Health Policy

Health reform is back on the agenda, and not a moment too soon. U.S. health financing is a costly mess that is putting more and more Americans and their employers at risk. Yet nothing guarantees that the burgeoning debate over healthcare will end differently from past debates. The U.S. has witnessed epic healthcare battles roughly once every 15 years -- most recently the Clinton plan of the early 1990s. Yet with the exception of the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, each of these struggles has ended in political gridlock.

The stakes are too high to allow gridlock again.

Weekend Edition Saturday, February 10, 2007 · It was a watershed event: The CEO of Wal-Mart and the head of the Service Employees International Union said they want to work together to help solve the nation's health-care crisis.

The meeting signals growing support within the business community, labor leaders and politicians of both parties for comprehensive health-care reform.

Len Nichols of the New American Foundation talks with Scott Simon...

More businesses called for change in the health care system Wednesday when Wal-Mart (WMT), Intel (INTC), AT&T (T) and Kelly Services (KELYA) joined with the leader of a large labor union in calling for "quality, affordable" health insurance for all Americans.

The groups did not offer details of how to change the system, laying out instead four broad principles: Every person must have insurance; businesses, government and individuals must help pay for it; people have a responsibility to maintain their health; and the health system must become more efficient.

The New America Foundation has worked extensively with Gov. Schwarzenegger and other groups in California to craft the health reform plan discussed in the article below.

In 2004, John Edwards was just another Democratic presidential candidate offering just another incremental plan to help make health insurance more affordable. It was a perfectly laudable plan -- one that would have made life better for millions of Americans struggling with the cost of medical care. And for that, surely, he deserved plenty of credit. Still, it wasn't as ambitious a scheme as the ones several of his rivals had put forth. Indeed, it would still have left some 10 to 20 million people -- up to half the uninsured population -- without health coverage...

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) may have to fight a battle royal with governors of other states and President George W. Bush in order to pull off the sweeping healthcare reform plan he proposed last month (see A Cannon Perspective in this issue of SNCJ).

U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, a Democrat from New York, and Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, were the keynote speakers at a conference this week unveiling a number of radical ideas meant to inspire change in U.S. policy on areas such as health care, climate change, and energy efficiency. Both senators, who say they are good friends despite political differences, said they believe the country needs courage and compromise to make the radical changes they say are needed to solve some long-standing problems. VOA's Marissa Melton reports from Washington.

The recent turnover in Congress, combined with a wide open presidential election cycle, creates a rare opportunity to bring new ideas into the political process. The spirit of this new era will be captured by those -- from either party or no party -- who embrace innovative yet pragmatic solutions to the foremost challenges facing our nation.

Click here for a brief video discussion of this idea.

SACRAMENTO — Spurning Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposal to guarantee health insurance for all Californians, Republican leaders in the state Senate offered a far more modest alternative Tuesday, intended to increase clinics for the poor and encourage the purchase of high-deductible policies covering catastrophes.