The debate within the U.S. government about reforming the health care system centers on ways to control rising costs and assure high-quality, affordable care. RAND Health and its health care reform initiative--RAND COMPARE (Comprehensive Assessment of Reform Efforts)--provide objective research and analysis on topics that can inform the health care reform debate, including financing; increasing access, insurance coverage, and quality; decreasing costs; and promoting wellness and prevention.
Evidence from past efforts in the U.S. and abroad suggests that the full potential of health reform will not be realized without specific efforts to reduce disparities, write Robin M. Weinick, Malcom V. Williams, and Romana Hasnain-Wynia.
The ongoing evolution of the health care system is leading US households toward greater responsibility for their own well-being. With this responsibility, however, comes an increasing need to be able to find, trust, use, and act on relevant information to make informed choices, write Laurie T. Martin and Ruth M. Parker.
The movement toward reporting results of surgeons and hospitals will probably lead to a society in which the wealthy receive care from the better hospitals and physicians, writes Robert H. Brook.
Can the health care system handle the demands of 30 million-plus new customers?
How close do you think that the health care reform plan would come, in reality, to achieving each goal?
To clear up some of the confusion about the newly approved health care legislation, Elizabeth McGlynn debunks some common misconceptions about the bill.
To provide a context for understanding health insurance premium price increases, this document identifies the factors that insurance companies consider when setting rates for the next year.
None of us can choose to live forever. But we can, usually, choose how to make the most of our remaining weeks, months, or years. Helping patients choose how to live well at the end of life lies at the heart of advance-care planning, write Steven M. Asch, Karl Lorenz, and Diane Meier.
RAND's latest analysis of options for reducing the number of uninsured shows that among all the options included in the House tri-committee bill, the Senate HELP bill, and the proposal released by Senator Max Baucus, the individual mandate would have the greatest impact, writes Elizabeth McGlynn.
The ferocity of the national debate over health care continues to build, and rhetoric has all but replaced reality. People on all sides of the issue appear to want anything but the facts, write Elizabeth McGlynn and Jeffrey Wasserman.
One reason that health reform proposals always seem to fail is that proponents promise too much. Reformers declare they will improve quality, lower costs and increase access — all at the same time. This mantra is repeated so often that the public tends to believe it is possible, when really it isn't, writes Dana P. Goldman.
The ever-increasing share of U.S. national output going to health care is the source of much hand-wringing by policy makers. They worry that we cannot afford to spend so much, and that our national output will suffer as a result. They have it backwards, writes Dana P. Goldman.
As it considers ways to improve the efficiency and quality of U.S. health care, one issue that a new Congress should reconsider is the longstanding roadblock that has stalled efforts to create a system of unique patient identification numbers for every person in the United States, writes Richard Hillestad.
President Obama and several Congressional leaders have recently expressed support for the idea of allowing citizens to buy into a public insurance program as part of any health reform legislation. The intensity of the ensuing debate has been fascinating given the lack of specifics that have been offered by either side, writes Elizabeth A. McGlynn.
California's ill and aging prison population needs improved health care – not just as a matter of compassion, but to protect the health and safety of the rest of us, writes Lois M. Davis.
Published commentary by RAND staff: The HSA Mirage, in United Press International.
The federal government's new Medicare prescription-drug benefit program for the elderly and disabled, which went into effect Jan. 1, has gotten off to a slow start, writes Geoffrey Joyce.
Published commentary by RAND staff: Pressure from Rising Health-Care Costs: How Can Consumers Get Relief? in Press-Enterprise.
Published commentary by RAND staff.
Adding a flexible drug benefit to Medicare would bring costs down, say Dana Goldman and Geoffrey Joyce in an LA Times commentary.
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