PUBLICATIONS BY Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
Research
Commentary
Media Appearances
2008 Research
October 15, 2008
The Obama Health Care Plan: More Power to Washington
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(Backgrounder #2197)
Senator Barack Obama's health care plan is laden with new regulations and government authority that would leave Americans with even less control of their health care dollars than they exercise today. A better course would be to transfer control of health care dollars to individuals and families, both to empower individuals to make informed choices and to enable the marketplace to respond rapidly to their needs and wants.
October 15, 2008
Executive Summary: The Obama Health Care Plan: More Power to Washington
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(Executive Summary #2197)
Senator Barack Obama's health care plan is laden with new regulations and government authority that would leave Americans with even less control of their health care dollars than they exercise today. A better course would be to transfer control of health care dollars to individuals and families, both to empower individuals to make informed choices and to enable the marketplace to respond rapidly to their needs and wants.
October 15, 2008
The McCain Health Care Plan: More Power to Families
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(Backgrounder #2198)
Senator John McCain has proposed an ambitious health care reform agenda that focuses on four key objectives: making health insurance innovative, portable, and affordable; ensuring care for high-risk patients; lowering health care costs; and confronting long-term care challenges. These goals are meaningful, and McCain’s policy measures would advance greater personal choice and control in the health care system.
October 15, 2008
Executive Summary: The McCain Health Care Plan: More Power to Families
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(Executive Summary #2198)
Senator John McCain has proposed an ambitious health care reform agenda that focuses on four key objectives: making health insurance innovative, portable, and affordable; ensuring care for high-risk patients; lowering health care costs; and confronting long-term care challenges. These goals are meaningful, and McCain’s policy measures would advance greater personal choice and control in the health care system.
August 14, 2008
Government as "Competitor": The Latest Prescription for Government Control of Health Care
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #2024)
Proponents of government competition in a "national health insurance exchange" claim that it would enhance personal choice and health plan competition. That is highly unlikely. Rather, such a system would impose federal control over virtually every aspect of private health insurance, rendering it virtually indistinguishable from government insurance.
June 18, 2008
Medicare: Congress Is Poised to Block Competitive Bidding for Medical Supplies
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1959)
Members of Congress, under pressure from industry lobbyists, are poised to block competitive bidding for durable medical equipment and supplies in the Medicare program.
June 13, 2008
The Success of Medicare Advantage Plans: What Seniors Should Know
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #2142)
Medicare Advantage is a success and can serve as the first stage of reform, but Congress will have to change the existing payment system and provide a system of premium support, properly adjusted, for each beneficiary. What is needed next is more robust competition for the entire program and parity in the payment to health care options that seniors choose.
June 13, 2008
Executive Summary: The Success of Medicare Advantage Plans: What Seniors Should Know
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Executive Summary #2142)
Executive Summary: Medicare Advantage is a success and can serve as the first stage of reform, but Congress will have to change the existing payment system and provide a system of premium support, properly adjusted, for each beneficiary. What is needed next is more robust competition for the entire program and parity in the payment to health care options that seniors choose.
April 23, 2008
State Health Reform: Six Key Tests
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1900)
State legislators are increasingly focused on health care reform. Escalating health care costs, state deficits, rising numbers of uninsured, and federal inaction have forced them to take up the challenge of changing state law, restructuring flawed state health insurance markets, and overhauling existing health care financing and delivery. This often requires a special level of technical expertise and experience with health care policy.
March 26, 2008
Congress Must Not Ignore the Medicare Trustees' Warning
By Greg D'Angelo and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1869)
Congress should take steps to transform Medicare from a costly open-ended entitlement program to a defined-contribution program.
March 25, 2008
Medicare and Social Security: The Challenge of Giant Entitlement Costs
By David C. John and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1867)
Today's report affirms the need for Congress to begin a serious overhaul of both of these vital programs.
March 06, 2008
Medicare Advantage: The Case for Protecting Patient Choice
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1836)
The President should veto any legislation that undercuts either consumer choice or competition in Medicare Advantage.
February 11, 2008
Make Medicare Budget Options Compatible with Comprehensive Reform
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1807)
In response to the trigger in Medicare law, Congress should move the program toward a new system based on free market principles.
February 05, 2008
The President's Medicare Budget: A First Step Toward Entitlement Reform
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1797)
It Members of Congress do not agree with the President's proposals, they should develop reasonable alternatives of their own.
February 04, 2008
Congress Must Pull the Trigger to Contain Medicare Spending
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Alison Acosta Fraser
(WebMemo #1796)
A trigger in Medicare law presents Congress with an opportunity to reform entitlements.
