With Chamber Looking For A “Respected Economist,” HCAN Offers Up More Than 320
Washington, DC - With news today that the Chamber of Commerce is looking for a “respected economist” to study the effects of health care reform, Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is stepping up to help.
In June, more than 320 economists, business leaders, and health care experts wrote to President Obama and Congress stating:
“Some have argued that we cannot afford health insurance coverage for all because of the economic crisis. But solving America’s big health care problems is essential to economic recovery. We need to cover everyone now as part of comprehensive reform to rebuild our economy and restore prosperity. Affordable coverage with good benefits will give cash-strapped lower and middle-income Americans greater financial security – and the ability to pay their mortgages, start small businesses, save for college, pursue new job opportunities, and make other choices that will benefit our economy. And it will help business owners to insure their workers. Ensuring health security for all will allow workers to move to those jobs that fit them best, not just those that provide health insurance, promoting entrepreneurship and labor market productivity.”
See the letter:
http://www.ourfuture.org/action/2009062516/health-care-all-we-cant-afford-not-act-now
Campaign For America’s Future – an HCAN Steering Committee member – helped bring the economists together in June. Today, Health Care for America Now offered to make any of these experts available to the Chamber of Commerce.
“Since the Chamber has put out a help wanted ad, we thought we could be of some assistance,” said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now. “If the Chamber would like the phone number of any of these economists or business leaders, we would be happy to provide it to them.”
In June more than 320 economists, business leaders, and health care experts sent the letter below to the President and Congress on health care:
We, the undersigned economists, business leaders, and health care experts, urge the new President and Congress to reform America’s health care system—to move boldly to cover all Americans with health insurance, to bring down health care costs and create improved quality and value within the health care system for families, businesses, and taxpayers.
Some have argued that we cannot afford health insurance coverage for all because of the economic crisis. But solving America’s big health care problems is essential to economic recovery. We need to cover everyone now as part of comprehensive reform to rebuild our economy and restore prosperity. Affordable coverage with good benefits will give cash-strapped lower and middle-income Americans greater financial security – and the ability to pay their mortgages, start small businesses, save for college, pursue new job opportunities, and make other choices that will benefit our economy. And it will help business owners to insure their workers. Ensuring health security for all will allow workers to move to those jobs that fit them best, not just those that provide health insurance, promoting entrepreneurship and labor market productivity.
Spiraling health costs represent a significant long-run drag on our economy and a drain on our budget. Businesses hire fewer workers, and pay them less, because health premiums have risen four times faster than inflation since 1999. The United States currently has the most expensive health care system in the world, spending $2.1 trillion on health care in 2006 and projected to grow to $4 trillion in the next decade, or one out of every five dollars spent in the U.S. And the dramatic inflation in the overall health care sector is responsible for the rising costs of Medicare and Medicaid, which, in turn, drive the growth of the Federal deficit. What is more, these two crises are related: reducing the pressure on both business and government, without shifting costs from one to the other, requires that we bring down rising health care costs throughout the economy.
In order to end cost-shifting and set the precedent for more fundamental control of health care costs, we must first move to cover everyone while effecting fundamental health care delivery and payment reform. Bringing everyone in America into the health care system will stop the shifting of inefficient, expensive emergency care onto taxpayers. Moreover, health care coverage for all will ensure we are all pulling in the same direction towards cost control through improved value and quality rather than fighting a two-front war over coverage and costs.
Reforming the system through new emphasis on prevention, chronic disease management and effective treatments will eliminate wasteful spending and build a healthier, more productive workforce. Comprehensive health care reform will also allow for a fundamental shift in the incentives in the system to reward improved quality and efficiency and the achievement of better health outcomes for individuals.
We agree with President Obama: we can’t afford NOT to reform our health care system. It is more important than ever that the new President and Congress take steps to reform the system so that it offers quality affordable health care coverage to all Americans in an efficient manner.
