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Responses to President Bush's new health initiative have filled newspapers and the airwaves since last week, with commentators and analysts trying to understand this new idea and figure out what it would mean. While opinion leaders from the left and right have praised Mr. Bush for exposing the fundamental flaws in how the tax code treats health insurance, response has been chilly among some with a … [Read more...] about Change is Inevitable

Before treating a patient, a physician starts with a good diagnosis. And that's just what President Bush has done with his health reform proposals. Rather than treating symptoms, he has offered a remedy for a root cause of the health sector's high costs and consequent high uninsured rates. "Changing the tax code is a vital and necessary step to making healthcare affordable for more Americans," Mr. … [Read more...] about Bold New Policy

While we have no confirmation at all from the White House, news reports are circulating that President Bush is considering bold changes to tax policy impacting health insurance. Hooray! There are several valuable proposals that would make it easier for people to buy coverage, such as making health insurance tax deductible whether you buy a policy yourself or get it at work. But the gutsiest idea, … [Read more...] about Tax Cap

The House is expected to vote today, without any hearings or serious debate, to approve a measure that would allow the federal government to intervene in drug price negotiations for Medicare. But attention already has shifted to the Senate, where more thoughtful consideration may be possible. The spotlight is on the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee, which held hearings on the issue … [Read more...] about Showdown

Since the new year began, we've been dealing with all-talk-all-the-time about prescription drug prices. The idea that the government should negotiate prescription drug prices is a key piece of health care legislation in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 100 hour marathon, and the House is expected to debate and vote on the measure next Friday. It sounds so simple. Since we are in favor of competition and … [Read more...] about All Drug Prices, All the Time

We close the year with encouraging news about passage of the important enhancements to Health Savings Accounts that we described to you last week. It was a small miracle that they were approved as the curtain fell on the last act of the Republican-controlled Congress. Many of the changes were sought by employers who want to offer HSAs but needed these fixes to make them work better and to make … [Read more...] about The Year Ahead

The news last Saturday provided vivid, painful proof that drug innovation is indeed a very risky business. Pfizer was in the final stages of testing a new drug for heart disease that would not just lower bad cholesterol, as its Lipitor does, but also increase good, artery-clearing cholesterol. The drug, torcetrapib, would have been a blockbuster, offering huge promise of actually reversing heart … [Read more...] about Vivid Proof

It is wise for us to search for the opportunities amidst the challenges the new Congress will present. A few examples: The uninsured. Incoming Democratic Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark co-signed an op-ed in The Washington Post in 1999 with then Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey -- "the ultimate congressional odd couple" -- offering bi-partisan consensus on help for the … [Read more...] about Opportunities Unfold