2007 Research
October 30, 2007
The More Children, More Choices Act of 2007: Middle-Class Tax Relief for Families with Kids
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1681)
Congress has a chance to accomplish the same level of health coverage without disrupting the existing coverage of families with children.
August 01, 2007
The House SCHIP Bill: Cutting Medicare, Undercutting Private Coverage, and Expanding Dependency
By Cheryl Smith with Robert E. Moffit
(WebMemo #1580)
Congress should stake out an entirely different policy that centers on reaffirming the original intent of the law, expanding private coverage, and preserving choice for seniors in the Medicare Advantage program.
July 30, 2007
Beyond SCHIP: A Serious Proposal to Reduce Uninsurance
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.d.
(WebMemo #1577)
A bold and innovative proposal would reduce the number of uninsured by an estimated 24 million by eliminating the unfairness of the federal tax treatment for health insurance.
July 23, 2007
Redesigning SCHIP to Strengthen Private Health Insurance for Working Families
By Nina Owcharenko and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1564)
A proposal from the Senate Finance Committee to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program would displace private health care coverage. In legislation to reauthorize SCHIP, Congress should include tax reform and other measures that address the fundamental problems in the health care system.
June 20, 2007
State-Based Health Reform: A Comparison of Health Insurance Exchanges and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1515)
State officials should take the best features of the FEHBP and apply them to their own health insurance markets. A health insurance exchange accomplishes this.
April 04, 2007
The Massachusetts Health Plan: An Update and Lessons for Other States
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1414)
New estimates show that competition will help Massachusetts residents save on health coverage. Other states would do well to learn from Massachusetts's experience.
February 06, 2007
The President's Medicare Budget Proposal: A Step Forward on Entitlement Spending
By Robert E. Moffit
(WebMemo #1344)
In his FY 2008 budget, the President has proposed a set of serious Medicare proposals that will begin to address the enormous fiscal challenge of entitlement spending.
January 22, 2007
The Schwarzenegger Health Plan: A Great Leap Forward for Bigger Government
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #1317)
The Governor's proposed health plan is a mélange of bad health policy, unwise tax increases, and missed opportunities.
January 11, 2007
H.R. 4: A Confusing and Contradictory Prescription for Medicare Drugs
By Greg D'Angelo, and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1306)
The federal government cannot really "negotiate" drug prices in the Medicare program; it can only "set"prices, harming seniors in the process.
2006 Research
October 20, 2006
Building on the Successes of Health Savings Accounts
By Greg D'Angelo and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1239)
How to improve HSAs and make all health insurance more affordable and better tailored to consumers.
October 05, 2006
The Rationale for a Statewide Health Insurance Exchange
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1230)
Statewide health insurance exchanges give individuals and families the opportunity to secure the health plans of their choice without losing tax benefits.
July 18, 2006
The Massachusetts Health Plan: Lessons for the States
By Nina Owcharenko and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1953)
Several features of the Massachusetts health plan could empower individuals to buy and own their own health insurance policies and take these policies with them from job to job, but officials in other states should shun the imposition of employer mandates and avoid public program expansions while making modifications or improvements to other significant components of the Massachusetts plan.
July 17, 2006
The Health Care Choice Act: Eliminating Barriers to Personal Freedom and Market Competition
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph. D.
(WebMemo #1164)
While interstate commerce in goods and services is routine in virtually every other area of the national economy, such as banking and financial services, it is largely frustrated in the health care sector by law and government regulation. For individuals and families, this means that they are not able to secure the kind of coverage they want at the prices they wish to pay. The Health Care Choice Act (H.R. 2355 and S.1015), sponsored by Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ) and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), would amend current law to allow for interstate commerce in health insurance plans while preserving states' primary responsibility for the regulation of health insurance.
June 19, 2006
A Health Policy Agenda for the House of Representatives
By Nina Owcharenko and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1133)
Last month, the United States Senate scheduled a "Health Week" to consider modest changes to the health care system. It failed to pass anything.
May 15, 2006
Patients' Freedom of Conscience: The Case for Values-Driven Health Plans
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Jennifer A. Marshall, and Grace V. Smith
(Backgrounder #1933)
Because most Americans have little control over the terms or conditions of their health insurance contracts or the payment of premiums, policymakers should (1) allow all Americans to choose their own health plans, (2) eliminate discrimination in the tax code, (3) open up health insurance markets, and (4) allow values-driven health plans to participate in public programs.