1 Henry Aaron,Brookings Institution
2 David Abramson,Columbia U National Center for Disaster Preparedness
3 Whitney Addington,Honorary Professor. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; President Emeritus, American College of Physicians
4 Tanweer Akram, Private sector
5 Randy Albelda, University of Massachusetts Boston
6 Mark Alex Peterson, UCLA School of Public Affairs
7 G. Caleb Alexander, University of Chicago
8 Marcus Alexis Northwestern University
9 Sylvia A. Allegretto, University of California, Berkeley
10 Gar Alperovitz, University Maryland
11 Reema Alshirawi,Brigham and Woman’s hospital
12 Ronald Andersen, UCLA School of Public Health
13 Marcellus Andrews, Barnard College
14 Helen Ann Halpin, University of California, Berkeley
15 Diane Archer, Institute for America’s Future
16 Michael Ash, University of Massachusetts
17 Hillel Bachrach, 20/20 HealthCare Partners
18 Lee Badgett, Univ of Massachusetts Amherst
19 Ron Baiman, DePaul University
20 David Baker, Northwestern University
21 Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research
22 William Baldyga, University of Illinois at Chicago
23 Erol Balkan, Hamilton College
24 Nesecan Balkan , Hamilton College
25 Rosemary Batt, Cornell University
26 Michael Belzer, Wayne State University
27 Lourdes Beneria, Cornell University
28 Elizabeth Benson Forer, Venice Family Clinic
29 Gunseli Berik, University of Utah
30 Michael Berla
31 Alexandra Bernasek, Colorado State University
32 Cyrus Bina, University of Minnesota (Morris Campus)
33 Professor Joseph Blasi, Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations
34 Thomas Bodenheimer, University of California, San Francisco
35 Howard Botwinick, SUNY Cortland
36 Roger Bove, West Chester University (retired)
37 Todd Bowers, University at Albany
38 Elissa Braunstein, Colorado State University
39 Paula Braveman, University of CA., San Francisco
40 E Richard Brown, PhD, UCLA School of Public Health
41 Pamela Brubaker, California Lutheran University
42 Philip Burgess, Community Pharmacy Foundation
43 Linda C. Degutis, Yale University
44 Jim Campen, Americans for Fairness in Lending
45 Susan Carter, University of California, Riverside
46 Arthur Casimir, Western New England College
47 Colin Cavell, University of Bahrain
48 Alice Chen, UCSF
49 Howard Chernick, Hunter College, City University of New York
50 Paul Christensen, Hofstra University
51 Gary Christopherson, Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs, Dept. of Defense
52 Kathryn Coats
53 Sheila Collins, William Patterson University
54 David Cormier, West Virginia University
55 Phillip Cryan, MPP, Goldman School of Public Policy, UC-Berkeley
56 Peter D. Jacobson, University of Michigan School of Public Health
57 Shinichi Daimyo, Boston University School of Public Health
58 Peter Damiano, Univ of Iowa Public Policy Center
59 Anita Dancs, Western New England College
60 Jane D’Arista, Financial Markets Center
61 Karen Davenport, Center for American Progress
62 Faith Davis, University of Illinois, Chicago
63 Kimberly Dayton, William Mitchell College of Law
64 Anthony D’Costa, Asia Research Centre, Copenhagen
65 Gregory DeFreitas, Hofstra University
66 Jules Delaune, LMI Government Consulting
67 Thomas DelGiudice, SUNY, College at Old Westbury
68 Timothy Diette, Washington and Lee University
69 Ranjit Dighe, SUNY Oswego
70 Robert Drago, Penn State University
71 Laura Dresser, Center on WI Strategy, UW Madison
72 Robin Dretler, Infectious Disease Specialists of Atlanta
73 Amitava Dutt, University of Notre Dame
74 Frank E. Speizer, MD, Harvard Medical School
75 Toby Edelman, Center for Medicare Advocacy
76 Green Ekadi, Meharry Medical College
77 Gregory Elliott, Brown University
78 Gerald Epstein, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
79 Susan Ettner, UCLA
80 John Farley, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
81 Jeff Faux, Economic Policy Institute
82 Judy Feder, Georgetown university
83 Rashi Fein, Harvard Medical School
84 Susan Feiner, Frances Perkins Center/USM
85 Rudy Fichtenbaum, Wright State University
86 David Fields, University of Utah
87 Kai Filion, Economic Policy Institute
88 Charles Fisher, Consultant to CMS/DHHS
89 John Fitzgerald, Bowdoin College
90 Laurie Flynn, Columbia University Medical Center
91 Howard Forman, Yale University
92 Jacqueline Fox, University of South Carolina School of Law
93 Robert Francis, Shoreline Community College
94 Gerald Friedman, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
95 James Galbraith, The University of Texas at Austin
96 Abraham Moses Genen, Public Policy Associates
97 Chris Georges, Hamilton College
98 Arkadipta Ghosh
99 Patricia Girczyc, College of the Redwoods
