Research/Policy Issues
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Baucus Health Plan is Fatally Flawed
The sweeping health reform plan proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus suffers from several expensive and fatal flaws, according to a National Center for Policy Analysis health economist.
NCPA: Move Medical Malpractice Out Of The Courts
The nation's medical malpractice system should be replaced by a system that automatically compensates patients for unexpected injuries or deaths, regardless of who is at fault.NCPA Study: Government, Insurers Keep Medicine In Stone Age
Health care entrepreneurs working outside the traditional health insurance payment system are using telephone, e-mail, text messaging and innovative computer software to make medical care more accessible and convenient for patients.Medical Tourism Offers Hope To Control Health Care Costs
One of the most promising solutions for our nation's soaring health care costs may be found in patients traveling outside the country for care.
HSA Plans Gain Popularity As Premium Costs Rise
Hewitt Data Good News for Future Cost Controls, Says NCPA’s GoodmanHealthBeat FYI: Sick Sob Stories
With the health care debate still raging on Capital Hill and in homes across the country, today's Wall Street Journal published a commentary from John Stossel, co-anchor of ABC's news magazine show 20/20.New Census Bureau Numbers Show Little Change
The 2006 Census Bureau data released today does little to support the contention that America is experiencing a "crisis" of the uninsured.HealthBeat FYI: RomneyCare 2.0
Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney announced his health care platform last week.HealthBeat FYI: Health Plans Offer Investment
Enrollment in health insurance plans with savings accounts has increased steadily since they became available in 2004, but 2008 could be their breakout year, according to health care consultants.HealthBeat FYI: Changing the Face of Health Insurance
The New York Times ran a piece today titled "Who is the New Face of Plastic Surgery?" The thrust of the article is that more so-called "blue collar" workers are finding ways to finance cosmetic procedures, including taking out loans and using credit cards.HealthBeat FYI: The SCHIP Revelation
Last week, both the House and the Senate passed their own versions of legislation to renew and expand SCHIP.Schip Expansion: Robin Hood In Reverse
As both chambers of Congress debate expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the National Center for Policy Analysis has released a new report explaining how this expansion will be costly for children, seniors and the poor.HealthBeat FYI: Insurance Folly
The State Children's Health Insurance Program (Schip) was originally a Republican program to provide health insurance to children in near-poor families who did not qualify for Medicaid. Democrats now want to expand Schip to children of the middle class.SCHIP Markup Talking Points
SCHIP reform and expansion has moved to the front of Congressional debate, as both chambers of Congress consider legislation to expand the program.
HealthBeat FYI: Health Care Rationing A ‘Necessary Evil’
As SiCKO premieres nationwide this Friday, Michael Moore is telling anyone who'll listen that the U.S. needs to model its health care system on those such as Canada and the U.K. One of the most critical features of those systems is institutional rationing of care.HealthBeat FYI: Tough Rx: possible ways to fix Medicare
In Sunday's Los Angeles Times, personal finance columnist Kathy Kristof reported on the problems facing Medicare. In it, she cited a recent NCPA study by Senior Fellows Andrew Rettenmaier and Thomas Saving.HealthBeat FYI: How Many Doctors Does It Take to Treat a Patient?
Increasing attention is being given to the elephant that has long sat in our living rooms: Medicare.HealthBeat FYI: ERIC Supports Consumer-Driven Solutions for Employer-Based Health and Retirement Plans
Over the past year, employment-based health and retirement plans have received a lot of coverage, mostly because a number of major employers are running out of options for funding the benefits they have promised their employees.Medicare Trustee: Seniors’ Health Care Bill Will Double As Baby Boomers Retire
Medicare's costs are rising so rapidly that substantial tax increases, benefit cuts, or a combination of the two will be necessary.
HealthBeat FYI: Giuliani Health Proposal Seeks Individual Coverage
Rudy Guiliani addressed health care in the Republican debate in New Hampshire, and now has outlined the plan he hopes to officially present some time this summer.HealthBeat FYI: Put the 'Children' back in SCHIP
SCHIP was designed to achieve one specific goal: insurance for children. That goal has been lost in the mad scramble to not lose federal money.HealthBeat FYI: U.S. Health Care Far Better Than Study Claims
Devon Herrick, offered the following reaction to the Commonwealth Fund survey claiming the U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world, but consistently underperforms as compared to its international counterpartsHealthBeat FYI: Illinois Tax Implosion
A funny thing happened on the road to Canadian-style health care in Illinois: Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich's tax increase to finance health care became the political rout of the year, says the Wall Street Journal.HealthBeat FYI: Canadian Drugs, Eh?