May 15, 2006
Executive Summary: Patients' Freedom of Conscience: The Case for Values-Driven Health Plans
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Jennifer A. Marshall,
and Grace V. Smith
(Executive Summary #1933)
Executive Summary: Because most Americans have little control over the terms or conditions of their health insurance contracts or the payment of premiums, policymakers should (1) allow all Americans to choose their own health plans, (2) eliminate discrimination in the tax code, (3) open up health insurance markets, and (4) allow values-driven health plans to participate in public programs.
May 05, 2006
Competition and Federalism: The Right Remedy for Excessive Health Insurance Regulation
By Nina Owcharenko, Edmund Haislmaier and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1060)
Open competition in health care markets would benefit consumers.
May 01, 2006
Medicare and Social Security: Big Entitlement Costs on the Horizon
By David C. John and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #1054)
Social Security and Medicare have promised $37 trillion more in benefits to senior and disabled workers than the programs will be able to pay.
April 28, 2006
A Serious Senate Agenda for
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #1052)
The Senate should consider policies that promote personal control over health care dollars, expand consumer choice and competition, and reduce health care regulations
April 20, 2006
Understanding Key Parts of the Massachusetts Health Plan
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #1045)
Clear explanation answers many criticisms of the Massachusetts plan.
February 08, 2006
The President's Modest Medicare Budget Proposal
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #993)
With Medicare costs set to explode, the President proposes minor savings.
January 31, 2006
State of the Union 2006: The Health Care Initiatives
By Robert E. Moffit and Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #976)
The President wants to level the playing field for individuals buying health coverage. That's a good idea.
2005 Research
December 14, 2005
Congress's Budget Reconciliation Package Should Not Hinder Hospital Specialization
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #940)
Blocking specialization would take aim directly at high-quality medical treatment, to the detriment of millions of Americans.
November 03, 2005
The Senate Medicare Options: Serious Savings or Business as Usual?
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #911)
Two proposals: one is innovative and bold, one less so.
October 25, 2005
Values-Driven Healthcare: Freedom of Conscience for the Consumer
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Grace V. Smith, and Jennifer A. Marshall
(WebMemo #894)
Healthcare reform should create a market in which Americans can choose health coverage that is consistent with their ethical, moral, and religious convictions.
September 22, 2005
Paying for Katrina Relief: Cancel or Delay the Medicare Drug Benefit
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #857)
Delaying the drug benefit would save tens of billions of dollars that could be put to better use in Katrina recovery.
July 22, 2005
A Good Start: The House Health Care Reform Bills
By Edmund F. Haislmaier, Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(WebMemo #803)
Three positive steps and one puzzling omission.
July 20, 2005
The Promise of Personalized Health Care: Why and How To Encourage Diversity and Choice
By Christina Sochacki and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #801)
The era or personalized health care is upon us. Regulation needs to catch up to medicine.
June 24, 2005
Federal Stem Cell Research: What Taxpayers Should Know (Heritage Lecture)
By Kelly Hollowell, J.D., Ph.D., Philip H. Coelho, The Honorable David Weldon, M.D., and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Heritage Lecture #888)
The derivation of stem cells from human embryos raises a wide range of difficult ethical and moral questions. These include the status of the embryo as human life or merely property. Beyond grave ethical objections, critics of this research oppose the use of taxpayers' dollars to fund what many private venture capitalists refuse to finance.
June 14, 2005
High Anxiety: Implementing the Medicare Prescription Drug Program
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1860)
Congress has launched the largest entitlement expansion since the Great Society, accompanied by an equally massive new experiment in central planning. Rather than reflect current market reality, the Medicare drug benefit repudiates one of the key goals of Medicare reform by expanding the Medicare bureaucracy's power, increasing red tape, and inviting more counterproductive and costly congressional micromanagement.
June 14, 2005
Executive Summary: High Anxiety: Implementing the Medicare Prescription Drug Program
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Executive Summary #1860)
Executive Summary: Congress has launched the largest entitlement expansion since the Great Society, accompanied by an equally massive new experiment in central planning. Rather than reflect current market reality, the Medicare drug benefit repudiates one of the key goals of Medicare reform by expanding the Medicare bureaucracy's power, increasing red tape, and inviting more counterproductive and costly congressional micromanagement.
May 24, 2005
Federal Stem Cell Research: What Taxpayers Should Know
By Robert Moffit, Ph.D., Kelly Hollowell, Ph.D., Phil Coelho, and the Honorable Dave Weldon
(WebMemo #749)
A diverse group of experts addresses the scientific and ethical issues.
February 10, 2005
Time To Revisit the Costly Medicare Drug Entitlement
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #661)
The drug entitlement was a costly mistake that needs to be repealed or drastically revamped
January 04, 2005
Early Warning on Medicare Drug Implementation
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #631)
Congress still has time--barely--to fix this mess.
