Congress is moving at a pace that can fairly be characterized as astonishingly fast to slash the number of Americans who lack health insurance by more than half.

And while it is hardly surprising those who don't want change warn that our legislators aren't moving fast enough,...

Congress is making impressive progress toward reducing America's uninsured population, but there's growing reason to believe that new health reforms will do little to constrain costs in the short-run and minimal confidence it will significantly bend the cost increase curve over the longer period.

The message is...

The health reform debate has taken an odd turn. At a time when all the parties with a direct interest - hospitals, doctors, insurers, drug companies - are working toward a political compromise, daunting new roadblocks are created daily by those with a broader political agenda who won't be...

Our ability to constrain American health spending may lie in the answer to one basic -- and increasingly contentious question -- whether patients with the same condition basically get the same care whether they are treated by doctors and hospitals in Manhattan or Minneapolis.

If they do, we've...

Is it time for a new approach in lobbying the Blue Dogs?

The evidence suggests so.

For the past six weeks progressives have been warning conservative Democratic -- and moderate Republican -- legislators that failure for vote for a public insurance option will prove that they...

I'm puzzled by the fuss over including a public plan in health reform and hoping that readers out there-- who feel strongly on either side of the issue -- can help me out.

The idea of a public plan that can help keep the big boys honest...

Because politicians are sensitive to how quickly the window of opportunity can slam shut, they try to seize the moment and move quickly when they can. One cost of this strategy involves attempting to impose a remedy before the patient really understands the diagnosis.

That's one explanation...

Among those of us who've abandoned our search for the health-care fairy, there's a realization that the only way to cap costs is to limit care. An unkind and provocative word to characterize that policy is rationing.

In fact, rationing is already pervasive. The challenge lies in doing it...

There's some sad and shocking news for those who have been manning the ramparts in opposition to health reforms that would allow our government to ration medical care.

The rationing has already begun. Our crafty government has been imposing rules that determines who gets what care for decades. What...

I'm at a loss over the fuss about the aborted Washington Post salons. It seems to be taking place in a parallel universe that's totally unfamiliar to me.

In my world, politicians and lobbyists who are successful have symbiotic relationships. They regularly visit to discuss how to...

Raising America's taxes is an excellent idea.

House leaders deserve credit for beginning the debate on exactly who should pay how much more and when. Regardless of the outcome, it will make our politics slightly more honest while relieving some internal pressures on the Democratic Party.
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Wal-Mart's endorsement of a requirement that employers offer workers health insurance is a reminder that while most employers may resist such a law, those employers who pay most workers already offer insurance and can thus painlessly support the principle.

About half of America's workers are employed by a firm...

No health reform plan will succeed unless it cuts consumption.

Today's debate, with its focus on refighting old wars and settling old scores, is straying from this focus. There's very broad agreement that our national health bill is becoming unaffordable. So unless we cut costs for those now...

Politicians and physicians share a professional perspective that the painless optimal solution is often out of reach and that they'll have to settle for an imperfect answer than will impose some discomfort.

This quest for the least painful option defines the ongoing dance between doctors and the...

American workers are apparently a very restless bunch. There could be a political upheaval if Washington doesn't act quickly to guarantee health insurance to all, regardless of who employs them.

That's the gist of a hysterical (in two senses) Reuters story this week concluding that "healthcare...

One of the traditional charms of the New York Times is an untethered audacity that sometimes suggests it lives in a universe very different from the one it reports on. So it was perversely reassuring that the Times has responded to current economic conditions with a double-digit increase in subscription...

Banks say they'll eliminate free credit cards in response to reform legislation limiting their ability to gouge those addicted to credit. I have two simple responses, each a retread of a rejection that succeeded the first time it was used.

The first is "make my day."

The second is, "hell,...

Conventional wisdom suggests that taxing employer-paid health programs to finance health reforms is a non-starter because an overwhelming majority -- 85% according to the New York Times -- would confront a tax increase to subsidize coverage for those who now lack it.

Conventional wisdom may...

As political theater, the spectacle of health care providers joining President Obama in a pledge to constrain medical costs sure beats a rerun of Harry and Louise. And it may well avert an encore performance, which would be a good thing. The anti-Clintoncare commercials were created by providers as a...

Despite today's economic stress Americans are increasingly confident that Social Security and Medicare will be there for them in the years ahead. Whether this growing optimism is justified is an open question, but it may partly explain why Congress doesn't seem to have a sense of urgency about fixing...