The Hamilton Project, an initiative at the Brookings Institution, hosted a forum, “Health Care Reconsidered: Options for Change,” today at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. At the event, policy papers on reforming Medicare Part “D” (including closing the “donut hole” gap in prescription drug coverage), improving preventive care and promoting greater affordability through progressive cost-sharing were released by The Hamilton Project.
Today’s event was the first in a two-part series focusing on health care reform. A second series of policy papers will be released in the summer of 2007 and will focus on achieving the goal of universal health care coverage for all Americans.
A panel of experts from the business, labor and policy communities also discussed the challenges of providing affordable, quality health care in the United States. Participants included: Andrew Stern, president of the Service Employees International U nion (SEIU); Robert D. Reischauer, president of The Urban Institute; and Ronald Williams, Aetna chairman, chief executive officer and president. Suzanne Nora Johnson, former vice chairman of Goldman Sachs moderated the discussion.
“America cannot compete in the new global economy when we are the only industrialized nation on earth that puts the price of healthcare on the cost of our products,” noted Stern. “Rising health care costs are having a major impact on American business competitiveness and job creation. The cost of not making these reforms now means that by 2008, American business will pay more for health care than they will make in profits. The solution is no longer just a matter of policy, but of leadership and political will.”
With the recent rise in health care spending, there has been a commensurate increase in insurance premiums, resulting in growing ranks of the uninsured and increased risk among those who are insured. To address this trend, Jason Furman, Brookings senior fellow and The Hamilton Project director, issued a new Hamilton Project discussion paper examining the evidence for cost-sharing.
“As health spending has risen, it is important to examine proposals that not only seek to expand coverage, but to control costs as well,” noted Furman. “Based on empirical evidence, we can show that encouraging cost-consciousness through cost-sharing, if done correctly, has the potential to reduce health expenditures without adversely affecting health care.”
The Hamilton Project, named after the nation’s first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, seeks to advance America’s promise of opportunity, prosperity, and growth. The project’s economic strategy reflects a judgment that long-term prosperity is best achieved by making economic growth broad- based, by enhancing individual economic security, and by embracing a role for effective government in making needed public investments. Our strategy – strikingly different from the theories driving economic policy in recent years- calls for fiscal discipline and for increased public investment in key growth-enhancing areas. The project will put forward innovative policy ideas from leading economic thinkers throughout the United States-ideas based on experience and evidence, not ideology and doctrine-to introduce new, sometimes controversial, policy options into the national debate with the goal of improving our country’s economic policy.