2004 Research
December 17, 2004
Will Congress Contain Medicare's Exploding Costs?
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Joseph R. Antos, Ph.D., Jeff Lemieux, and Daniel L. Crippen, Ph.D.
(Heritage Lecture #857)
To develop true Medicare reform, the Administration and Congress needs a clearer set of illness-specific, beneficiary-level data-particularly for the oldest and sickest Medicare patients. This will enable Medicare officials to focus on this population through a cost-effective case management approach.
November 08, 2004
What Federal Workers Are Doing Today that You Can't
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #604)
Federal workers get to choose their health plans. You don't.
October 12, 2004
An Examination of the Bush Health Care Agenda
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(Backgrounder #1804)
President Bush's health care agenda would increase public and private coverage for millions of Americans. The outlined health policy agenda introduces key changes in the conventional financing and delivery of health care. Chief among the proposals are health care tax credits for lower-income individuals and families and new market-based insurance reforms to enable Americans to purchase private health coverage.
October 12, 2004
Executive Summary: An Examination of the Bush Health Care Agenda
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(Executive Summary #1804)
Executive Summary: President Bush's health care agenda would increase public and private coverage for millions of Americans. The outlined health policy agenda introduces key changes in the conventional financing and delivery of health care. Chief among the proposals are health care tax credits for lower-income individuals and families and new market-based insurance reforms to enable Americans to purchase private health coverage.
October 12, 2004
Details Matter: A Closer Look at Senator Kerry's Health Care Plan
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D, Nina Owcharenko, and Edmund F. Haislmaier
(Backgrounder #1805)
Senator John Kerry's health care plan would expand coverage but would fall short in transforming health insurance markets and making patients the key decision makers in the system. In effect, it would reinforce the status quo, with (according to one estimate) nine of every 10 dollars spent going to employers, insurance companies, and state governments, not to individuals.
October 12, 2004
Executive Summary: Details Matter: A Closer Look at Senator Kerry's Health Care Plan
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D, Nina Owcharenko, and Edmund F. Haislmaier
(Executive Summary #1805)
Executive Summary: Senator John Kerry's health care plan would expand coverage but would fall short in transforming health insurance markets and making patients the key decision makers in the system. In effect, it would reinforce the status quo, with (according to one estimate) nine of every 10 dollars spent going to employers, insurance companies, and state governments, not to individuals.
September 21, 2004
Health Savings Accounts and the FEHBP: Perfect Together
By Andrew Grossman and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #571)
the 'adverse selection' argument doesn't justify opposition to HSAs in the FEHBP.
September 14, 2004
Lessons of Success: What Congress Can Learn from the Federal Employees Program
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #565)
FEHBP's market principles account for its record of success and its popularity as a model for reform.
August 24, 2004
Why It's Time for Faith-Based Health Plans
By Phyllis Berry Myers, Richard Swenson, M.D., Michael O'Dea, and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Heritage Lecture #850)
Most people today do not really know what is in their health plans-particularly when it comes to issues of medical ethics, including abortion. A change in the insurance market, coupled with changes in the tax code, could revive faith-based institutions providing health care benefits and faith-based health care delivery.
August 12, 2004
A Vision For Health System Change
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Daniel "Stormy" Johnson, M.D., Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D., Stan Dorn, J.D., John Goodman, Ph.D., and Kenneth E. Thorpe, Ph.D.
(Heritage Lecture #848)
From a policy standpoint, health coverage assistance should be focused on those who need it most; insurance and coverage choices should not be dependent upon a person's place of employment; and states should be allowed to fine-tune the kinds of structures that will best help them to organize coverage
August 12, 2004
A Vision For Health System Change
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Daniel "Stormy" Johnson, M.D., Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D., Stan Dorn, J.D., John Goodman, Ph.D., and Kenneth Thorpe, Ph.D.
(Heritage Lecture #848)
From a policy standpoint, health coverage assistance should be focused on those who need it most; insurance and coverage choices should not be dependent upon a person's place of employment; and states should be allowed to fine-tune the kinds of structures that will best help them to organize coverage
June 18, 2004
Can Congress Contain Explosive Medicare Costs?
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #523)
Can Congress contain these costs and reduce the burden of debt that's now on future generations' shoulders? If so, how?
April 26, 2004
Fixing the New Medicare Law #1: An Agenda for Constructive Change
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1750)
Whatever merits one may ascribe to the recently enacted Medicare law, it has aggravated, not controlled, rapidly rising Medicare costs. Its major feature is a massive entitlement expansion, but it also embodies some bad health care policy: There is no need for the federal government to displace existing drug coverage, pre-empt new private-sector options, or accelerate the loss of employer-based drug coverage.
