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The U.S. health sector needs all the competition it can get, with innovation and entrepreneurial, outside-the-box thinking at a premium. Enter AOL Founder Steve Case, who is moving into the health care space with an exciting new company he's creating called, appropriately, "Revolution." Business Week broke the story about Case's new company in its current issue, saying that he sees the move toward … [Read more...] about New Thinking

The Tax Reform Commission heard testimony yesterday from star witnesses Gene Steuerle of the Urban Institute and Mark Pauly of the Wharton School about the essential importance of addressing the tax treatment of health insurance. The hearing in New Orleans focused on tax fairness and how the tax system affects families. The $150 billion-plus annual subsidy for job-based insurance fails the test of … [Read more...] about Tax Fairness

A new survey by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health finds that employers are having success in controlling health costs by providing new incentives to get employees involved in decision making. The survey said that 8% of 555 large employers surveyed now offer Health Savings Accounts and another 18% plan to offer them next year, with 47% considering them. Other consumer-directed … [Read more...] about New Incentives

The political debate in Washington provides an abundance of contradictions: ? Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warns of dire consequences for the federal deficit and economic growth unless the country gets a handle on its entitlement programs, especially Medicare and Social Security. "I fear that we may have already committed more fiscal resources to the baby boom generation in its … [Read more...] about Stalled

Several pundits, including Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, have warned that pushing Social Security reform has the potential to damage the Republican party much as the failed Clinton health care debate hurt the Democrats in the 1990s. But the comparison is wrong. President Bush?s Social Security proposal is very different from the health care reform plan offered a decade ago, for three main … [Read more...] about Social Security isn?t Health Care

The issue of drug pricing continued to dominate the health policy debate this week. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held two hearings on drug importation, and several of our health policy colleagues were invited to testify: Stephen Pollard of the Centre for the New Europe in Brussels, Bob Goldberg of the Manhattan Institute, and Ben Zycher of the Pacific Research … [Read more...] about Two Hearings

The brouhaha over Medicare and prescription drugs escalated this week with an irresponsible story in The Washington Post on Wednesday claiming that ?the new Medicare prescription drug benefit will cost more than $1.2 trillion in the coming decade,? triple the original cost estimates. But Post reporters Ceci Connolly and Mike Allen made two huge mistakes and so far are resisting White House demands … [Read more...] about Brouhaha

In the life of our nation, there are few moments when we are as unified and inspired with hope for our country's future as during a presidential inauguration. We can rise above the political battles and our differences over issues to celebrate the ideal that unites us - the cause of freedom. President Bush's inaugural address yesterday set out a vision, not just for the next four years, but for a … [Read more...] about The Inauguration