Health Care Policy Panel

Of the many interesting things you will see and hear during your trip to D.C., be sure to attend the Health Care Policy panel offered on Thursday. Here is a preview:

Policy Panel on Health Care

Who Should Pay for Your Health Care: You, Your Boss, Or Your Government?

US health care costs have experienced unprecedented growth in recent decades. Expenditures for health care exceeded $2 trillion in 2006 - almost eight times the $253 billion spent in 1980 and outpacing inflation and national income growth. Coupled with tightened federal and state budgets, the health care system is in need of reform to relieve the burden on public and private insurance systems and ultimately consumers. But how do we ensure that everyone has access to high-quality, affordable health care? And who should pay for it? Presidential candidates have markedly different approaches to addressing these fundamental questions--from individual mandates to purchase health care insurance to government-run health care. This panel will discuss the options for health care reform in a conservative context and highlight the pros and cons of the proposed measures by Presidential candidates.


Moderator: Karen Sautter

Karen Sautter, a Massachusetts YR, is a Research Consultant for Connecticut Voices for Children where she analyzes trends in health status and utilization in the Medicaid managed care program. She is also on staff at Boston University's Health Policy and Management Department where she is conducting a study on the use of financial incentives to improve quality of care in safety net settings. Karen is a Wellesley College graduate and has an MPH from Yale University.

Speakers

Michael Tanner, Cato Institute

As director of Cato's health and welfare studies, Michael Tanner heads research on new, market-based approaches to health, welfare and Social Security. His approach is based on individual responsibility rather than government control. His most recent book, Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution (2007), chronicles the demise of the Republican party as it has shifted away from its limited government roots and warns that reform is necessary to avoid electoral defeat in 2008.

Under Tanner's direction, Cato launched the Project on Social Security Choice, which is widely considered the leading impetus for transforming the soon-to-be-bankrupt system into a private savings program. Time Magazine calls Tanner, "one of the architects of the private accounts movement," and Congressional Quarterly named him one of the nation's five most influential experts on Social Security. In addition to his work on Social Security, Tanner oversees Cato's research on new, market-based approaches to health care reform and social welfare programs.

His other books include, Healthy Competition: What's Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It (2005), The Poverty of Welfare: Helping Others in Civil Society (2003), and A New Deal for Social Security (1998). Tanner's writings have appeared in nearly every major American newspaper, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. A prolific writer and frequent guest lecturer, Tanner appears regularly on network and cable news programs. Before joining Cato in 1993, Tanner served as director of research of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and as legislative director for the American Legislative Exchange Council.


Dr. Robert Moffitt, Heritage Foundation

Robert Moffit has been a veteran of Washington policymaking for more than 25 years, and is Director of The Heritage Foundation's Center for Health Policy Studies.
A former senior official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Personnel Management during the Reagan administration, Moffit specializes in Medicare reform, health insurance, and other health policy issues.
Moffit's team helped develop the Massachusetts' health insurance reform initiative in 2005. The Massachusetts plan created an innovative system that empowers employees in small businesses to choose the health plan through a statewide "health insurance exchange." This market-based approach would enable these Bay State citizens to own a private and fully portable health insurance plan and take it with them from job to job without a loss of generous federal tax breaks for employer-based coverage. Since Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney signed this plan into law, officials in almost two dozen states have asked Moffit and his colleagues to help them develop statewide market-based solutions for their health system problems.

Moffit received his bachelor's degree in political science from LaSalle University in Philadelphia and his doctorate from the University of Arizona. During the Reagan Administration, he served as the Assistant Director of Congressional Relations in the Office of Personal Management and as the Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.


Joseph Antos, American Enterprise Institute

Joseph Antos is the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at AEI. He is also a Commissioner of the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission, and an Adjunct Professor at the School of Public Health of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before joining AEI, Antos was Assistant Director for Health and Human Resources at the Congressional Budget Office.

At AEI, Antos's research focuses on the economics of health policy, including Medicare reform, health insurance regulation, and the uninsured. He has written and spoken extensively on the Medicare drug benefit and has led a team of experienced independent actuaries and cost estimators in a study to evaluate various proposals to extend health coverage to the uninsured. Antos also writes for AEI's Health Policy Outlook series.



Thomas P. Miller, American Enterprise Institute

A former senior health economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, Thomas Miller studies health care policy and regulation. A lawyer by training and a former journalist, Miller has worked on issues ranging from Medicare prescription drug benefits to medical savings accounts. While at the committee, he worked on social security reform legislation and organized a number of hearings that focused on reforms in private health care markets.