Health Care Reform

America's health care financing and insurance systems need major reform. Policymakers should take decisive steps to move today's bureaucracy driven, heavily regulated third-party payment system to a new patient-centered system of consumer choice and real free-market competition. In such a system, individuals and families would make the key decisions and control the flow of dollars.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Saving the American Dream Saving the American Dream

    The Heritage Foundation offers a detailed plan to redesign entitlement programs, guarantee assistance to those who need it, and save the American dream for future generations. Read More.

  • Getting Health Care Reform Right Getting Health Care Reform Right

    The health care system needs reform, but not the types of changes enacted under the new health care law. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act moves the health care system in the wrong direction. Read More.

Our Research & Offerings on Health Care Reform
  • Issue Brief posted May 14, 2012 by J.D. Foster, Ph.D. The Good News in the Medicare Trustees Report

    The release of the annual Medicare trustees report in late April, containing as it did a vast array of very bad news, was immediately greeted with valid dire warnings of fiscal disaster.[1] Little noticed, however, were three important bits of good news: the inevitability of imminent action; a…

  • Issue Brief posted May 4, 2012 by Nina Owcharenko Medicaid Reform: More than a Block Grant Is Needed

    The House of Representatives recently passed a budget resolution that recommends a Medicaid block grant, which puts Medicaid spending on a budget like other government programs and gives states greater flexibility to manage the program. These are both important changes, but clear policy goals must accompany them to reform Medicaid…

  • Issue Brief posted April 26, 2012 by Robert Moffit, Ph.D., Rea Hederman, Jr. Medicare Trustees to America: A Bleak Future Without Real Reform

    The contrast between competing visions for Medicare’s future has been underscored by the 2012 Medicare trustees report. Conservatives and liberals agree that Medicare is on an unsustainable course; the debate is about changing course and securing a better future. Faced with rapidly rising Medicare costs, President Obama wants to slash…

  • Issue Brief posted April 18, 2012 by Ryan Messmore, D.Phil. Obamacare, Religious Liberty, and Civil Society: What the Debate Is Really About

    The recent Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate under Obamacare, requiring nearly all insurance plans to cover abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization, has sparked heated debate across the country. Although proponents of Obamacare have attempted to frame the debate differently, one question remains fundamentally at issue: Can the federal government…

  • Backgrounder posted April 12, 2012 by Kathryn Nix Comparative Effectiveness Research Under Obamacare: A Slippery Slope to Health Care Rationing

    Abstract: One element of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is the advancement of “comparative effectiveness research” (CER). Intended to compare available treatment options, CER can benefit patients if used for informational purposes only, but it could also be harmful in practice.…

  • Backgrounder posted April 4, 2012 by Robert Moffit, Ph.D. Saving the American Dream: Comparing Medicare Reform Plans

    Executive Summary The United States is at a fiscal tipping point—mostly due to the explosive growth in federal entitlement spending, especially on Medicare. The long-term unfunded liability of the Medicare program—promised benefits that are not financed—is almost…

  • Play Movie Kathryn Nix on Over-Treatment on WKTV Video Recorded on April 4, 2012 Kathryn Nix on Over-Treatment on WKTV

    Kathryn Nix comments on medical over-treatment on WKTV …

  • Issue Brief posted March 27, 2012 by Sarah Torre Obamacare’s Fine on Faith: Trampling on Religious Liberty

    The recent Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate for preventive services under President Obama’s health care law is an unprecedented assault on religious liberty. The mandate forces many religious employers to either contradict their faith by providing and paying for abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization in violation of their deeply…

  • Backgrounder posted March 22, 2012 by Robert Alt, Edmund Haislmaier The Obamacare Challenge: The Questions Before the Supreme Court and Their Portents for Congress

    Abstract: Next week, the Supreme Court will hear challenges to Obamacare (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) centered on the constitutionality of the legislation’s individual mandate and Medicaid expansion. From a legal perspective, the Court’s decision will…

