Len Nichols: All Publications, Events and Press

Len Nichols in the Cleveland Plain Dealer | 'Health-Care Reform Effort Gains Steam'

Articles — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:34:00 -0500

New America in the News:
"Rising health-care costs are undermining the ability of U.S. firms to compete and threatening good American jobs," said Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation.

"Therefore, we must reform our health system not in spite of our current economic crisis, but rather precisely because of the impact health care has on American workers and businesses." LINK

Len Nichols in the Los Angeles Times | 'Deductibles March Higher for Employer-Provided Health Insurance'

Articles — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:25:00 -0500

New America in the News:
"What this says is that the employers are desperate," said Len Nichols, an economist who heads the health policy program at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan Washington think tank. "They are doing everything they can to reduce premium growth this year. But it's not thinking 10 years down the road." LINK

Len Nichols in the Los Angeles Times | 'Political Temperature May Be Just Right for Healthcare Overhaul'

Articles — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:35:00 -0500

New America in the News:
Len Nichols, an economist who directs the health policy program at the New America Foundation, thinks Obama cannot wait to act on healthcare.

He said runaway healthcare costs would not slow during the recession.

"Healthcare is part of the economic structure," Nichols said. "The concept that this is some kind of add-on, a luxury, as opposed to an integral part of our economy, is false."

On Monday, the New America Foundation released a report titled "The Cost of Doing Nothing," which estimates that deaths and illnesses among the uninsured cost the country from $103.9 billion to $207.3 billion last year in lost productivity.

At the high end of that estimate, the cost per uninsured person is $4,541, or about $400 more than the average annual per-person cost of health insurance, Nichols said.

"It's cheaper to cover everyone," he said. LINK

Len Nichols in Congressional Quarterly Today | 'Baucus’ Proposed Health Care Overhaul May Disregard Pay-As-You-Go Rules'

Articles — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:23:00 -0500

New America in the News:
Len Nichols, health policy director for the New America Foundation, a centrist think tank, said that a health care overhaul needn’t comply strictly with pay-as-you-go rules as long as it eventually reduces health care costs, as Baucus says he intends.

“Health reform – getting that system to be sustainable and work for all of us in the long run – that is an investment worth making,” Nichols said. “Paying for it over a long period of time is a reasonable thing to do.” LINK (subscription required)

Failing to Fix U.S. Health Care System More Costly Than Reform

Communications — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:34:00 -0500

The cost of failing to fix our broken health care system is greater than the price tag of comprehensive health reform, according to a new report and interactive online state guide released today by the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation.

The New America report entitled, "The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why the Cost of Failing to Fix our Health System is Greater than the Cost of Reform," found that the average cost of a family employer-sponsored health insurance plan will climb to more than $24,000 or over 45 percent of median household… more

NY EVENT: Policy Winners & Losers After the Election

Kate Schuler — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:46:00 -0500

A New America Event
11/17/2008 - 6:00pm

A post-election discussion with the New America Foundation.

Len Nichols in MarketWatch | 'How Health Coverage May Change Under Obama'

Articles — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:56:00 -0500

New America in the News:
The case for altering the tax exclusion is strong since it amounts to $200 billion a year in foregone revenue, said Len Nichols, a health economist and director of the health policy program for the New America Foundation, a think tank in Washington.

"To cover all Americans, in the short run, it's going to cost $120 billion to $150 billion a year," he said, noting that another option is to raise income taxes. "My prediction is we are going to put the tax expenditure measure on the table, worrisome though it is to both business and labor, because the alternatives are not so pretty." LINK

Len Nichols in the Boston Globe | 'Mass. a Model of Healthcare Reform, Hurdles'

Articles — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:16:00 -0500

New America in the News:

"This is a two-year conversation," said Len Nichols, director of health policy at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit public policy research institute based in Washington, D.C.

Nichols said that judging by the Massachusetts experience, it will take at least two years to build bipartisan support for a health initiative that attacks the soaring costs of care. By then, he said, the nation's economic woes may have eased a bit. LINK

Len Nichols in Bloomberg News | 'Daschle, Sebelius Called Contenders for Obama's Health Chief'

Articles — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:59:00 -0500

New America in the News:
Daschle, 60, is a ``natural conciliator,'' said Len Nichols, who worked in Clinton's administration and is head of the health policy program at the New America Foundation in Washington. Daschle's book, ``Critical: What We Can Do about the Health Care Crisis,'' calls for an independent agency similar to the Federal Reserve Board to oversee the U.S. health system. LINK

Len Nichols in Wall Street Journal's MarketWatch | 'Sagging Economy Helps Health-Reform Plans'

Articles — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:13:00 -0400

New America in the News:
Regardless of which candidate is elected, lawmakers may find they can't afford not to act, given that 15% of Americans, or 46 million, don't have health insurance, millions more are underinsured and the growth in health-care costs has far outpaced wage growth and general inflation, said Len Nichols, a health economist and director of the health policy program for the New America Foundation, a think tank in Washington. LINK

Len Nichols in the Bureau of National Affairs | 'Reform Proposals'

Articles — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:18:00 -0400

New America in the News:
If the burden of health care costs is not lifted, middle-class jobs will go overseas, according to Len Nichols, director of the health policy program at the New America Foundation.

