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In May, 2016, the FDA finalized a rule extending its authority to all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, cigars, hookah tobacco and pipe tobacco. This historic rule allows the FDA, for the first time, to restrict the sale of these tobacco products to minors nationwide. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy will discuss the importance of this new rule, the implications for co...
Do we have a right to health care? The United States remains the only developed country in the world unable to come to agreement on the answer. While many feel that the US government crossed a line with the Affordable Care Act’s mandate, others hope the program will expand. But do we even maintain consensus on the status of rights such as security, water, and shelter — and...
Responsibility for implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), in line with Congressional intent, rests with the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The 21st secretary of HHS, Kathleen Sebelius, discusses the impact of the law since it was passed under her watch in 2010. She'll also talk about the provisions Congress might alter, the extent to which the execu...
More than 8% of US greenhouse gas emissions originate in the health sector. Recognizing the urgency of change, almost 1,000 hospitals, industry organizations, and trade associations have embraced the federal government’s voluntary Health Sector Climate Pledge, promising to cut their emissions in half by 2030. Practical, cost-effective actions with dramatic payoffs include...
Universal access to health care means many things in many nations. Taxes support a single-payer system in the United Kingdom, and health care providers are reimbursed directly by the government; patients pay nothing at the point of service. In the Netherlands, the government defines a basic benefit package and regulates private insurers; everyone is required to buy coverag...
Cities are responsible for 70 percent of global carbon emissions, and by 2050, two out of every three people will live in one. Fortunately, cities are getting serious about environmental footprint — New York announced its own Green New Deal, Melbourne aims to be carbon neutral by 2020, and Los Angeles will use 100 percent renewable energy by 2045. Mayors are often more nim...
Despite the worthy intentions of government and corporate leaders, the Paris Agreement targets of holding global warming to near 1.5°C may not be met, and many organizations say they don’t have plans and data to actually reach climate goals. This session will discuss strategies needed to design a net-zero future. Presented by Deloitte
Since its founding, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed billions of dollars to the search for and distribution of vaccines across the globe. Its knowledge, network, and resources are now being tapped amid the accelerated search for treatments for COVID-19. Gates joins Stephanie Mehta, editor in chief of Fast Company, and shares his expectations for a vaccine...
Community health workers, social media networks, and local residents serve as the first line of defense against global health risks, especially infectious diseases and bioterrorism. While top-down initiatives provide essential resources to detect looming threats, including sophisticated surveillance and diagnostic tools, outbreaks are most likely to be detected first at th...
Can a transformative solution built on the conservative principles of free markets and limited government save the planet? Now that the United States is backing out of the Paris climate accord, many believe that any significant reduction to greenhouse gas emissions must be led by the business community. Can such a business-led effort to promote carbon dividends — carbon ta...
Health care never stops engendering political debate. Ten states have asked the federal government for the right to impose work requirements on some individuals receiving Medicaid, insurance premiums are expected to rise again this year, and the Affordable Care Act continues to provoke legislative and judicial action. How will all of that influence the upcoming election? L...
Leveraging global health resources requires on-the-ground knowledge and deep understanding of what motivates the public, business, and philanthropic sectors. Impact bonds, entrepreneurial approaches to philanthropy, and other novel financing strategies are ways to attract new pools of money while generating rewards for achieving positive health outcomes. NGOs can seed inno...
Who is responsible for keeping us healthy? Provocative questions about responsibility, control, and power are being vigorously debated as models of health care are redesigned, prevention gains cachet, and the roles of individual behavior, advocacy, public policy, and government responsibility are weighed. Creative Tensions is a conversation that moves, one in which partici...
With the Supreme Court’s ruling that the federal government can continue to provide health insurance subsidies, the Affordable Care Act, as President Obama said in reaction to the ruling, “is here to stay.” Five Washington insiders, including Democrats who drafted the bill and guided it into law, and a Republican who urged state governors to set up insurance exchanges, wil...
More than 14 million Americans live with a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, yet the availability of urgently needed treatment is completely inadequate. In Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health, author Thomas Insel offers a pathway towards wellness built around what he calls the three Ps—people, place, and purpose. A psychi...
The story of corroded pipes and lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan – and its devastating consequences for children – might never have leapt into the national conscience without one determined pediatrician. Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha documented and publicized the problem, enduring attacks on her credibility along the way, and now fights for interventions to mitigate the impact....
Eating well is not just a matter of knowing what’s best for your health, although that is a good place to start. It is also about understanding the body’s metabolism and how messages sent by the brain can wash away the most determined efforts at willpower. Take neuroscience, blend it with corporate marketing and the ready availability of food, and we have the recipe for ma...
We know the success of our economy depends in large part on a vibrant, market-based economic system. But markets, by their nature, don’t deal effectively with many issues. We must also have a constructive and effective government, with a willingness to engage in principled compromise and ground decisions in facts and analysis.The fundamental challenge facing our economy is...
High drug prices have seized headlines, angered patient advocates, and prompted congressional hearings. Many causes have been suggested — among them, a fragmented pharmaceutical market that limits competition, the quest for profits (whether to fund expensive R&D or otherwise), and government regulations that bar Medicare from negotiating prices. Harder to find are solution...
Constrained neither by the private sector’s quest for profit nor the political structure of government, foundations have tremendous leeway to pioneer ideas, pilot novel strategies, and pivot to meet unanticipated needs. Philanthropic funds can influence the health agenda by informing policy, advancing cutting-edge research, contributing to thriving communities, supporting...