100 Jody Hoffer Gittell, Brandeis University, Heller School
101 Rebecca Givan, Cornell University
102 Any Glaser
103 Lonnie Golden, Penn State Abington
104 Harold Goldstein, California Center for Public Health Advocacy
105 John Goodson MD, Harvard Medical School; Massachusetts General Hospital
106 Merrill Goozner, Center for Science in the Public Interest
107 Stephen Gorin,Professor, Plymouth State University
108 Vicki Gottlich, Center for Medicare Advocacy
109 Elise Gould, Economic Policy Institute
110 Thomas Greaney, Professor of Law
111 Carole Green, University of South Florida
112 Warren Greenberg, George Washington Univ.
113 Karl D. Gregory, Oakland University, Michigan
114 Lisa Grobar, California State University, Long Beach
115 Jonathan Gruber, MIT
116 Robert Guttmann, Hofstra University
117 Jacob Hacker, U.C. Berkeley
118 Amanda Hawes, WORKSAFE
119 Robert Heimer, Yale School of Public Health
120 James Heintz, University of Massachusetts
121 Michele Heisler, University of Michigan Medical School
122 Sheryl Heron, Emory University
123 Adam Hersh, University of Massachusetts
124 Roger Hickey, Institute for America’s Future
125 Charles Homer, Nat’l Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality
126 Candace Howes, Connecticut College
127 Dana Hughes, University of California, San Francisco
128 Margaret Hurley, South Jersey Health Care
129 Michael Intriligator, UCLA
130 Amy Isaacs, Americans for Democratic Action
131 Dorene Isenberg, University of Redlands
132 Ken Jacobs, UC Berkeley
133 Michael Jacobson, Center for Science in the Public Interest
134 Jay Jaffe, Actuarial Enterprises, Ltd.
135 Helene Jorgensen, CEPR
136 Timothy Jost, Washington and Lee University
137 Peggy Kahn, University of Michigan-Flint
138 Arne Kalleberg, University of North Carolina
139 William Kalsbeek, University of North Carolina
140 William Kandel, Economic Research Service, USDA
141 Robert Kaplan, UCLA
142 Sally Kaplan, Retired
143 Leah Karliner, UCSF
144 Nancy Keating, Harvard Medical School
145 Arthur Kellermann, Emory University School of Medicine
146 Jaime King, University of California, Hastings College of the Law
147 Mary King, Portland State University
148 Eric Kingson, Syracuse University
149 Eleanor Kinney, Indiana University School of Law — Indianapolis
150 Richard Kirsch, Health Care for America Now
151 Janet Knoedler,Bucknell University
152 Andrew Kohen, James Madison University
153 Gerald Kominski, UCLA School of Public Health
154 David Kotelchuck, Professional Staff Congress of CUNY
155 Rachel Kreier, Hofstra University
156 Peter Karl Kresl, Bucknell University – emeritus
157 Supriya Lahiri, University of Massachusetts Lowell
158 Mary Beth Landrum, Harvard Medical School
159 Joyce Lashof
160 Miriam Laugesen, UCLA School of Public Health
161 Scott Lazerus, Western State College of Colorado
162 Peter Lazes, Cornell University
163 KJ Lee, Yale University
164 Arleen Leibowitz, UCLA School of Public Affairs
165 Keith Leitich, Researcher & Consultant
166 Margaret Levenstein, University of Michigan
167 Charles Levenstein, University of Massachusetts Lowell
168 John C Lewin MD, American College of Cardiology
169 Victor Lippit, Univ. of California, Riverside
170 Paul Lockrd, Black Hawk College
171 Nate Loewentheil, Roosevelt Institution
172 Irv Loh MD, Ventura Heart Institute
173 Charles Loubert, Healthcare Now of Maryland
174 Robert Lynch, Washington College
175 Catherine Lynde, University of Massachusetts Boston
176 Colleen M Grogan, University of Chicago
177 Diane Macunovich, University of Redlands
178 Jeff Madrick, New School, Challenge Magazine
179 Barbara Manard
180 Rishi Manchanda,National Physicians Alliance
181 Cheryl Maranto, Marquette University
182 Saralyn Mark, Yale and Georgetown Schools of Medicine
183 Ann Markusen, University of Minnesota
184 Theodore Marmor, Yale University School of Management
185 Albert Martin, UCSF
186 Patrick Mason, Department of Economics, Florida State University
187 Thomas Masterson, Levy Economics Institute
188 Julie Matthaei, Wellesley College
189 Peter Hans Matthews, Middlebury College
190 Stephen McDonough
191 Hannah McKinney, Kalamazoo College
192 Ellen Meara, Harvard Medical School
193 Martin Melkonian, Hofstra University
194 Tom Michl, Colgate University
195 Blackford Middleton, MD, MPH, MSc, Harvard Medical School/Partners HealthCare
196 Marcelo Milan, University of Wisconsin-Parkside
197 William Milberg, New School for Social Research
198 Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute
199 Michael Montoya, University of California, Irvine
200 Michael Moohr, Bucknell University
201 Jonas Morris
202 Paul Morse, Massachusetts Teachers Assoociation