March 25, 2004
Medicare's Deepening Financial Crisis: The High Price of Fiscal Irresponsibility
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Brian M. Riedl
(Backgrounder #1740)
By delaying implementation of the Medicare drug entitlement while making the prescription drug discount a permanent feature of Medicare, including the Medicare Advantage system that will take effect in 2006, Congress could deal with exploding costs and establish the foundation for a Medicare drug program that accommodates, rather than displaces, a wide variety of private-sector drug options.
January 21, 2004
The State of Health Care
By Robert Moffit, Nina Owcharenko, and Derek Hunter
(WebMemo #397)
In his State of the Union address, President Bush declared, " A government run health care system is the wrong prescription. By keeping costs under control, expanding access, and helping more Americans afford coverage, we will preserve the system of private medicine that makes America's health care system the best in the world."
2003 Research
November 19, 2003
A "Demonstration Project" Equals No Medicare Reform
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1708)
The latest congressional leadership proposal for a "demonstration project" to test Medicare reform continues a tiresome pattern of bad federal health policy that undercuts the effectiveness of market-based health care reforms. Serious Medicare reform means one thing: creating a premium support financing system modeled on the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.
November 17, 2003
Time to Rethink the Disastrous Medicare Legislation
By Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D., Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #370)
The Medicare conference agreement fails the two critical requirements of a responsible drug benefit program for the nation's seniors. The original idea underlying this legislation was never just about adding drug coverage to Medicare. It was about doing so in a way that would not lead to huge additional liabilities to future generations, and in a way that would reform the program so that it could respond to the changing needs of the elderly and disabled. But the agreement will not lead to that.
November 13, 2003
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By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #366)
The House–Senate conference committee outline agreement this week guts any serious long-term reform of the troubled Medicare program while proposing the single largest entitlement expansion in the program's history. Instead of enacting real reform at a date certain and in time to accommodate the retirement of the massive baby-boom generation, key congressional leaders are instead proposing a limited "demonstration project" to test serious Medicare reform, confined to a few areas of the country.
November 10, 2003
Cost Control in the Medicare Drug Bill Needs Premium Support, Not a "Trigger"
By Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D., Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Brian M. Riedl
(Backgrounder #1704)
The trigger proposal will do little if anything to hold down the mushrooming taxpayer cost of Medicare. It could easily be evaded by politicians who are adept at circumventing or simply ignoring spending controls. Moreover, even if it did work, it would do so by increasing government controls on doctors and hospitals to the detriment of patients. Needed instead is a firm commitment by Congress to an effective premium support mechanism.
November 04, 2003
Real Medicare Reform: The Right Way to do Premium Support
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #360)
In 2011, the first big wave of the huge baby-boom generation will start to retire. In these final days of the House-Senate conference on Medicare legislation, the conferees must decide whether or not they are going to set in motion a real reform of the Medicare program for that next generation of retirees.
September 24, 2003
What Will Medicare's Future Hold For Seniors And Taxpayers?
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Thomas R. Saving, Ph.D., Jeff Lemieux
(Heritage Lecture #797)
Projections of Medicare's future debt obligations are staggering. Even without any prescription drug benefits, current participants will be owed $13 trillion. New generations, whose taxes should be paying off current obligations, will impose another $25 trillion in debt to the system. Reformers should consider adopting features of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP), which emphasizes consumer choice and competition among health plans and has successfully controlled costs for decades.
June 26, 2003
An Analysis of the White House Position on Medicare Legislation
By Edmund F. Haislmaier, Robert E. Moffit, and Nina Owcharenko, Center for Health Policy Studies
(WebMemo #305)
The White House Office of Communications recently issued a series of "questions and answers" on the Medicare legislation before the House and the Senate. The point of the issuance was to answer the critics of the Medicare legislation by responding to the main criticisms in a question-and-answer format.
June 25, 2003
An Analysis of House Medicare Legislation
By Lanhee J. Chen, Edmund F. Haislmaier, Robert E. Moffit, and Nina Owcharenko, Center for Health Policy Studies
(WebMemo #302)
This analysis examines the House Medicare Modernization and Prescription Drug Act of 2003 (H.R. 2473). The bill establishes a universal, but voluntary, drug benefit as an entitlement in the Medicare program. The bill also makes changes in traditional Medicare and creates a new competitive system for Medicare that will take effect in 2010.
