisan support from people like Sen. Trent Lott … [Read more...] about Promises and Pitfalls
A New Community
Our health care system is evolving from a top-down centrally-managed Industrial-Age machine into an innovative Information Age network in which millions of consumers will be empowered to reshape the sector around their choices and needs. To facilitate this transformation, the Galen Institute soon will be creating a new Consumer Choice Community. This new service will offer an opportunity for … [Read more...] about A New Community
Responding with Facts
More barbs were thrown at Health Savings Accounts this week during a hearing chaired by Senator Larry Craig of the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said in his testimony that MIT economist Jonathan Gruber has produced research showing that enhancing HSAs would actually increase the number of … [Read more...] about Responding with Facts
Turning Up the Heat
The conversation over health reform heated up this week, with Cover the Uninsured Week sparking a great deal of the activity. Unlike past years, there was a refreshing focus on a cluster of ideas promoting consumer choice in health care. Some highlights: ? The 12-member Senate Republican Task Force on Health Care Costs and the Uninsured offered a package they say ?would result in annual savings … [Read more...] about Turning Up the Heat
Breaking the Mold
Political leaders, like House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, are doing seniors a great disservice by discouraging them from enrolling in the new Medicare drug discount card program. Low-income seniors could save up to 70% off the cost of their medicines if they sign up for one of the new cards, as Joe Antos of the American Enterprise Institute and I report in a commentary published yesterday in The … [Read more...] about Breaking the Mold
Good News
Medicare went live yesterday with a website providing its first-ever drug price comparison tool. The site is designed to help Medicare beneficiaries choose a prescription drug discount card by providing competitive pricing information about the specific basket of medications they are taking. Seniors can go to www.medicare.gov or call 1-800-Medicare. We'll have lots more on this next … [Read more...] about Good News
Reality Health Policy
Just as reality TV has taken over network television, real-life stories are having a powerful impact on the health policy debate. Three examples recounted at events and conferences I attended recently say more than thousands of words of health policy papers: ? Last month in Las Vegas, Michele Armstrong, a consumer representative from Pennsylvania, said she took her son to the pediatrician … [Read more...] about Reality Health Policy