Market Structure of the Health Insurance Industry
Why do Americans have to pay far more for health care than do citizens of other countries who receive comparable or even superior service? A new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service does not answer that question, but it does provide some insight into the role of the health insurance industry in generating those high costs.
“Health costs appear to have increased over time in large part because of complex interactions among health insurance, health care providers, employers, pharmaceutical manufacturers, tax policy, and the medical technology industry. Reducing the growth trajectory of health care costs may require policies that affect these interactions,” the CRS delicately said.
See “The Market Structure of the Health Insurance Industry,” Congressional Research Service, November 17, 2009.
Given the unreliability of private market funding for agricultural biotechnology R&D, substantial federal funding through research programs such as AgARDA is vital for accelerating R&D.
“Given the number of existential crises we must collectively confront, I have found policy entrepreneurship to be a fruitful avenue towards doing some of that work.”
We sit on the verge of another Presidential election – an opportunity for meaningful, science-based policy innovations that can appeal to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Outdated Bureau of Labor Statistics classifications hampers the federal government’s ability to design and implement effective policies for emerging technologies sectors.