Health Policy Program: Recent and Upcoming Events

Our nation has an obligation to make sure everyone has quality, affordable health coverage. However, coverage will not be sustainable unless we refocus our delivery system on patients, improve quality, and increase efficiency. Transforming our delivery system is good public policy and a necessary component of fiscal responsibility. Yet, we will not slow the rate of health care cost growth until we create stronger incentives for providers - the people who deliver care -… more

The rising cost of health care is the largest long-term fiscal problem facing our nation. Efforts to control health care costs and reform the delivery system should be system-wide, but Medicare can lead the way. Medicare - the largest purchaser of health care - should act as a catalyst to inject value into the health system and incent the private sector toward change.

This luncheon event is co-sponsored by the Wireless Future and Health Policy Programs of the New America Foundation and CTIA-The Wireless Association.

Meaningful health reform will entail quality, affordable coverage for all Americans and a restructured health care delivery system. A growing number of health industry leaders understand they must reorganize their business models to realize these goals.

On December 5, 2008, the New America Foundation’s Next Social Contract Initiative hosted a three panel discussion about the future of social policy after the economic downturn. David Gray, Director of the Workforce and Family Program at New America, opened the event with preliminary remarks. Karen Kornbluh, formerly of the New America Foundation, policy director in the office of Senator Barack Obama and the primary author of the 2008 Democratic Party Platform, delivered the keynote address. She was followed by a series of

A post-election discussion with the New America Foundation.

Whether you are insured or uninsured, the serious quality problems in the American health care system affect you. There are many excellent health care providers in America, yet there are too many preventable mistakes and too few efforts to coordinate patient care. Our Emergency Departments are over-burdened and inefficient and many Americans experience unequal health care outcomes because of race, ethnicity, and income. Fundamental changes are needed in health care delivery in the United States.… more

Featured Speakers The Hon. Tom Daschle Former Senator (D-SD) and Senate Majority Leader Special Policy Advisor, Alston+Bird Leo Hindery Economic Advisor, Obama for President Managing Director, InterMedia Partners Former CEO, AT&T Broadband and Yankee Entertainment & Sports Network Moderator Steve Clemons Director, American Strategy Program New America Foundation Publisher, www.TheWashingtonNote.com

For more information, please see the New America Foundation/Health Policy Program Report, Employer Health Costs in a Global Economy.

This program is sponsored by New… more

Rising health care costs place increasing strain on state and local budgets and threaten the long-term stability of the Medicare program. In order to begin to control health care costs nationwide and make the Medicare program more sustainable, Medicare must become a more value-based purchaser of health care. Medicare experts from across the country joined the New America Foundation on July 23rd in Washington, DC, to propose innovative ways to reform our Medicare program. more

Voters are sending a clear message: they are concerned about the economy and worried about being able to afford health care. To examine this important nexus of health care and the economy, the New America Foundation welcomed Senator Deborah Stabenow (D-MI), the Wall Street Journal’s Laurie McGinley, and representatives from the business, labor, and economic communities to discuss the impact of rising health care costs on U.S. competitiveness and American jobs. The Capitol Hill event was focused on… more

Efforts to reform California's health system hold many lessons for the nation. The bipartisan spirit displayed by Governor Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Núñez proves that Republicans and Democrats can work together to address the most challenging health care problems facing our nation. In addition, the campaign to cover all Californians united an unprecedented coalition of advocates: hospitals, insurers, large and small employers, labor, and patients. Rarely have such disparate interest groups united in favor of a health reform… more

Phillip Longman began by framing the core question of the event: are we in a transformative political moment, and what would that mean? Even after a decade of debilitating partisanship, Rovian strategists and Netroots bloggers continue to exacerbate political polarization. Yet, with the likely nominations of John McCain and Barack Obama, observers of all political stripes have sensed the prospect of a political sea-change. Whether it is a government unified around a bold progressive majority, a resurgent and transmuted conservatism,… more

As our nation works to address our struggling health care system, no issue is more important or controversial than what should be included in a minimum, basic, or required benefit package. Following the release of her paper, “Balancing Act: Creating a Sustainable Health Care Benefits Package,” Marjorie Ginsburg joined Celia Wcislo of the Massachusetts Connector Board and SEIU, Cori Uccello of the American Academy of Actuaries, and the New America Foundation for a discussion about how and… more

**THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE.**

American health care is reaching a tipping point. Costs are rising at an unsustainable rate while the number of uninsured Americans persists, and the quality of care remains astonishingly poor. Health care now tops the domestic political agenda, and there are several proposals for reforming the system so that we can simultaneously cover the entire population, improve quality and bring down costs. Improving quality will… more

In August of 1994, with the prospects of health reform all but vanishing, Sen. Robert Bennett (R-UT) stood on the Senate floor and asked three fair questions: Why have we talked so much about insurance and health care instead of better health? Why have we not adequately explored what role markets can and cannot play in health care reform? And why do we fail to recognize that when employers or governments spend money on health care it is… more

The Legislature, Governor Schwarzenegger and key health care stakeholders are deep in discussions on how to reform California’s broken health care system, including how to reduce the number of uninsured Californians. At this event, New America Foundation Health Policy Program Director Len Nichols and Peter Harbage discussed how to use the principles of seamless coverage and shared responsibility to create a process to ensure all Californians have health coverage, including what we can learn from recent successful experiments in… more

Recent headlines about Walter Reed Army Medical Center have brought the military health care system under scrutiny. Yet despite problems with access, The Department of Veteran Affairs’ system of care, (which doesn’t run Walter Reed) turns out, in study after study, to outperform the rest of the American health care system by virtually all measures. These include patient satisfaction, patient safety, prevention, disease management, use of evidence-based medicine, information technology, and cost effectiveness.

What lessons does the VA’s performance offer… more

The recent turnover in Congress, combined with a wide open presidential election cycle, creates a rare opportunity to bring new ideas into the political process. The spirit of this new era will be captured by those -- from either party or no party -- who embrace innovative yet pragmatic solutions to the foremost challenges facing our nation.

At this event, the New America Foundation released a major new report outlining Ten Big Ideas for a New America, and… more

Governor Schwarzenegger has said that the top goal he will announce next year is to expand health insurance coverage to all Californians. This half-day conference was designed to provide him and others with fresh answers to the hard questions of how coverage expansion can be financed and how responsibility could be shared among families, employers, and government.

Presenters ranged from state officials, private employers, health policy advocates, as well as experts from academia, think tanks, and international consulting firms. California's… more