The following are excerpts from Kim Strassel's excellent "Potomac Watch" column in today's Wall Street Journal:
Listen to Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe discuss importing drugs from Canada, and you'll hear endless happy talk about "more competitive prices," "substantial savings" and how "crucial" reimportation is to "the American consumer."
Business Coalition Offers Health Reform Contradictions
A new coalition of nearly 40 businesses launched a political campaign this week to push for health care reforms intended to reduce health care costs that are hurting their competitiveness and to decrease the number of uninsured.Regulations Drive Up Cost Of Massachusetts’ Health Plan
Massachusetts enacted an ambitious plan for near-universal health insurance coverage in 2006, yet the regulations and mandates imposed on the insurance market by the plan have driven up costs and made insurance more expensive.HealthBeat FYI: Electronic Health Records Can Lead the Way in the Health Care Revolution
The Veteran's Administration implemented an Electronic Health Records (EHR) system in 1999. The computerized system allows a provider anywhere in the entire VA network to access important patient information in seconds.HealthBeat FYI: Perverse Incentives in Health Care
Our public-school system and our health-care system may seem as different as night and day. Yet both systems share something in common: Mediocrity is the rule and excellence, where it exists, is distributed randomly.HealthBeat FYI: HSAs Growing, Enabling Access to Quality and Price Information
While patients, employers and government all are currently clamoring for price and quality information in the overall health marketplace, most HSA plan enrollees already have it.Fewer Americans Uninsured Than Previously Reported
The U.S. Census Bureau revised its 2005 data on the uninsured this week, after discovering the initial data was off by 1.8 million people.Commonwealth Prescription Is Bad Medicine
A new study from the Commonwealth Fund touts three recent health care reform proposals as viable solutions in providing health coverage to the uninsured.HealthBeat FYI: Alive on Arrival
Editorial from the Wall Street Journal, March 19th, 2007HealthBeat FYI: HDHP Holders Curb ER Usage
Patients who switched to high-deductible health plans went to the emergency department 10 percent less than patients who remained in traditional plans.Lack Of Transparency In Health Care Heightens Costs, Retards Innovation
Unlike other markets, prices for health care are difficult to obtain and often meaningless when they are disclosed. A new study notes the only area of the health care marketplace where price and quality information is freely available is where patients pay for the services themselves.Half Of All Seniors’ Consumption May Soon Be Health Care
In less than two decades, half of everything seniors consume may be health care.In Case You Missed It: PRI's Sally Pipes Tells USAToday Government Meddling Can't Fix Health Care
Sally Pipes, President and CEO of the Pacific Research Institute recently told USAToday government meddling can't fix health care.Negotiating Medicare Drug Prices Best Done By Seniors, Not Government
On the eve of Congressional debate over allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) has released two reports that suggest prices are most effectively lowered by empowered consumers.NCPA’s Goodman To Testify On Health Care Opportunites
John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) will testify at a special roundtable discussion of the newly reconstituted Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Wednesday, January 10th.Health Care Spending Slows For Third Straight Year
A dramatic decrease in the growth of prescription drug spending helped slow overall health care spending in 2005 to its lowest rate since 1999.CDHC Plans Promote Good Health While Cutting Costs
A new study adds considerable evidence that adopting consumer-directed health care plans is an effective way to increase healthy behavior while cutting wasteful spendingGovernment Negotiated Drug Prices Not Needed; Smart Shopping Can Cut Costs Better
According to a new study from the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), "Shopping for Drugs: 2007," the most effective way to lower drug costs is for seniors to become smarter shoppers.Health Insurance Should Be Personal And Portable
Health insurance in the U.S. should be personal and portable, according to John Goodman, President of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).Doctors Aren't Paid To Discuss Drug Costs
U.S. doctors rarely take the time to discuss drug costs and insurance coverage with their patients according to a study recently published in the American Journal of Managed Care.U.S. Physicians Not Paid To Go The Extra Mile
A study by researchers with the Commonwealth Fund published online this week by Health Affairs notes that while the U.S. spends more on our health care system than any other industrialized nation, we lag behind in providing after-hours provider access and electronic medical records.Cost Sharing Helps Control Health Care Costs
A new report provides confirmation of what proponents of consumer-directed health care have long asserted - putting patients more in touch with the cost of care is essential to controlling those costs.Health Savings Accounts Combine Health Care and Savings
A Health Savings Account is the best solution for workers who want to save for retirement and cover their health care needs.Doctors Behavior Explained At Health Affairs Web Site
A new article published on the Health Affairs website explains how physician's slow adoption of new methods and technologies is a direct result of how they are paid.
