Regina Herzlinger » Featured

Cut Costs and Improve Care? That’s True Reform [National Review Online]

Regina Herzlinger — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 07:00:13 +0000

The Paradox
It’s the great American health-care paradox. Yes, we have excellent doctors, hospitals, and technology, but the cost of our care vastly outstrips that of countries that provide universal coverage, and we leave millions uninsured. Although we clearly lead the world in many areas, such as advances in transformational personalized medicine, in other ways our health-care quality is not obviously better than that of other countries.

Give Employees Cash to Buy Care [The New York Times]

Regina Herzlinger — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:00:22 +0000

Two unavoidable facts stand in the way as Democrats continue to rework their health-care reform bills. First, these bills deliver only half a loaf — they expand health insurance coverage, but do virtually nothing to control the health care costs. Second, expanding health insurance coverage requires nearly a trillion dollars in new funding sources.

Swiss Health Care Thrives Without Public Option [The New York Times]

Regina Herzlinger — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 07:00:32 +0000

Like every other country in Europe, Switzerland guarantees health care for all its citizens. But the system here does not remotely resemble the model of bureaucratic, socialized medicine often cited by opponents of universal coverage in the United States.

Swiss private insurers are required to offer coverage to all citizens, regardless of age or medical history. And those people, in turn, are obligated to buy health insurance.

A Better Health Care Alternative [Forbes]

Regina Herzlinger — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:19:11 +0000

Public plans aren’t cutting it? Look to the Swiss.

Why We Need Universal, Consumer-Driven Health Care [The Richmond Times-Dispatch]

Regina Herzlinger — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 07:00:04 +0000

Health care reform has two goals: to control our gargantuan health care costs and to enable people, especially sick ones, to buy health insurance at an affordable price. The two goals are related — the better we control health care costs, the more people can afford to buy health insurance.

Insurance Supermarket Risks [The Washington Times]

Regina Herzlinger — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 07:00:23 +0000

Breathing a sigh of relief after President Obama seemed to waffle about the public plan?

Not so fast.

We Don’t Need a Public Option [National Review Online]

Regina Herzlinger — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 07:00:15 +0000

Transparency can keep health care competitive.

Health-care reformers who want a public health-insurance option to keep private health insurers competitive have a point: If there were ferocious competition in the private health-insurance markets, prices would be better controlled. In Switzerland, for example, competition among that country’s 85 private health insurers resulted in negative price increases since 2005 and considerable public support. In the U.S., by contrast, health-insurance prices rose by 16.5 percent and Americans hold insurers in low regard.

Government Should Get Back to the Basics on Health Care [RealClearPolitics]

Regina Herzlinger — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:00:16 +0000

Those who worry about a growing role for government in health care reform have reason for concern: the government already plays a surprisingly large role in our health care system. Like Thomas Jefferson, the father of the Democratic Party, they may feel that: ‘Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we shall soon want bread.’