June 18, 2003
What's Wrong with the Senate Medicare Drug Bill
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #297)
Thirty-seven percent of all retirees with employer-based drug coverage would lose it under the Prescription Drug and Medicare Improvement Act of 2003, the Medicare bill recently adopted by the Senate Finance Committee. Medicare reform should be a policy success, not another vehicle for the expansion of bureaucratic control over the financing and delivery of health care services.
June 17, 2003
Analysis of the Evolving Senate Medicare Bill
By Edmund F. Haislmaier and Robert E. Moffit
(WebMemo #296)
A preliminary analysis of the Prescription Drug and Medicare Improvement Act of 2003 based on a descriptive outline of the Senate bill's provisions; it is not based on formal legislative language, which has been unavailable to the public.
June 06, 2003
Issues of Concern Related to Medicare Reform
By Robert E. Moffit Ph. D.
(WebMemo #288)
Three important issues are imperative to achieve real Medicare reform. Specific provisions can change the structure of Medicare from a rigid system of central planning to a flexible one that encourages change, improvements and innovation in the financing and delivery of medical services.
May 06, 2003
A Road Map to Medicare Reform: Building on the Experience of FEHBP
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Testimony #9999)
Congressional testimony by Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
March 18, 2003
The 2003 Trustees' Report on the Medicare Program
By Robert E. Moffit Ph.D.
(WebMemo #223)
Outlines keyfindings in the Trustees' Report.
March 14, 2003
Covering the Uninsured: How States
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and Nina Owcharenko
(Backgrounder #1637)
Governors and state legislators can make significant headway in reducing the number of America's uninsured, improving access to quality health care, and expanding choice and competition in the state health insurance markets.
March 11, 2003
How the President's Health Care Plan Would Expand Insurance
By Nina Owcharenko and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1636)
President Bush has put forward a series of policy changes, aimed at improving existing health care accounts, that would enable individuals and families to control decisions regarding their own health care and decide for themselves how best to spend their health care dollars.
February 21, 2003
What the GAO Says About the
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1625)
Recently published U.S. General Accounting Office analyses describe how the FEHBP works, including its broad choice of plans, historical deference to the personal choices of consumers, flexibility in benefits and administration, capacity for innovation, and solid record in controlling costs.
February 14, 2003
Getting The Details Right
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #208)
Getting The Details Right: The Key Do's And Don'ts Of Medicare Reform
February 07, 2003
What The GAO Says About The Best Model For Medicare Reform
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #204)
he President has indicated in his State of the Union address that the model for Medicare reform should be the popular and successful Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which covers the White House, Members of Congress, congressional staff, and 8.3 million federal employees, retirees, and their dependents.
January 28, 2003
The Model for Real Medicare Reform: State of The Union Response
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #196)
President Bush outlined a Medicare model broadly based on the recommendations of the majority of the National Bipartisan Commission on The Future of Medicare. The Commission believes the best option to provide high quality health care, is to transform Medicare into a new program that looks very much like the FEHBP
2002 Research
October 16, 2002
Senate Medicare "Give Back" Bill Thwarts
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #160)
America stands undecided over whether health care system should be transformed into a public utility or a patient-centered, consumer-driven system in which individuals make their own decisions. Congress should back the President in his efforts to help uninsured Americans, not throw more bureaucratic obstacles in his way and theirs.
September 20, 2002
Promoting Choice and Controlling Cost
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #146)
Real choice and genuine competition, coupled with flexible, market-friendly systems of administration, could provide a superior health care system for all Americans.
September 09, 2002
Should the Medicare Bureaucracy Manage a Drug Benefit?
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1583)
Congress should design a new system that incorporates personal choice and market competition, as the FEHBP does. Medicare patients should have the means to choose a plan that best meets their needs and secure the drug coverage that their doctors think is best for them.
September 09, 2002
BG1583es: Should the Medicare Bureaucracy Manage a Drug Benefit?
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Executive Summary #1583)
BG1583es: Congress Should Think Twice About Allowing the Medicare Bureaucracy To Manage a Drug Benefit
July 26, 2002
Will This End in A Catastrophic Medicare Crash?
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #132)
In the aftermath of three Senate Medicare prescription drug proposals collapsing for want of consensus in the Senate, the Senate leadership is scrambling to cobble together some sort of compromise package, trying desperately to combine disparate elements into a coherent legislative proposal that will attract broad political support.
July 23, 2002
Time for a Sensible Medicare Drug Benefit
By Joseph R. Antos, Ph.D., Grace-Marie Turner, and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1573)
The Prescription Drug Security Card could provide meaningful help for low-income seniors who do not have access to drug coverage. These seniors should be the priority for Washington policymakers, who can--and should--provide this help while creating a framework for expanding drug coverage in tandem with overall Medicare reform.
