Health Affairs

In the recently released bulletin from HHS on the essential health benefits (EHB), the administration answered a major question on the minds of many critical healthcare stakeholders: Will the administration be specific in their guidance and create a definition of what constitutes “essential?”  The answer, is no, they will leave the bulk of the decision-making... Read the rest of this entry »

The much anticipated Institute of Medicine Report on essential health benefits (EHB) was released last week with a series of recommendations that answered some questions and raised many more. The report offers a very important opportunity for researchers, policymakers, providers and patients to fill in some of the white space between the recommendations. Background on EHB... Read the rest of this entry »

President Barack Obama took the very symbolic gesture of delivering his much anticipated speech on fiscal reform and deficit reduction from a podium at George Washington University, an institution of higher learning, including schools of medicine, public health and nursing.  By doing so, he signaled the desire to infuse a sense of responsibility in the... Read the rest of this entry »

Today, President Barack Obama released his Annual Budget, which emphasizes the Administration’s vision for moving forward by out-innovating, out-educating and out-building out of a recession.  The President proposes a freeze on non-security discretionary spending for the next five years, bringing this spending to the lowest levels since the Eisenhower White House. Health care is not as... Read the rest of this entry »

Below, Kavita Patel, former director of policy for the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, discusses President Obama’s State of the Union address and House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) Republican response. See other posts on this topic by Len Nichols and Joseph Antos.  The Constitution mandates that the President “from time to time... Read the rest of this entry »