Len Nichols: All Related Content

"It's technically feasible, no question about it," said Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation. ...

"If progress is defined as Republican support, then right now it's a fool's errand," said Len Nichols, a fellow at the centrist New America Foundation. ...

"Not much new," said Len Nichols, a health economist at the centrist New America Foundation and a veteran of the Clinton administration's try at health care reform. "This is a signal the president is willing to fight for what the Senate and House have produced, and to contrast it with the Republican alternatives, whatever they are. This a teachable moment. I hope the country is ready to learn what is really in these bills."

"Democrats will have more comfort now in getting behind a plan,' said Len Nichols, the director of the health policy program at the New America Foundation, ...

"I don't think he cooked it up all by himself," said Len Nichols, director of the health policy program at the nonpartisan think tank New America Foundation ...

That is the question," said Len Nichols, health policy director at the centrist New America Foundation. "If you believe that so much medical care is ...

(Updating)

I was part of a panel PBS assembled last night to "annotate" President Obama's State of the Union, and here is what I wrote:

The President signalled that he is ready to help Congress finish health care reform, but he did not lay out a specific legislative pathway in the speech. I hope he's doing that behind the scenes.

Can we really start over on health reform? Now that the Democrats are down to only 59 votes in the Senate, some are pondering a ‘skinny bill’ that incorporates more bipartisan ideas. But the problem with that, our Health Policy Program Director Len Nichols explained to NPR, is “if you take most of the ideas that Republicans are shopping around at the moment (ideas such as malpractice reform and buying insurance across state lines), ‘then we’re back to a policy that frankly was rejected by the Republicans when they had a majority.’” As he states on the National Journal’s Health Care Experts Blog, Dr. Nichols believes it is a mistake to go “back to the drawing board” on health reform. See what he and other experts have to say on the issue here.

But there's a problem with that, says Len Nichols, who heads the health policy program at the nonpartisan New America Foundation. ...

Click here for the full audio of this story.

"It's a big, old country," said Len Nichols, director of the health policy program at the nonpartisan think tank New America Foundation. ...

I have the high privilege of being invited to speak about health reform all across the country. This gives me a tremendous opportunity to learn from “real” people, not just the policy wonks and political professionals I spend my time with in DC. 

Since Tuesday night in Massachusetts, I think I’ve learned the following, and somehow, reading the papers and listening to the talk buzzing around, these points seem highly relevant..

1. Even many people who celebrated Republican Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts agree that we desperately need health reform -- fixing the insurance markets and fixing how we deliver health care. If we don’t find a way to make health care more affordable, the middle class won’t be able to maintain its access to care, and the uninsured will be even worse off than they are now. Middle class people understand this, and they worry about it, more than some might think. People understand, at least once they’re told, that our fiscal future is at risk if we don’t reign in health care cost growth. They understand what it means to the overall economy, and they get what it means for small businesses who are already struggling.