Beyond the politics of Medicare reform.

Policy Capacity Meets Politics; Comment on “Health Reform Requires Policy Capacity”

It is difficult to disagree with the general argument that successful health reform requires a significant degree of policy capacity or that all players in the policy game need to move beyond self-interested advocacy. However, an overly broad definition of policy capacity is a problem. More important perhaps, health reform inevitably requires not just policy capacity but political leadership an...

The political economy of Medicare.

Medicare spends more than $200 billion a year; the politics surrounding the Medicare program cannot be fully understood without an adequate appreciation of that fact. An understanding of the political economy of Medicare is perhaps best achieved by thinking along three dimensions: (1) Medicare as redistributive politics; (2) Medicare as special-interest politics; and (3) Medicare as distributiv...

"Obama lies, grandma dies": the uncertain politics of Medicare and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

As savvy researchers, we Googled our topic: “Obama and Medicare.” Our first hit was zazzle.com, which advertised a bumper sticker with an older woman in a wheelchair hurtling down a slope with the caption “Obama Lies, Grandma Dies.”1 The bumper sticker captures the politics of health care reform and Medicare. In the summer of 2009, congressional town hall events became shouting matches over hea...

The gross domestic product and health care spending.

considerations, and partisan divisions. But given Congress’s extreme partisan and ideological polarization, the ongoing fight over the ACA, the legacy of mythic “death panels,” and recriminations over Medicare reform, the IPAB’s rough start should not be surprising. This is not the sort of political environment in which an independent board charged with making controversial decisions about one ...

The Politics of Medicare Reform