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The Congress took a few more small steps toward health reform this week: Both the House and Senate have passed identical bills creating a voluntary system for reporting medical errors with new protections from lawsuits. Sen. Frist says medical mistakes are the "eighth leading cause of deaths each year -- more than car accidents, breast cancer or HIV/AIDS." This could give analysts a wealth of … [Read more...] about Health Care Week

The New York Times published a blockbuster series of articles this week, exposing the astonishing corruption in New York State's Medicaid program. Some highlights: A Brooklyn dentist -- who has since been indicted -- billed for 991 fillings, cleanings, and other dental procedures in one day in 2003, costing Medicaid a total of $63,967. Her total Medicaid take that year: $5.4 million. The state … [Read more...] about Setting Priorities

The Senate next week plans to debate federal funding for stem cell research. The science is evolving in a way that should make this controversy moot. One side argues that research on viable human embryos has the greatest medical potential and that destroying the embryo is a price worth paying. The other says that adult stem cells and umbilical cord cells already have demonstrated much more success … [Read more...] about New Options

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced on Friday the members of the Medicaid advisory commission charged with identifying reforms necessary to stabilize and strengthen Medicaid. I am honored to have been among those selected to serve with so many distinguished health policy experts. "In Washington and state capitols across America, there is consensus that now is the time to reform and modernize … [Read more...] about Medicaid Commission

Former Sen. John Breaux was a valuable consensus builder during his more than three decades in Congress, working with Republicans and his fellow Democrats to provide leadership in actually getting things done. Now, after retiring last year to move into private life, he is bringing his skills to a new project he's creating called "Ceasefire on Health Care: Finding Common Ground for the … [Read more...] about Ceasefire

Taxes and health care clearly are hot issues, as evidenced by the standing-room-only audience that turned out for our briefing on Monday on "Tax Reform as the Road to Health Reform." Bob Moffit and Dan Mitchell of Heritage joined John Berthoud of the National Taxpayers Union and me in explaining why the coming debate over tax reform provides a prime opportunity to begin to fix tax policy that … [Read more...] about Taxes and Health Care

When striving to succeed in business, a savvy consultant once advised that "Good news is nice, but bad news is more important." And that certainly holds true for consumer-directed health care. An important new study by McKinsey & Company released this week says that the early evidence about consumer-directed health care (CDHC) is promising, but much more needs to be done before there will be … [Read more...] about Consumer Response

The equivalent of the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in Montreal today as the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a Quebec law that had banned private health insurance for services covered under medicare, Canada's socialized health care program. "This is indeed a historic ruling that could substantially change the very foundations of medicare as we know it," Canadian Medical Association president … [Read more...] about The Wall Tumbles