State Children’s Health Insurance Program Expansion: Robin Hood in Reverse

Testimony for Submission to the House Energy and Commerce Committee Health Subcommittee

Covering Uninsured Kids: Missed Opportunities for Moving Forward

Mr. Chairman and members of the Committee, I am Devon Herrick, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization dedicated to developing and promoting private alternatives to government regulation and control, solving problems by relying on the strength of the competitive, entrepreneurial private sector. I welcome the opportunity to share my views in writing regarding HR 3963. - Read full detail

State Health Care Reform: Key Questions and Answers

One of the biggest problems in health care reform is that parties with different viewpoints do not agree on basic facts. Some view the private sector as the source of U.S. health care woes and an expansion of government control as the solution. Others believe that ill-considered government interference is the main source of the problem. Simple logic dictates that it is nearly impossible to agree on a workable reform plan without agreement on a set of basic facts about what needs to be reformed. Many state reforms fail this test. This study poses some key questions the many state initiatives have failed to adequately address and makes some recommendations for successful evidence-based reforms.

Convenient Care and Telemedicine

Telemedicine — the use of information technology for diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of patients’ conditions — brings a new dimension to 21st century health care. Entrepreneurs are using the Internet, improvements in computer software and the advent of high-speed telecommunications networks in innovative ways to make medical care more accessible and convenient to patients, to raise quality and to reduce costs.

Medical Malpractice Reform

A tort is a wrongful act, injury or damage for which the person harmed can seek monetary compensation in civil court. Medical malpractice occurs when patients are harmed by the error or negligence of health care providers. Physicians and hospitals carry liability insurance to pay malpractice claims. If the parties do not agree on the amount of compensation for an injury, a lawsuit is the traditional American way of settling the dispute.

A Medicare Reform Proposal Everyone Can Love: Finding Common Ground among Medicare Reformers

Medicare reform will soon be front and center in the public policy arena. The reason: Projections in the past two years for Medicare’s deteriorating finances have triggered a legal requirement for the President to propose reform legislation within 15 days of the release of the next federal budget. Congress must consider the president’s proposal on an expedited basis.

Medical Tourism: Global Competition in Health Care

Global competition is emerging in the health care industry. Wealthy patients from developing countries have long traveled to developed countries for high quality medical care. Now, a growing number of less-affluent patients from developed countries are traveling to regions once characterized as “third world.” These patients are seeking high quality medical care at affordable prices. Reports on the number of patients traveling abroad for health care are scattered, but all tell the same story. An estimated 500,000 Americans traveled abroad for treatment in 2005.