  • Backgrounder posted March 21, 2012 by Nina Owcharenko, Kathryn Nix The Obamacare Two-Year Checkup: More Reasons for Repeal

    Abstract: On its second anniversary, Obamacare remains unpopular. The provisions currently in effect have fallen short of expectations and disrupted the market, causing even greater uncertainty for the future. Overall, Obamacare has increased government control of Americans’ health care choices and limited consumer choice.…

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  • Special Report posted May 10, 2011 by Stuart Butler, Ph.D., Alison Acosta Fraser, William Beach Saving the American Dream: The Heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending, and Restore Prosperity

    Saving the American Dream is The Heritage Foundation’s plan to fix the debt, cut spending and, above all, restore prosperity. It balances the nation’s budget within a decade—and keeps it balanced. It reduces the debt and cuts government…

  • WebMemo posted January 20, 2011 by Curtis Dubay Obamacare and New Taxes: Destroying Jobs and the Economy

    The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)[1] imposes numerous tax hikes that transfer more than $500 billion over 10 years—and more in the future—from hardworking American families and businesses to Congress for spending on new entitlements and subsidies. In addition, higher tax rates on working and investing…

  • Backgrounder posted April 14, 2010 by Curtis Dubay Obamacare: Impact on Taxpayers

    Abstract: The hodgepodge of new taxes that have already or will soon take effect as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act may not all show up in the income tax tables, but their huge cost is still very real. This…

  • Backgrounder posted March 22, 2012 by Robert Alt, Edmund Haislmaier The Obamacare Challenge: The Questions Before the Supreme Court and Their Portents for Congress

    Abstract: Next week, the Supreme Court will hear challenges to Obamacare (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) centered on the constitutionality of the legislation’s individual mandate and Medicaid expansion. From a legal perspective, the Court’s decision will…

  • WebMemo posted May 20, 2010 by Robert Moffit, Ph.D. Obamacare: Impact on Seniors

    According to surveys, no group of Americans is more skeptical of Obamacare than senior citizens[1]—and with good reason. While bits and pieces of the massive law are designed to appeal to seniors—more taxpayer subsidies for the Medicare drug benefit, for example—much of the financing…

  • WebMemo posted August 2, 2011 by Chuck Donovan HHS’s New Health Guidelines Trample on Conscience

    The Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) new preventive services guidelines are a disaster for freedom of conscience and a fresh illustration of the political hammerlock “reproductive rights” organizations have on the Obama Administration. Forcing private insurance plans to pay for morally controversial offerings such…

  • WebMemo posted May 11, 2010 by Robert Moffit, Ph.D. Obamacare: Impact on Doctors

    No class of American professionals will be more negatively impacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act than physicians. Third-party payment arrangements already compromise the independence and integrity of the medical profession; Obamacare will reinforce the worst of these features.…

  • Legal Memorandum posted March 19, 2012 by Nathaniel Stewart Brief Observations: A Review of Obamacare Briefs and the Original Meaning of the Constitution

    Abstract: The heart of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” is an unprecedented mandate that individuals purchase health insurance. The briefs of the parties challenging Obamacare and their supporting amici…

  • WebMemo posted April 12, 2010 by Chuck Donovan Obamacare: Impact on the Family

    Families have good reason to be concerned about how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010[1] will affect them. While the law will deliver a health insurance entitlement to millions of individuals and families, many of its provisions weaken family choice of coverage, undermine…

  • Issue Brief posted May 4, 2012 by Nina Owcharenko Medicaid Reform: More than a Block Grant Is Needed

    The House of Representatives recently passed a budget resolution that recommends a Medicaid block grant, which puts Medicaid spending on a budget like other government programs and gives states greater flexibility to manage the program. These are both important changes, but clear policy goals must accompany them to reform Medicaid…

Find more work on Health Care Reform
Find more work on Health Care Reform
Find more work on Health Care Reform