July 19, 2002
Better Ideas For Senate Medicare Legislation
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #129)
The next generation of retirees will be thankful if they are given the opportunity to enroll in a system that is characterized by personal freedom, a respect for their privacy, and a stronger doctor-patient relationship.
July 19, 2002
It's Time for A Sensible Medicare Drug Policy
By Joseph R. Antos, Ph.D., Grace-Marie Turner, and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #130)
President Bush has promoted a drug discount card without success, but Congress can put resources behind it to target needy seniors and make it work effectively. The Prescription Drug Security Card could provide meaningful help for low-income seniors who do not have access to drug coverage.
June 14, 2002
EM820: Critical Reform Must Accompany a Medicare Drug Benefit
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Executive Memorandum #820)
EM820: Critical Reform Must Accompany a Medicare Drug Benefit
May 17, 2002
Adding a Prescription Drug Benefit Without Serious Medicare Reform
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Executive Memorandum #816)
Prominent Members of Congress are poised to inflict serious financial damage on an already troubled Medicare program. Specifically, these legislators propose adding an expensive prescription drug benefit to Medicare without putting it on a sound structural and financial footing.
April 22, 2002
BG1539ES: Why doctors are abandoning Medicare and what should be done
By Robert E. Moffit
(Executive Summary #1539)
BG1539ES: Why Doctors Are Abandoning Medicare and What Should Be Done About It
April 22, 2002
Why doctors are abandoning Medicare and what should be done
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1539)
It is not enough to treat the symptoms of the Medicare problem. To meet the emerging needs of the baby-boom generation, Congress and the Administration should take steps soon to create a new competitive system modeled after the FEHBP, the successful program that covers themselves and their families.
March 06, 2002
Maryland's Health Care Mandate Policy
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Testimony #9999)
The question is how Maryland can do better; how specifically to expand coverage, open up the markets, allow more genuine competition, how to promote more freedom of choice in the purchase of health insurance or health care services, and enable patients and their families to reap the benefits of a more flexible and cost effective system.
February 26, 2002
Perspectives on the European Pension Crises
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Peter Peterson, Estelle James, Wilfried Prewo, David Harris, Michal Rutkowski
(Heritage Lecture #729)
Some agenda for pension reform is critical for all countries. But it is remarkable to consider how much has already changed in Central and Eastern Europe within the last three or four years, how much is changing in Western Europe today, and the changes that are on the horizon for 2004 and 2005--changes no one would have foreseen in the early 1990s.
2001 Research
December 06, 2001
Patients' Bill of Rights Increases Malpractice Exposure
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #64)
Complex health care legislation is often fraught with unintended consequences. This is evidently true with the large and complex bills enacted by the House and Senate to establish a patients' bill of rights. They are highly prescriptive, with regulatory provisions that not only govern the numerous operations of managed care plans, but also encompass fee-for-service plans.
November 19, 2001
How Washington Can Improve Health Care Coverage
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1504)
Members of Congress, their staffs, and approximately 9 million other federal workers, retirees, and their families in the 42-year-old Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) are able, unlike most americans, to choose a plan that best meets their needs from almost 200 private options nationwide, including fee-for-service, preferred provider organization, and managed care plans, and those sponsored by unions and employee organizations.
November 19, 2001
How Washington Can Improve Health Care
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Executive Summary #1504es)
Members of Congress, their staffs, and approximately 9 million other federal workers, retirees, and their families in the 42-year-old Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) are, unlike most Americans, able to choose a plan that best meets their needs from almost 200 private options nationwide, including fee-for-service, preferred provider organization, and managed care plans, and those sponsored by unions and employee organizations.
October 29, 2001
The Right Prescription? Assessing the Patients' Bill of Rights
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., John S. Hoff, and Robert Charrow
(Heritage Lecture #720)
Assessing the Patients' Bill of Rights
Panel discussion with Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., John S. Hoff, and Robert Charrow.
October 16, 2001
Recent Premium Increases and the Future of the FEHBP
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Testimony #9999)
Because health care benefits, like wages, are normally counted as compensation, Congress could enroll military families in the FEHBP in a budget-neutral fashion and pass on any savings to these families in the form of rebates or pay increases. In any case, the movement of young military families into the FEHBP would be good not only for the military families, but also for the FEHBP itself.
August 31, 2001
Digging Up the Unintended Consequences
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #34)
Both the House and the Senate passed bills that would make major changes in the financing and delivery of health insurance, introduce new avenues of litigation in the health care system, and establish a massive level of federal regulation over the operations of private health care plans.
