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Fri, 15 May 2009 10:19:47 GMT
The latest report on the solvency of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds reveals that these entitlement programs will likely run out of money sooner than expected. Senior Fellow Henry Aaron assesses the future of these two programs.
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Wed, 04 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT
Congress quickly passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program in its opening days, but the Obama administration and congressional leaders want to do far more to extend health insurance coverage and reform the delivery of care. While obstacles that have frustrated prior reform efforts remain powerful, Henry Aaron says that the key for Obama will be to identify specific reforms that will move toward his long-term vision.
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Fri, 16 Jan 2009 10:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- January 16, 2009, 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Almost 50 million Americans are uninsured, the cost of public and private health insurance is rising and the quality of care is uneven at best. On January 16, Henry Aaron offered a public memo to President-elect Obama with recommendations on how to deal with the challenges that will confront him in reforming health care. The memo is the twelfth of 12 Brookings memos on the most crucial public policy priorities facing the new president.
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Sun, 28 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Alan Berube urges policy-makers to evaluate short-term opportunities and set long-term strategies in order to help Cleveland’s next generation of residents overcome the challenges of concentrated poverty.
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Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:55:44 GMT
Brookings’s Center on Social and Economic Dynamics has pioneered a model that forecasts how infectious diseases like the flu spread. Center director Joshua Epstein says the Obama administration should use modeling to avert pandemic outbreaks and restore faith in the public health system.
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Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- December 16, 2008, 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM
A day-long public workshop on FDA's Sentinel Initiative was held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration and the eHealth Initiative Foundation and convened by the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution.
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Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Rebecca Blank and Mark Greenberg recommend the adoption of a new poverty measure, along the lines recommended by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), in order to provide a more accurate measure of economic need in the United States.
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Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
A major economic slowdown adds to the problems of lower-income Americans, who have not shared in the economic growth of the last decade. Greater investments in economic mobility and opportunity are needed. Rebecca Blank offers policy solutions and priorities for the president-elect to make greater investments in economic mobility and opportunity.
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Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
From the standpoint of presidential and congressional leadership heading into 2009, one thing is clear: Now is the time for action on a different vision for health care reform.
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Mon, 17 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT
“Washington may bail out Wall Street. But who will bail out Washington?” The Fiscal Wake-Up Tour group, Robert Bixby, Stuart Butler and Isabel Sawhill, discusses the importance of fundamentally recasting Medicare versus solely focusing on immediate health care reform.
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Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:00:00 GMT
Event Information:
- November 17, 2008, 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM
With health care spending continuing to rise and an economy in crisis, what are the most promising ways forward to lower health care costs, improve care and provide sustainable coverage? How will health care reform efforts unfold with the new administration and Congress? To address these and other questions, Mark McClellan, director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at Brookings, brought experts and policy-makers together to discuss the prospects for reforming our nation’s health care system. Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) gave opening remarks.
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Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:30:00 GMT
Event Information:
- October 08, 2008, 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM
Reducing the number of people without insurance coverage remains an important policy priority at both the state and federal levels. However, current financial challenges and budget shortfalls mean that in addition to expanding affordable coverage options, policymakers must continue to seek ways to improve the delivery of care – and at lower costs.
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Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Many Democrats see a return to the White House a call to resume the fight for full-blown national health insurance. Henry Aaron argues, a more modest, step-by-step approach carries a greater chance of success and—even more important—a smaller chance of devastating failure.
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Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Julia B. Isaacs details how the growing evidence about the importance of children’s early years is changing public attitudes toward early childhood programs. Adopting a well-designed package of investments in children from birth to five will improve children’s health, school achievement, and opportunities for future economic success.
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Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Advocates for children are hoping that with a new administration and a new Congress in 2009, investments in children will get enhanced priority. Isabel Sawhill argues that we need a new intergenerational contract that invests more in people when they are young, but then expects them to assume somewhat greater responsibility for their own support during their retirement years.
