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Regardless of the fate of the Affordable Care Act, the American health care system will continue to undergo an historic transformation, fueled by evolving science and technology, new approaches to reimbursement, restructured provider networks, and demographic shifts. The health policies of the future are likely to reflect the influences of both conservative and progressive...
What went right and what went wrong with health care under the Obama Administration? Surely some reasoned, thoughtful answers lie between the firmly held poles where ideologues have staked their ground. Julie Rovner, Chief Washington Correspondent at Kaiser Health News, digs into health policy in conversation with Kathleen Sebelius, who helped to implement the ACA as Secre...
Despite repeated attempts, Congress has not repealed the Affordable Care Act, although the Trump Administration has chipped away at some of its provisions. The requirement that all insurance plans offer “ten essential benefits” has been softened and the individual mandate to carry a minimum level of coverage has been repealed. Conservatives remain united in their distaste...
US Senator Mitch McConnell has just announced that he will bring health reform legislation to the Senate floor for a vote next week. What is actually proposed in this bill, which is designed to replace the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has been crafted largely out of public view? And what does it mean for health care? Three top health reporters - Margot Sanger-Katz (...
Inequitable and untimely responses to COVID-19 and other pandemics. Disproportionate health impacts of climate change in Africa. Unequal financing mechanisms. Lack of reliable data and information. A dearth of leadership guided by human-centered values. These are a few of the many challenges that stand in the way of global health and development systems that work for all....
Many experts argue that massive government mobilization on the scale of World War II deployment is needed to address the catastrophe of climate change. Such is the scope of the Green New Deal, a policy calling for 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, universal health care, living wages, and jobs guarantees. But some economists argue it could cost between $51 trillion and...
Ronald Klain was White House Ebola Response Coordinator from 2014 to 2015. This post has been updated and adopted from the author’s piece, Confronting the Pandemic Threat, published in Democracy Journal (No. 40, Spring 2016).
Often overshadowed by terrorism, nuclear weapons, and cybercrime in the public imagination, pandemics may actually be the more existential threat to human civilization. And most experts agree: We’re woefully unprepared, and crucial funding for basic research, foreign aid, and preparedness is on the chopping block. What lessons have we learned from the Ebola crisis that can...
Meet Kistein Monkhouse, a 2022 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellow who's bridging gaps in patient/provider communication with a storytelling app that empowers people to own the narrative of their health journey.
While the politics of gun reform remain divisive, many Americans are convinced that when it comes to gun violence, something has to change. Whether it’s getting more data about shootings, more background on buyers, or more resources to law enforcement to interrupt cycles of violence, there is a growing chorus of Americans demanding action. In the absence of congressional a...
There’s more going on in discussions of gender than a sudden mainstream awareness of trans identities. Issues surrounding gender identity can (and should) inform our thinking on feminism, masculinity, sexual harassment, and larger policy issues like global health. Though to some it may seem a niche issue, changing views on gender affect us all, personally and politically.
Congress is engaged in vigorous debates about health reform, the federal budget, and other sweeping policy changes that could have a potent impact on health. The future of Obamacare and the possibility that Medicaid may be significantly restructured or cut back dramatically are very much in play. The level of funding for the biomedical research and public health activities...
Scientific evidence suggests that we can change our brains by transforming our minds and cultivating habits of mind that will improve well-being.
The upcoming US presidential election is likely to have significant implications for health and health care. On the domestic front, the choice could influence efforts to overhaul the Affordable Care Act, reform Medicare, prepare for natural and manmade emergencies, and support cutting-edge research at the National Institutes of Health. Globally, funding for pandemic respon...
This week marks one year since the first known COVID-19 death. And while the remarkable pace of vaccine development is widely praised, the lag in its distribution is concerning.
For decades, diet and exercise fads have promised to shrink waistlines, build muscle, detoxify, and so on. But evidence is mounting that there’s no one diet or routine that works for everyone. Researchers are experimenting with AI to determine personalized nutrition algorithms based on an individual’s health, lifestyle, physiology, and immune system. Christie Aschwanden, a...
The crisis of loneliness poses as grave a threat to public health as obesity or substance abuse. It cuts across generations and reaches around the world. Katie Hafner calls it “a quiet devastation” and the poet Emily Dickenson writes that it is “the horror not to be surveyed.” Millions of people live with sparse human contact and research tells us that lonely people are mo...
Lisa Damour is a clinical psychologist, author, and a senior advisor to the Schubert Center for Child Studies at Case Western Reserve University. We caught up with her about how psychologists understand mental health and solicited her advice on how parents can encourage healthy social media use for their teens.
The genius of artificial intelligence (AI) is its capacity to swiftly mine repositories of data, such as the vast amounts of information stored in electronic health records and medical literature, recognize patterns, and respond with recommended actions. AI is already being used to diagnose unfamiliar symptoms, predict drug responses, and perform robotic surgery, and seers...