CDHC Plans Control Costs, Improve Care
A new study confirms the effectiveness of consumer-directed health care plans - when patients have more control over spending, costs go down and quality goes up.Rehashed Ideas Still Yield No Solution
The recommendation of the Citizen's Health Care Working Group to institute universal health care in the U.S. would only lead to economic hardship.Medicaid Takes From Poor States And Gives To The Rich
Medicaid takes money from poor states and gives them to rich ones. A new study from the NCPA notes that some relatively well-off states get significantly more from the federal government than they should and other states notably less.NCPA's President To Testify On HSA Experience
John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) will testify at a special hearing of the Senate Finance Subcommittee Health Care on Tuesday, September 26. The hearing is entitled: "Health Savings Accounts: The Experience So Far."Employees Are Shifting Health Costs To Workers’ Comp
Employees routinely shift costs from their employer's health insurance plan to the more generous and inefficient workers' comp system.Goodman Keynote Speaker At CDHC Summit
John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), will give a keynote address at the National Consumer Driven Health Care Summit in Washington D.C., on Wednesday, September 13, 2006.Mandatory Health Insurance Unlikely To Decrease Uninsured Ranks
Can the problem of the growing number of people without health insurance be solved by passing a law mandating its purchase?Solution For The Uninsured
Experts with the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) estimate that taxpayers spend approximately $1,500 per year on free care for every person without health insurance -- $6,000 for a family of four. The U.S. Census Bureau is expected to release its annual report estimating the number of medically uninsured on Tuesday.
President Bush Signs Executive Order For Price Transparency
President Bush's executive order requiring four government agencies to increase price transparency and encourage patients to make more informed choices about their health care is a bold step in the right direction.AHIP Report Shows CDHC Growth, Positive Impact
Consumer-driven health care received another boost this week, as America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) released an overview of preliminary research in to health savings accounts and high-deductible health plans.
Kerry Recycles Health Care Plan
Senator John Kerry (D-MA) dusted off the health care platforms from his failed 2004 presidential bid in a speech in Boston this week.
Q&A on Health Savings Accounts
NCPA President Dr. John Goodman recently spoke with United Press International about Health Savings Accounts. A congressional hearing on ways to make the HSAs more attractive to consumers and increase enrollment in high-deductible health plans was held in late June. Dr. Goodman said consumer-driven health care is the future of employer-based care, and that everyone can benefit from HSAs in the long run.
Medicare To Create Pilot Health Savings Account
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced this week they are launching a demonstration plan that would allow health insurance companies to offer seniors products similar to health savings accounts.
New Report Shows Consumer-Driven Healthcare Works
UnitedHealth Group released a three-year study this week showing patients under high-deductible health plans with a health savings account (HSA) are more likely to seek preventive care and are far less likely to visit emergency rooms for non-emergency care.
Government Health Care Spending Unsustainable
Government spending on health care in the U.S. is on a course to consume about a third of national income by mid-century.
Health Savings Account Critics Unfair
Critics of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are using a double standard, selectively hurling charges against the accounts that apply with even greater force to Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs),
NCPA's President Testifies Before Congress
John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) testified today at a special hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, explaining to the committee that the private sector is developing new technologies to empower patients to be informed consumers of heath care.
NCPA's President to Testify on Medical Transparancy
John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) will testify at a special hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee on Wednesday, March 15.
Patient Advocates Take CDC to Task Over Hospital Infection Rates
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local public health officials should make hospital infection prevention a New Year’s resolution
Father of HSAs to Make Case for Consumer-Driven Healthcare at CDHC Conference
John C. Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) will debate the future of the nation’s healthcare system with noted Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt at the Consumer Driven Healthcare Conference.
Being Uninsured Remains A “Crisis” Of Income
The number of Americans with health insurance grew by more than 2 million people last year, but the percentage of Americans without health insurance continues to grow among higher-income households
A-Gs’ Drug Recommendations Not Good For Consumers Or States
A report on the costs and benefits of prescription drugs just released by the National Association of Attorneys General runs the risk of reducing consumers’ choices in the marketplace