Health Policy: Media Appearances and Press Releases

Len Nichols in the San Francisco Chronicle | 'Healthy San Francisco Still Working Out Kinks'

Communications — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:12:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...Len Nichols is the director of the Health Policy Program for the New America Foundation, which aims to expand health care coverage to all Americans. He said San Francisco's efforts are so revolutionary that the city shouldn't be knocked for taking longer to enroll everyone... LINK

Len Nichols on AARP TV | 'Medicare Rising'

Communications — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:35:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program, serves as a panelist on AARP TV's Inside E Street and discusses the rising costs of Medicare. LINK to video

Shannon Brownlee in the Indianapolis Star | 'One Drug, Many Uses. Good idea?'

Communications — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 07:34:00 -0400

New America in the News:

..."I think the question is, should one drug compound do so much?" said Shannon Brownlee, author of Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer.

"This is a drug that may have a really serious side effect called suicide," Brownlee said. "Don't we have other drugs available that are safer and just as effective for such things as the management of chronic knee and low back pain?"... LINK

Shannon Brownlee in Ledger-Inquirer | 'What's Behind Medical Costs?'

Communications — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 08:30:00 -0400

New America in the News:

When campaigning for the presidency was hot and heavy, the hopefuls constantly reminded us of the high cost of health care. If we are to believe what we are told, the uninsured are making health care costs for the rest of us skyrocket.

Not so, according to Shannon Brownlee. The only people currently using the health care system are those who have insurance. So, if more people have insurance, more people will get health care treatment, she said.

In April, Brownlee spoke at a health and medical news conference, the Gnat Line News Briefing, for journalists. This is an annual gathering in Cordele, Ga., presented by the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. She talked about medical care and treatment and how consumers don't always get what they think they're paying for... LINK

Len Nichols in Boston Globe's White Coat Notes | 'Single-Payer Champion to Testify Before President's Council'

Communications — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:13:00 -0400

New America in the News:

A prominent advocate of a single-payer national health system will make her case to a presidential commission later today. Dr. Steffie Woolhandler (left, in file photo) of Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School is scheduled to testify at 2 p.m. before the President’s Council on Bioethics, which is meeting today and tomorrow in Chicago.... Other experts scheduled to present plans include Len Nichols, director of the health policy program for the New America Foundation, and James Capretta, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC... LINK

Len Nichols in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | 'Rally touts 'single-payer' health care'

Communications — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:02:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Sen. Barack Obama, a Democrat, would create a National Health Insurance Exchange for any individual and business that wants to purchase a private insurance plan or enroll in a new public plan. Subsidies would be provided to families with lower incomes to help make insurance affordable.

While still giving workers the option of retaining their employer-based coverage, Republican candidate John McCain would make tax credits available to help them obtain their own insurance. He also wants to allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines.

Dr. Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, said the Obama proposal would be more likely to succeed in Congress than either Mr. McCain's plan or a single-payer proposal...LINK

Len Nichols in Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report | 'State Plans'

Communications — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 12:31:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, said California's attempt to expand health coverage to all residents, although unsuccessful, did achieve bipartisan participation, coalition building and public support...LINK

Shannon Brownlee in Chicago Tribune | 'High Cost of Unnecessary Treatment'

Communications — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:41:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...[T]he best here is medical journalist Shannon Brownlee's argument that health care is screwed up not because we don't ration care like Canada; or that malpractice lawsuits are to blame; or that absurd administrative costs raise insurance costs; or that consumers don't shop wisely since we often don't pay out of pocket.

No, she contends that over-treatment is to blame not only for high costs but for often making us more sick, suggesting we spend $500 billion a year on unnecessary care...LINK

Len Nichols in Times-Dispatch (VA) | 'AARP Forum Outlines Universal Health-care Scenarios'

Communications — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 07:04:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...Health economist Len Nichols, who moderated the forum, said the debate over universal coverage has focused primarily on getting people access to care. That's not enough, he said. "You can't reform health care financing and access without thinking about how to reform delivery systems," said Nichols. "If we don't get far better at making our system more efficient, to give us more health value per dollar, it doesn't matter what you are doing on coverage because none of us will be able to afford it. We have to link coverage and costs."...FULL STORY

Len Nichols in New York Times | 'Ranks of Underinsured Are Rising, Study Finds'

Communications — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:

“Cost is central,” he said. He noted that a national debate is already under way about how best to control medical expenses, through changes in the payment process and better information technology... LINK

Len Nichols in New York Times | 'Ranks of Underinsured Are Rising, Study Finds'

Communications — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:55:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...The Commonwealth study also underscores the need to address the rising cost of health care, which is starting to leave even those in the middle class vulnerable to financial stress, said Len Nichols, a health economist who directs the health policy program for the New America Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates universal health care.

