Health Policy Program: Latest Articles

President-elect Barack Obama and his new health reform chief Tom Daschle made clear on Thursday that even amid tremendous economic crisis, their New New Deal would take on that persistent piece of unfinished business from the Old New Deal -- health care.

"Some may ask how at this moment of economic challenge we can afford to invest in reforming our health care system," Obama said. "And I ask a different question. I ask how can we afford not to."

Exit polls in Pennsylvania showed that voters concerned about the economy and health care broke decidedly for Barack Obama.

In the days following the election, however, there was speculation that campaign promises about health care would have to make their way to the back burner in favor of the more pressing needs of the economy. Many doubt that bold domestic initiatives are feasible in a time of financial uncertainty.

But what if we knew that the cost of failing to fix our broken health-care… more

The waiting room of Ramona Seidel's family medicine practice is empty, and she works hard to keep it that way.

After several years in a traditional suburban group practice that blended pediatrics and family medicine, Seidel quit to start her own micro-practice in Annapolis: a low-overhead, high-tech office that gives her more control over how she treats patients and more time to spend with them. She's happier. Her patients are happier. And she's pretty convinced they are healthier having a physician who knows them well.

"It's… more

They’ve lost loved ones to plane crashes and suicides. They’ve survived polio and torture. They’ve had coworkers gunned down. They get diagnosed with brain tumors.

It sounds like an Oprah reunion, but these are members of the United States Senate.

Many people think of the Senate as a place filled with millionaires who lead charmed lives. In reality, their personal lives seem less charmed than the lives of many Americans.

Everyone experiences sadness in life -- a broken marriage, a serious injury, the deaths of loved ones. That… more

Expanding insurance coverage is a critical step in health reform, but we argue that to be successful, reforms must also address the underlying problems of quality and cost. We identify five fundamental building blocks for a high-performance health system and urge action to create a national center for effectiveness research, develop models of accountable health care entities capable of providing integrated and coordinated care, develop payment models to reward high-value care, develop a national strategy for performance measurement, and pursue… more