August 24, 2001
The Upcoming Conference on the Patients' Bill of Rights
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #33)
This fall, taxpayers will be treated to another civics lesson when House and Senate conferees begin to iron out their marginal differences over very similar versions of the patients' bill of rights legislation. The Nickles amendment is the big exception. On the basis of sound experience, taxpayers should pay very close attention not to what Members of Congress say, but rather to what Members of Congress do.
August 01, 2001
Keeping an Open Mind on Patient Freedom
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #28)
Members of Congress can still take steps to give individuals and families the right to pick plans that are best for them, spend their health care dollars in ways that best meet their personal needs, and take advantage of the efficiencies of genuine market competition.
July 30, 2001
Access Provisions in the Patients' Bill of Rights
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #26)
The object of federal health care policy should be to expand patient choice and market competition. Policies should be crafted to open up the health insurance markets, loosen up the costly, top-heavy regulatory system imposed on those markets, and give individuals and families more personal control over their health care decisions.
July 23, 2001
Federal Unions Want to Escape the Patients Bill of Rights
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #24)
If Congress were genuinely concerned about patients rights, it would change the laws and rules that govern the health insurance market to give individuals and families the right to make the choices that are best for them and force health insurance companies to compete in an open market for consumers' dollars.
July 13, 2001
What the Latest Market Research Reveals
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #23)
The recent eHealthInsurance analysis unveiled on June 21, 2001, is an unprecedented look into consumer behavior in the individual market.
July 09, 2001
Perspectives on the European Health Care Systems
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., Philippe Manière, David G. Green, Ph.D., Paul Belien, Johan Hjertqvist, and Friedrich Breyer, Ph.D.
(Heritage Lecture #711)
It is possible to conclude from this analysis that problems will be most severe in countries that already have very generous health care expenditures and increasingly high dependency ratios by 2050.
June 27, 2001
Regulation In the Private Sector Through Patients' Bill of Rights
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #18)
Congress should stop, go back to the drawing board, and develop new and innovative policies that promote competition and expand personal choice of private plans, treatments, and doctors within the framework of a free market.
June 20, 2001
A Dozen Better Ideas for a Patients' Bill of Rights
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(WebMemo #17)
The best approach to the problems in the health care system is not to expand federal regulations, but rather to expand patient choice so that patients may pick and choose the options that are best for them.
June 01, 2001
BG1445ES: Adopting the Common Ground proposal would be a mistake
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Executive Summary #1445)
BG1445ES: Why Adopting the "Common Ground" Health Care Proposal Would Be a Costly Mistake
June 01, 2001
Adopting the Common Ground proposal would be a mistake
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1445)
Instead of locking Americans into outdated and restrictive third-party systems, President Bush and Members of Congress can adopt an approach that parallels the current employment-based system by channeling tax breaks directly to individuals and families who lack health insurance, giving them the freedom to make the key decisions.
May 17, 2001
Beware of Medicare: Why Tax Cuts Are No Threat to Medicare
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D., and D. Mark Wilson
(Backgrounder #1442)
Congress should recognize the real distinction between tax policy and Medicare reform and examine each of the President's policy proposals on its own merits rather than relying on claims that reforming tax policy will seriously affect Medicare financing.
March 27, 2001
Using the Breaux-Frist Medicare Proposals
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1423)
President Bush, in developing his own legislative reform proposal for Medicare, can build on the best of the Breaux-Frist proposals, which promise a good start to this year's debate on Medicare reform.
March 15, 2001
Transcending Medicare's Regulatory Regime
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Testimony #9999)
Medicare will face an unprecedented demand for medical services within this decade from an increasingly well educated, diverse and rapidly growing retiree population. Insisting on the status quo, and nourishing the inevitable regulatory growth of a fundamentally unchanged Medicare program could prove even more difficult and politically challenging.
January 10, 2001
Taking Charge of Federal Personnel
By George Nesterczuk, with Donald J. Devine and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1404)
Taking Charge of Federal Personnel
January 10, 2001
BG1404es: Taking Charge of Federal Personnel
By George Nesterczuk, with Donald J. Devine and Robert E. Moffit
(Executive Summary #1404es)
BG1404es: Taking Charge of Federal Personnel
January 08, 2001
Personnel Is Policy
By Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1403)
Personnel Is Policy: Why The New President Must Take Control Of The Executive Branch
2000 Research
July 31, 2000
Schemes Will Not Solve Medicare's Real Financial Problems
By Peter Sperry and Robert E. Moffit, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1387)
Clinton's "Lock Box" is no more than an accounating gimmick.
June 29, 2000
