Biting the Bullet on Health Care Costs

Brookings Senior Fellow Isabel Sawhill will moderate the first of a series of public discussions on the Brookings health policy initiative. This forum will focus on strategies to slow the growth of health care spending, particularly in Medicare and Medicaid. Two leading scholars on health policy issues, Henry Aaron from Brookings and Rudy Penner from the Urban Institute, will discuss their views on the long-term challenges associated with controlling health care spending. Liz Fowler, a professional staff member with the Senate Finance Committee, and Dean Rosen, health policy director for the Office of Senator William Frist, will provide their perspective on these issues from the viewpoint of Capitol Hill.

As a result of their size and impact, decisions about health care policy are perhaps the most important domestic policy choices that the nation will make over the coming decades. The challenge for the nation, for public policy, and for the private sector, will be to realize the potential of advances in medicine at a price we can all afford.

The public session is intended to inform Brookings’ efforts to deepen its health policy research, and find practical approaches to health care policy issues. A question and answer session will follow the panel’s remarks.