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Three conferences I participated in this week brought into sharp focus the growing divide between those who believe that the government should run our health care system and those who are investing a huge amount of energy and resources into creating a vibrant, consumer-centered health care economy. I was the requisite conservative speaker at a workshop on ?Guaranteed Access to Quality Health … [Read more...] about Technology Moves Center Stage

Every Spring, Congress sets aside Health Care Week to try to pass health care legislation, and this year, all eyes are on the Senate. It is working toward a floor debate, possibly as early as next week, on a bill that Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming has been working feverishly to complete. Sen. Enzi's Small Business Health Plans bill (S.1955) is the new version of the Association Health Plans … [Read more...] about The Hopes of Spring

The new Massachusetts health plan has dominated the policy conversation over the past week, causing more division among conservatives than liberals. The law, designed to make the state the first in the nation to achieve universal health coverage, was signed on Wednesday by Gov. Mitt Romney. He was flanked at the invitation-only ceremony by the Democratic leaders of the Massachusetts legislature … [Read more...] about Proceed with Caution

President Bush has made this Health Savings Account week, speaking at a forum featuring a panel of local business leaders in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on Wednesday and holding a HSA meeting and media briefing at the White House on Tuesday. He clearly is passionate about HSAs, as I had a chance to see first hand. The President held a private meeting on Tuesday in the historic and elegant Roosevelt … [Read more...] about HSA Week

An article from the current New England Journal of Medicine is zipping around our e-mails this week, written by a prominent Harvard professor and physician, Jerry Avorn. The title says it all: "Part 'D' for 'defective' - The Medicare drug-benefit chaos." Avorn uses the past tense to describe the benefit, using terms like "debacle" and "inept" and says, "The drug benefit was defective from its … [Read more...] about Conflicting Studies

As we move toward a health care system that gives people more power and control over health care decisions, many experts worry that consumers will be bewildered by so many complex financial and medical issues. Some argue against consumer-directed health care because they don't believe that people can or should be left to make these difficult decisions. But that doesn't mean turning our back on … [Read more...] about Health Advisors

There is a flurry of news this week in the evolving conversation over health policy: The Medicaid Commission held another in our series of meetings, this time in Atlanta, to focus on long-term care. The presentations from the three-day hearing will be available on the commission's new website soon. But first, we heard from Medicaid Director Dennis Smith who gave us a detailed look at the changes … [Read more...] about Advancing the Conversation

The importance of price transparency continued to dominate the health policy discussion this week. The centerpiece, at least from our perspective, was a packed briefing on Capitol Hill that we hosted on Tuesday with the Center for Health Transformation. Our goal was to educate congressional staffers about the importance of consumers being able to see up front the prices for medical services, which … [Read more...] about Hitting the Mark