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Mon, 15 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Ron Haskins offers ways policymakers could create an entitlement to housing assistance that would more fairly distribute housing benefits and convert housing into a more effective element in the nation’s work support system. The goal of reform would be to get the most out of the resources now devoted to housing by providing at least some benefit to all eligible families that want a housing subsidy.
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Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT
A host of demographic and economic trends in the United States are making it difficult for the nation to make progress against poverty and income inequality. However, Ron Haskins argues, government policies that raise work levels and provide public benefits to supplement earnings have proven to be effective in fighting poverty among female-headed families. But further progress against poverty and economic inequality seems unlikely unless more poor adults work, reduce the number of births outside marriage, and marry at higher rates.
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Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT
The poor in American cut across all groups, but are disproportionately represented by single mothers and their children, by persons of color, by immigrants, by less-skilled individuals, or by those with physical or mental disabilities. Many working poor and near-poor families face problems with low wages or unstable jobs. This paper by Rebecca Blank outlines three strategic areas where policy and research attention should focus over the next decade.
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Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Julia Isaacs details the evidence supporting the long-term benefits of investment in early childhood education, along with prenatal care and greater access to health care for very young children in impoverished families. In a new Opportunity 08 paper, she proposes federal policies for the next President that will provide big returns.
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Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT
Tax incentives for employer-sponsored insurance and other medical spending cost about $200 billion annually and have pervasive effects on coverage and costs. In this paper, Jason Furman surveys a range of proposals to reform health care, either by adding new tax incentives or by limiting or replacing the existing tax incentives.
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Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT
While the nation has been struggling to eliminate the education gap, Ron Haskins testifies on ways to improve all preschool education received by poor children.
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Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT
In testimony to the Senate Budget Committee, Henry Aaron reviews options for health care reform.
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Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Americans are deeply concerned about paying their mounting bills for health care. This is true whether they have public (Medicare or Medicaid) or private insurance. And it’s certainly true for the 46 million people with no insurance at all. At the same time, the federal government’s health spending is clearly unsustainable. If current commitments are kept, other government services will have to be slashed or taxes increased drastically just to pay for Medicare and Medicaid.
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Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Paper by Jason Furman and Robert E. Rubin (July 2007)
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Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Although the nation's poverty rate is higher now than it was in the 1970s, no President since Lyndon Johnson has made fighting poverty a major plank of his campaign or goal of his administration. With large and growing gaps between the rich and the poor, it is now time for presidential campaigns and the next President to focus on poverty and inequality in America.
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Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Americans are living longer, but not necessarily living better. With fewer Americans saving adequately for retirement or their long-term health needs, and the corresponding decline in public and private pension plans, we are facing both a retirement and health security crisis. Brookings scholar William Galston argues that the next President must create a new social contract to promote individual financial security enabling older Americans to lead longer, healthier, and more productive lives.
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Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Currently projected deficits are unsustainable and pose serious risks to the economy, make us dangerously dependent on other countries, impose a "debt tax" on every taxpayer, send the bill for current spending to future generations, and weaken the government's ability to invest in the future or respond to emergencies. The next President will have to act to meet the deficit challenge.
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Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT
Health care is the nation's largest-and, in many respects, most important- industry. It is a large share of the nation's economy and a major source of employment, to be sure, but, by improving people's health and reducing disability, it promotes productivity across the economy and improves quality of life. The dollar value of Americans' improved health over the last three decades approximates the value of all other economic growth combined, and much, though not all, of that gain is traceable to improved health care.
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Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT
The cost of the U.S. health care system is high and rising at unsustainable rates, and a growing number of Americans has inadequate health insurance or none at all. The American public has a right to expect all Presidential candidates to address the overall problem of rising costs and decreasing financial access to care. But it also should expect candidates to address certain specific health system shortcomings, including the need to reform Medicare, improve quality, and tackle medical malpractice reform.