Health Care Reform Update: When and How?

Headlines this week focus on health care reform as part of economic relief … and whether the new President should forge ahead while he has political capital to do so.

Universal Health Insurance Coverage or Economic Relief — A False Choice
Jonathan Gruber, Ph.D.
New England Journal of Medicine
January 29, 2009

Now is exactly the right time for universal coverage, because it can play such an important role in growing our economy, while also enabling us to shift the focus of health policy discussions to approaches for addressing our largest long-term fiscal challenge: escalating health care costs.

Pelosi expects ‘major step’ on health reform in 2009
Jeffrey Young
The Hill
January 26, 2009

Health reform activists, from the political left to the business community, are urging President Obama and Congress to take advantage of the new president’s popularity and political capital to think big on health reform immediately.