Health Care Reform - Adverse Selection

A new report released by the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York (SUNY), examines the difficulties states encounter with "adverse selection" in their efforts to broaden coverage. Courtney Burke of the Rockefeller Institute and Katherine Swartz of the Harvard School of Public Health discuss a number of possible strategies, including an individual mandate, creation of an insurance exchange, and a merger of the small group and individual markets.

The report can be found at: http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/health_care/2009-09-HPRC_Managing_Risk.pdf

Health Care Reform - NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

Last week's featured stories on health care from PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer:

Seattle Health Cooperative May Offer National Model

Surgeon Gawande Seeks More 'Rational Care' in Medicine

The Case Against the Public Insurance Option

Examining the Public Option in Health Care Reform

Health Care Coverage Tests Perceptions of the Media

Health Care Reform - Health Co-ops

In the Commonwealth Fund Blog's inaugural post, Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis writes on the possible impact health insurance cooperatives may have on reform as well as the history of American cooperative health care. The current policy discussion is fraught with variations of how reform will actually take shape and one proposal in play is the one laid out by Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND). The Senate Finance Committee's soon-to-be-released reform bill is considering Conrad's idea for reforming the insurance market by developing and implementing regional- or state-based non-profit health insurance co-ops rather than a public insurance option. Find the article here.