“It is not written in the Constitution or the Bible that we will be a middle-class society,” said Nichols, who spoke at the Health and Welfare Benefit Plans conference sponsored by the American Bar Association Joint Committee on Employee Benefits. LINK (subscription required)

Len Nichols in the Associated Press | McCain Health Plan Calls for Shopping Around

Articles — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:56:00 -0400

New America in the News:
"In the long run, what you'll end up with are fairly bare-bone policies sold to the healthy," said Len Nichols, a health economist at the New America Foundation, which is pushing for universal medical coverage. LINK

Len Nichols in CNNMoney | 'Health Care: What They're Proposing Vs. What Will Pass'

Articles — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:57:00 -0400

New America in the News:
If history proves anything, though, it's that sweeping reforms seldom look the same after going through the crucible of Washington politics - especially when the subject is a highly contentious issue like health care reform. The McCain and Obama plans are just "watercolors," says Len Nichols, health policy director for the New America Foundation, a Washington think tank. What the candidates are proposing, and what will actually pass into law, are likely to look very different. LINK

Len Nichols in the Economist | 'In Need of Desperate Remedies'

Articles — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:30:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Not everyone buys industry’s arguments about rising health costs imposing a competitive disadvantage on firms. Conventional economic theory maintains that firms should be indifferent to whether they pay employees cash wages or benefits. The two are seen as fungible, and are both tax deductible. So if the cost of health benefits rises, employers ought to be able simply to cut wages--or pass on those costs as higher prices to customers.

This theory is correct over the long term but falls apart in the short term, argues Len Nichols of the New America Foundation, a Washington, DC-based think-tank. In competitive global markets, firms usually cannot pass on health costs as easily as price increases since rivals overseas do not pay nearly as much via taxes to support state health systems. LINK

Len Nichols in CQ HealthBeat | 'Panel: Medical Technology Behind High Health Care Costs'

Communications — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:24:00 -0400

New America in the News:
...Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, said, "Technology is number 1, but we have to get smarter about its application. Once we get a new technology, we overuse it like crazy. There are just too many MRI machines out there."... Full Story

Len Nichols on NPR's Morning Edition | 'Will McCain's Health Plan Lower Prices?'

Articles — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:20:00 -0400

New America in the News:
A key element of John McCain's health plan, would allow people to buy insurance from other states -- that's currently prohibited. The GOP presidential hopeful says it would open markets and bring prices down. But critics say it has the potential to drive up prices dramatically for sick people and deprive patients of important consumer protections. Len Nichols of New America Foundation is featured. LINK to audio

Len Nichols in CNN Money | 'Paying for Your Health Care'

Articles — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:09:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Health-care reform is probably the toughest nut to crack in Washington. And in 2009, odds are that Congress will still be too busy digesting the effect of the current financial crisis to make any big moves.

Len Nichols, a health economist at the New America Foundation, says both McCain and Obama are more likely in their first year to seek a "kumbaya" moment of bipartisan compromise on something like coverage for children.

So when you're deciding between Obama and McCain, you're not really voting for an actual plan here. You're voting on where to start the conversation. LINK

Len Nichols in Bureau of National Affairs | 'Selling Insurance Across State Lines, Would Increase Premiums, Reduce Benefits'

Articles — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 11:24:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Reform proposals that advocate selling health insurance across state lines would negatively affect premiums and benefits for most people, according to a report released Oct. 8 by the New America Foundation.

The report, Across State Lines Explained: Why Selling Health Insurance Across State Lines is Not the Answer, analyzes what it calls the myths surrounding the "across states line" (ASL) approach, which is included in health reform proposals put forth by members of Congress, as well as by presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

"This approach fails to introduce the incentives necessary to move insurers to a 21st Century business model that prioritizes care coordination and high value care over marketing and underwriting," Len M. Nichols, director of the health policy program at the New America Foundation and co-author of the report, said in a statement. The foundation describes itself as a "nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute." LINK (subscription required)

Across State Lines Explained: Why Selling Health Insurance Across State Lines is Not the Answer

Communications — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:35:00 -0400

Selling health insurance across state lines would not work as advertised and would make it harder and more expensive for many Americans to access health coverage, according to a new report released today by the New America Foundation.

The New America report, entitled, "Across State Lines Explained: Why Selling Health Insurance Across State Lines is Not the Answer," found that under across state lines proposals premiums would increase for many people, health insurance benefits would become less generous, and more Americans would likely become uninsured over… more

Across State Lines Explained

Health Policy — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 03:36:00 -0400

As we enter the home stretch of a long presidential campaign, the good news is that both major candidates recognize that our health care system, especially the insurance marketplace, does not work well. The concept of selling health insurance across state lines has been included in health care proposals put forth by several Members of Congress and most recently in the campaign plan of Republican presidential nominee, Senator John McCain.

Allowing insurers to sell insurance across state lines would not work as advertised. While it may help the young and healthy, it will have a devastating impact… more