Category: Health Care Policy

   The U.S. health-care system is a global leader in medical science and innovation of medical technologies. But the foundation of the system—the tax exemption for employer insurance, the regulation of state health-insurance markets, and the fragmentation supported by federal payment policies—encourages an expensive system where the volume of services is encouraged over quality of service for patients, leading to widely varying performance among the nation's physicians and hospitals, along with uneven access to health care and health insurance. Fixing those problems without crippling medical innovation should be our first priority.

   Unfortunately, policymakers often opt for quick and easy coverage expansions through larger government programs—spending more on public programs like Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP—without solving the underlying problems that plague the system.

   The United States is in need of deep reforms to the health-care sector of its economy that stress a reformed delivery system, better value in care, respect for state-level reform efforts, more efficient insurance markets, and better tools for tracking and improving patient outcomes. Through market based public policies and smarter investments in safety-net programs, the US can offer all Americans access to high quality health care in a fiscally responsible manner.

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