The release of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers report reveals the insurance industry's true colors for all to see. Everyone who has followed events closely saw insurers publicly supporting reform ("We want to work with you, Mr. President."). The pros knew that, at the same time, their lobbyists have been working hard to...

Reliance on competition among private insurers is fundamentally a weak approach to health care reform. (The reason is that to keep prices low, insurers have only two levers to pull: they can refuse to insure people at high risk for using services, and they can change the conditions of...

As the health care reform debates enter their final phases this fall, the Republicans have ended the pretense and revealed themselves to be unwilling to compromise to produce a bipartisan health care reform bill. So, having been freed of the Republican albatross, the president and congressional leaders can concentrate...

The New York Times quotes Congressman Steny Hoyer (Dem, MD) as saying, "I'm for a public option, but I'm also for passing a bill."

Getting this close to passing a bill is an impressive accomplishment given the history of health care reform efforts and...

The health reform proposals being considered by Congress depend on private insurance companies competing. Proponents of this strategy believe that to win subscribers from competitors, insurers will need to find innovative ways to keep costs down at the same time they provide good coverage. To keep them focused on...

In my previous post, I suggested a simpler, more equitable, less expensive way to pay for health care reform than the plans included in the bills being considered by Congress. Just require that everyone contribute an income-related amount to a dedicated pool of funds for paying insurers and...

The critical question of how to pay for health care reform seems more difficult than it needs to be because Congress has chosen to rely on a reform strategy that depends on competition among traditional insurance companies. The assumption is that, to win and retain customers, insurers will find...