“Cost is central,” he said. He noted that a national debate is already under way about how best to control medical expenses, through changes in the payment process and better information technology...FULL STORY

Len Nichols in BusinessWeek | 'Wal-Mart, Your Friendly Drugstore'

Communications — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:30:00 -0400

New America in the News:
..."People are worried because health-care costs are growing faster than the average American's income, and it's only going to get more intense as boomers retire at an increasing pace," says Len Nichols, health-care economist at The New America Foundation, a nonprofit public policy institute in Washington...LINK

Shannon Brownlee in Telegraph-Journal | 'Are There Too Many Doctors?'

Communications — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:17:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Writing in the December, 2007 Atlantic Monthly, Medical journalist Shannon Brownlee, author of Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker And Poorer (Bloomsbury Press 2007), notes that U.S. medical schools are planning to boost the number of new doctors being graduated annually by 30 per cent from 2002 levels over the next eight years...

Brownlee says the problematical issues are essentially two: new physicians tend to congregate in affluent communities offering a "high quality of life," in other words, places already served by large physician populations, leaving poor and rural venues short of doctors or not served at all continuing to go begging.

Secondly, medical schools are graduating greater numbers of specialists, but substantially fewer primary-care physicians. In the U.S., says Brownlee, "between 1997 and 2005, the number of... medical graduates entering family-practice residencies fell by 50 per cent..." LINK

Len Nichols in American Medical News | 'Individual Health Insurance: Are Mandates Ready for Prime Time?'

Communications — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:59:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...However, one thing sometimes lost in the debate is that Massachusetts has created better health plan competition, said economist Len Nichols, PhD, director of the health policy program at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute. Because health plans can't charge enrollees based on preexisting conditions, the plans now have to compete on other levels, such as getting the best quality care at the best price. "In many ways, they have done the insurance market part right," Dr. Nichols said...

The rest of the country will gain valuable insight from Massachusetts when its mandate and tax penalty are in full effect, Dr. Nichols said. "The good news is they're doing the experiment for us. The bad news is we won't have the experiment finished before the nation debates it in 2009 and 2010."...FULL STORY

Shannon Brownlee in U.S. News & World Report | 'A Different Way of Ranking Hospitals'

Communications — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:34:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...[The ratings] seem to me less a consumer tool than a prod to the public consciousness. They send a message of great and expensive imbalance, that part of our national healthcare problem, as Shannon Brownlee writes in her recent book, Overtreated, is the enormous weight of care that is simply unnecessary. LINK

Len Nichols in KCPW (Salt Lake City) | Discussion on Presidential Candidate Health Proposals

Communications — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:33:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Each presidential candidate is proposing their own unique health reform plan, but some states, like Utah, are pushing ahead without federal guidance. Midday Metro breaks down the best options with Len Nichols, health reform expert from the New America Foundation. He's a guest of the Utah Health Policy Project during Cover the Uninsured Week...LINK

Len Nichols in Reuters | 'U.S. Health Insurers Pitch Policy Changes'

Communications — Thu, 29 May 2008 10:00:00 -0400

New America in the News:
..."I think the important lesson is - they get a range of savings that is reasonable. It suggests there is a growing consensus that these elements are what are needed for change to happen," said Len Nichols, a healthcare economist at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan research group...LINK

Len Nichols in Reuters, the Guardian, National Post | 'U.S. Health Insurers Pitch Policy Changes'

Communications — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:07:00 -0400

Nation’s Budget Experts Say Politicians 'Addicted' To Debt; Launch 12-Step Recovery Program

Communications — Tue, 20 May 2008 03:33:00 -0400

Washington, DC – The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a bipartisan group of some of the most highly respected budget experts in the United States that includes former directors of the Office of Management and Budget, Congressional Budget Office, and Government Accountability Office, as well as many former members of Congress, today launched US Budget Watch, a critically important new effort to force the 2008 presidential candidates to pay attention to the deteriorating federal budget situation.

US Budget Watch, which today released its “Twelve Principles for Fiscal Responsibility,” announced that it will continue to monitor the campaigns’… more

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget Event Covered By the Wall Street Journal | 'Vital Signs in Health-Care Debate'

Communications — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:45:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Full article

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget’s April 29 event that highlighted the presidential candidates' domestic policy plans appeared in David Wessel’s column in The Wall Street Journal (5/1/08). New America's Health Policy Program Director is quoted in the article.

. . Mr. Nichols says that Sen. McCain's plan to allow people in one state to buy individual insurance in another -- essentially deregulating this part of the insurance market -- amounts to "ideology trumping policy." Rational insurers will attract the healthy with low premiums and boost premiums for those with pre-existing conditions. "Fifty to 75 million Americans will discover what 'actuarially fair' really means," he says. (Sharply higher premiums.) The result, he predicts, will be a rush to Medicare-for-all that Republicans will hate. . .