Healthcare What role should any government play in the provision of health care? America's current system has left over 40 million uninsured. The current system provides subsidized health insurance for seniors and low-income families. Health care programs are operated at the state level and funded largely from the federal government. Other developed countries favor health care systems that provide universal health coverage through the state. Trends in American health care policy are toward increased measures for preventive care, community care and mandates for citizens to acquire insurance.

Policies within this sector:
Efficiency and Quality: The role of controlling costs in healthcare reform proposed by Dr. Paul Ginsburg, Center for American Progress
Background:

Responding to the Obama administration’s push for health care reform, the left-leaning Center for American Progress published a report by Dr. Paul B. Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change and former executive director of what is now the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which highlights five key methods to lower the costs of health care. This report was published just as President Obama urged Congress to pass health care reform before the end of the year and the health industry promised to cut costs by $2 trillion over a 10 year period.

The Dutch Health Care System proposed by Government of the Netherlands
Background:

In 2006, the Netherlands transformed its health care system to increase coverage through a public-private partnership.  While the pre-2006 Dutch system reflected the current U.S. model, the success of the current Dutch system marks a potential model for health reform in the U.S.  This abstract is drawn from a brief by Niek Klazinga, a Professor of Social Medicine at the University of Amsterdam.

Conservative Principles of Health Care Reform proposed by Michael Enzi, The Heritage Foundation
Background:

In a lecture to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, Senator Mike Enzi set a broad conservative agenda for healthcare reform.  He recognizes that the increasing costs and sinking quality of healthcare necessitate 'comprehensive reform.'  While Enzi's principles are not revolutionary, they succinctly capture the Republican position in the upcoming debate over the future of US healthcare.

Reforming Provider Payment: More Support with Improved Care proposed by Mark McClellan, Brookings Institution
Background:

Mark McClellan's recent Brookings Institution proposal focuses on local reorganization as a key to healthcare reform.  A more efficient local healthcare provision network, he argues, will reduce consumer costs and increase effectiveness (two rather undisputed objectives).  The proposal is a call for government to initiate new incentives and promote a new model of local care provision.

Guided Care proposed by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Background:

Researchers in public health, in order to address the high costs of patients with chronic conditions, designed a new nursing program that they have piloted around the Baltimore and Washington, DC metropolitan areas.  The program matches chronic ailment patients with skilled nurses who can coordinate their care with the patient's family, insurance company and primary care physician.  Since the logistics of healthcare are often so complex, Guided Care nurses seek to simplify the process and ensure that the patient does not incur unnecessary costs.

"The Misguided Quest for Universal Coverage" proposed by Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review
Background:

Ramesh Ponnuru is a senior editor at the National Review and heralded conservative thinker.  In re healthcare reform, he has criticized the quest for universal coverage and has begun to outline alternative changes to the system that would similarly reduce costs without placing such a heavy burden on government effectiveness.

U.S. National Healthcare Debate proposed by Healthcare Experts and Legislative Professionals
Background:

The debate is beginning in earnest over the future of healthcare in the US.  This brief will track the intellectual development of a national healthcare policy as the first months of the Obama administration and the 2009-2011 Congress take shape. It will cover the major proposals, articles and commentary surrounding the national healthcare discussion. While Pi will continue to summarize specific healthcare policies as they are proposed, this brief will offer broader access to the issue.

A Federalist Approach proposed by Henry Aaron and Stuart Butler, The Brookings Institution and The Heritage Foundation
Background:

Aaron and Butler set forth a state-based plan for comprehensive health care reform in a summer 2008 edition of Health Affairs journal.  They argue that state health care programs are too diverse for a clear national health .  Instead, the argue, the federal government should make it easy for states to undertake reform measures.

Taking Massachusetts National proposed by Jonathan Gruber, The Brookings Institution and the Hamilton Project
Background:

In the summer of 2008, the Hamilton Project and the Brookings Institution jointly proposed a plan to institute the principles of the Massachusetts state health care system at the federal level.  The plan is part of the Hamilton Project’s series of health care and financial ideas intended to foster fiscal discipline and offer public investment targeted to growth-oriented areas of the economy.  The author, Jonathan Gruber, was an architect of the Massachusetts plan and is a professor at MIT.

Canadian Health Care proposed by The Canadian Federal Government
Background:

Canada has offered a form of state-sponsored health care since 1867. The current Canadian health care policy reflects the principles presented in the 1984 Canada Health Act and further clarified in the 2004 10-year Plan to Strengthen Health Care.

Obama Health Care Plan proposed by Obama for President
Background:

During his victorious 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama set forth a health care framework for America as part of his policy platform.

Vermont Health Care Reform proposed by Vermont State Legislature and the Vermont Agency of Administration
Background:

Vermont’s health care reform package represents a host of legislation, dating from 2006 to 2008, that the Vermont State Legislature passed and Governor Jim Douglas signed. The plan is a product of collaboration among the Vermont state government and corporate health care interests. Vermont is consistently among the healthiest states in the country with one of the lowest rates of uninsured residents.

Massachusetts Health Care Reform proposed by Massachusetts State Legislature
Background:

The Massachusetts HC Plan was enacted in 2006 with a Democratic state legislature and a Republican Governor, Mitt Romney. 

Baucus Health Care Reform Proposal proposed by Max Baucus, Senate Finance Committee Chairman
Background:

The Baucus Plan is an unofficial proposal in the form of a Senate Finance Committee White Paper.  It was released shortly after the election of Senator Barack Obama and is believed to represent the framework for Congressional health care reform beginning in 2009.  The Baucus and Obama plans include many of the same principles and proposals.

Policies within this sector:
Efficiency and Quality: The role of controlling costs in healthcare reform proposed by Dr. Paul Ginsburg, Center for American Progress
The Dutch Health Care System proposed by Government of the Netherlands
Conservative Principles of Health Care Reform proposed by Michael Enzi, The Heritage Foundation
Reforming Provider Payment: More Support with Improved Care proposed by Mark McClellan, Brookings Institution
Guided Care proposed by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
"The Misguided Quest for Universal Coverage" proposed by Ramesh Ponnuru, National Review
U.S. National Healthcare Debate proposed by Healthcare Experts and Legislative Professionals
A Federalist Approach proposed by Henry Aaron and Stuart Butler, The Brookings Institution and The Heritage Foundation
Taking Massachusetts National proposed by Jonathan Gruber, The Brookings Institution and the Hamilton Project
Canadian Health Care proposed by The Canadian Federal Government
Obama Health Care Plan proposed by Obama for President
Vermont Health Care Reform proposed by Vermont State Legislature and the Vermont Agency of Administration
Massachusetts Health Care Reform proposed by Massachusetts State Legislature
Baucus Health Care Reform Proposal proposed by Max Baucus, Senate Finance Committee Chairman