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Category: Consumer Driven Health Care
The United States health care system ranks second to none in the quality of patient care for serious and life-threatening diseases, but we also have
significant gaps in insurance coverage and financial incentives that drive up health care costs and encourage the overuse of certain types of care,
including defensive medicine to ward off lawsuits. Public health care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid also suffer from substantial degrees
of waste, fraud, and abuse, siphoning off scarce taxpayer funds that could be used for other priorities such as education or defense.
Much of the waste and the high cost of health care can be attributed to the system of third-party payment for health care that has developed in
this country since WWII. Third-party payment plans allow some consumers to use services without ever paying the full cost of health care utilization
while others pay for benefits they don't need or want. The result is a system where health care costs spiral out of control and consumer choice
is limited to the one or two insurance plans usually offered by employers. The Center for Medical Progress advocates for putting patients in
charge of their own routine health care decisions and spending, reserving insurance for truly catastrophic injuries; and creating an interstate
market for health insurance that encourages customized insurance plans and competition to provide high quality health care to all Americans.
[Spotlight] [Commentary] [Research] [Events] [News]
Spotlight
Commentary
- New impetus for palliative care, Editorial, Boston Globe, 9-1-10
- Are bigger health-care networks better or just creating a monopoly?, Alec MacGillis, Washington Post, 8-16-10
- Are We Losing the Fight Against Obesity?, David Gratzer, FrumForum, 8-13-10
- Radical vs. Sensible, Larry Wellikson, The Hospitalist, August 2010
- Doctors must be more vigilant, Editorial, Boston Globe, 8-10-10
- Demystifying the Emergency Room Bill, Lesley Alderman, New York Times, 8-6-10
- A public home-care insurance cushion, Alison Bass and Susan Parkinson, Boston Globe, 8-2-10
- Easy steps avoid grievous end, Editorial, Boston Globe, 8-2-10
- Insurers tout disease management programs, but critics are wary, N.C. Aizenman, Washington Post, 7-20-10
- Physician, report thy colleague, Editorial, Boston Globe, 7-19-10
- Why employers should not pay for health care, Gay Burke, Denver Post, 6-18-10
- Health Insurance Exchanges--Key Link in a Better-Value Chain, Jon Kingsdale, New England Journal of Medicine, 6-10-10
- Governors show way to fiscal restraint, Haley Barbour, Washington Times online, 06-01-10
- Debt and the demographics of aging, The Washington Times, Dr. Robert N. Butler and Micheal W. Hodin, PhD, 5-24-10
- Food Fighter: Does Whole Foods' C.E.O. know what's best for you?, Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 1-4-10
- The End of HSAs, Wall Street Journal editorial, 11-23-09
- A Trojan Horse for Government-Run Health Care, Secretary Michael O. Leavitt, AmericaSpeakOn.org, 4-23-09
- The problem with central planning, Brett J. Skinner & Mark Rovere, Fraser Institute, 3-17-09
- Give the power to the people, Patrick McIlheran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2-28-09
- Health Care Choice Can Cut Costs, Improve Care, Devon Herrick, Health Care News, February 2009
- Local health centers key to care, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Jim Clyburn, Politico, 1-21-09
- Freedom Means Responsibility, George McGovern, Wall Street Journal, 3-7-08
Research
- Evaluation of Comparative Treatment Trials, Helena Chmura Kraemer and Ellen Frank, Journal of the American Medical Association, 8-11-10
- Death by Market Power: Reform, Competition and Patient Outcomes in the National Health Service, Martin Gaynor, Rodrigo Moreno-Serra, and Carol Propper, National Bureau of Economic Research, July 2010
- Health Savings Accounts and Health Reimbursement, By Paul Fronstin, Employee Benefit Research Institute, June 2010
- How Can Faith-Based Organizations Help Address the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Central America?, Kathryn Pitkin Derose, David E. Kanouse, David P. Kennedy, Kavita Patel, Alice Taylor, Kristin J. Leuschner, and Homero Martinez, RAND Corporation
- "Bending the Curve": What Really Drives Health Care Spending, Jason Fodeman, M.D. and Robert A. Book, Ph.D., Heritage Foundation, 2-17-10
- "Entrepreneurs' Coverage": An Alternative Health Policy Reform, Benjamin Zycher, Pacific Research Institute,January 2010
- Concierge Medicine: Convenient and Affordable Care, Devon Herrick, National Center for Policy Anaysis, 1-19-10
- More Choices, Better Health, Bartley J. Madden, The Heartland Institute, 1-21-09
- Removing the Middleman: What States Can Do to Make Health Care More Responsive to Patients, Byron Schlomach, Goldwater Institute, 1-13-09
- What Can a Health Savings Account Do for You?: The Tax, Savings and Health Spending Advantages of HSAs, Roy Ramthun, Matthew Hisrich, Flint Hills Center For Public Policy, 1-9-09
- Consumer Direction in Medicaid and Opportunities for States, Dennis G. Smith, Heritage Foundation, 11-13-08
News
- Cleveland Clinic CEO Worries Comparative Effectiveness Could Stifle Innovation, Wall Street Journal, 8-20-10
- A lesson in health insurance for college students, USA Today, 8-20-10
- Palliative Care Extends Life, Study Finds, New York Times, 8-19-10
- L.A. County supervisors call for increased patient safety measures, Los Angeles Times, 8-18-10
- Health centers a dose of relief for ailing system, Boston Herald, 8-17-10
- Economy Led to Cuts in Use of Health Care, New York Times, 8-17-10
- Nasty Bug Watch: MRSA Infections Down, But New Threat Looms, Wall Street Journal, 8-11-10
- Mobile clinics seen as way to cut health bill, Reuters, 8-11-10
- As older people grow in numbers, experts seek ways to handle the coming boom, Washington Post, 8-10-10
- Companies Help Employees Provide End-Of-Life Care, NPR's "Shots," 8-10-10
- Statistics: Who Visits the Emergency Room? 20 Percent of Americans, Insured or Not, New York Times, 8-10-10
- 2,000 attend free health clinic at D.C. convention center, Washington Post, 8-5-10
- Obesity Rates Keep Rising, Troubling Health Officials, New York Times, 8-4-10
- Foreign-Born Doctors Give Equal Care in U.S., New York Times, 8-3-10
- Rating Your Doctor, Kaiser Health News, 8-3-10
- First large-scale free clinic in D.C. to be held Aug. 4, Washington Post, 8-2-10
- Early Alzheimer's Diagnosis Yields Savings for Patients, Study Says, Wall Street Journal, 7-15-10
- A new practice: The doctor will see you today, Boston Globe, 7-14-10
- Hospitals Hope To Improve Outlook By Turning For-Profit, Kaiser Health News and USA Today, 7-13-10
- HHS gears up for Web portal's launch, Politico, 6-22-10
- Putting docs in Duane Reade pays off, Crain's New York Business, 1-26-10
- Innovative Alaska Health Plan Outperforms Many Others in Lower 48, Kaiser Health News, 1-26-10
- Move Afoot to Reward Consumer Thrift, Wall Street Journal, 12-15-09
- Universal Care Could Be Thwarted by Disappearing Docs, Wall Street Journal Health Blog, 4-17-09
- Creating A New Kind Of Health Care Community, Forbes, 3-3-09
- Group launches health care offensive, Politico, 3-3-09
- China Takes A Stab At Universal Health Care, Forbes, 1-22-09
- Georgia Senate Votes to Create Health Marketplace, Associated Press, 3-6-08
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