203 Philip Moss, University of Massachusetts Lowell
204 Tracy Mott, University of Denver
205 Jamee Moudud, Sarah Lawrence College
206 Kevin Murphy, Oakland University
207 Michele Naples, The College of New Jersey
208 Julie Nelson, University of Massachusetts Boston
209 Patricia Nemore, Center for Medicare Advocacy
210 Eric Nilsson, California State University San Bernardino
211 Laurie Nisonoff, Hampshire College
212 Bruce Nissen, Florida International University
213 Anne Nolan, WFC Resources, Inc.
214 Jonathan Oberlander, University of North Carolina
215 Thomas Oliver, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
216 Paulette Olson, Wright State University
217 Stephen Ondra, Northwestern University
218 Dean Ornish, M.D., Preventive Medicine Research Institute
219 Susan Ozawa, Institute for America’s Future
220 Aaron Pacitti, American Universitry
221 Robert Pandolfo
222 Marjorie Pearson
223 Danilo Pelletiere, National Low Income Housing Coalition
224 Michael Pendleton, Buffalo State College, Department of Economics and Finance
225 Michael Perelman
226 Eliseo Perez-Stable, UCSF
227 Joseph Persky, University of Illinois at Chicago
228 Karl Petrick, Western New England College
229 Michael Pine, University of Chicago
230 William Pitsenberger, Washburn University School of Law
231 Thomas Pogge, Yale Philosophy Department
232 Karen R. Polenske, MIT
233 Harold Pollack, University of Chicago
234 Ron Pollack, Families USA
235 Karen Pollitz, Georgetown University Health Policy Institute
236 Daniel Polsky, University of Pennsylvania
237 Marilyn Power, Sarah Lawrence College
238 Benjamin Powers, Duke University Medical Center
239 Robert Prasch, Middlebury College
240 Mark Price, Keystone Research Center
241 Laura Punnett, Univ. Mass. Lowell and MTA/NEA
242 Paddy Quick, St. Francis College
243 Keith Rafal, MD,MPH, Brown University
244 Tom Rankin, California Alliance for Retired Americans
245 Michael Reich, University of California, Berkeley
246 Cordelia Reimers, Hunter College – CUNY
247 Uwe Reinhardt, Princeton University
248 Marguerite Ro, APIAHF
249 Malcolm Robinson, Thomas More College
250 Michael Robinson, University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences
251 John Roche, St John Fisher College
252 James Rock, U of Utah
253 Charles Rock, ROLLINS COLLEGE
254 Michael A. Rodriguez, UCLA
255 Sergio Romero, Boise State University
256 Jaime Ros, University of Notre Dame
257 Beth Rosenberg, Tufts University
258 Samuel Rosenberg, Roosevelt University
259 Joshua Rosenbloom, University of Kansas
260 Linda Rosenstock, Dean, UCLA School of Public Health
261 Meredith Rosenthal, Harvard School of Public Health
262 David Rosnick, Center for Economic and Policy Research
263 Rick Rowden, UNCTAD
264 Sonia Ruiz, JHSPH
265 Robert Salvatore, LaMora Psychological Associates
266 Benjamin Sapers, UMF
267 Jack Sawyer, Parker Street Foundation
268 Helen Scharber, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
269 Mark Schlessinger, Yale School of Public Health
270 John Schmitt, Center for Economic and Policy Research
271 Juliet Schor, Boston College
272 Sanford Schram, Bryn Mawr College
273 Joel Scott, Detroit Federation of Teachers
274 Stephanie Seguino, University of Vermont
275 Jean Shackelford, Bucknell University
276 Sumitra Shah, St. John’s University
277 Dennis Shea, Penn State University
278 Barry Shelley, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
279 Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute
280 Richard Shoup, Healthcare Consultant
281 Sara Singer, Harvard School of Public Health
282 Perry Singleton, Syracuse University
283 Craig Slatin, University of Massachusetts Lowell
284 Vince Snowberger
285 Susan B. Sorenson, University of Pennsylvania
286 Matthew Spewak
287 Arthur Sprenkle
288 Kellin Stanfield, DePauw University
290 Mary Stevenson, University of Massachusetts Boston
291 Jeffrey Stew, University of Cincinnati
292 Tom Swan, Co-Chair HealthFirst Authority
293 Sandra Tanenbaum, The Ohio State University
294 Stephen Tarzynski, M.D.
295 David Terkla, Univ. of Massachusetts Boston
296 William Terry, MD, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
297 Alexander Thompson, Vassar College
298 Frank Thompson, University of Michigan
299 Chris Tilly, UCLA
300 Renee Toback, Public Employee
301 Zdravka Todorova, Wright State University
302 Hande Togrul, University of Utah
303 James Tulsky, MD, Duke University
304 Dale Tussing, Syracuse University
305 Lydia J Vaias, MD, MPH, Founder National Physicians Alliance
306 Marjolein Van der Veen, Bellevue Community College
307 Matias Vernengo, University of Utah
308 Philippe Villers, Pres Families USA Foundation
309 Paula B. Voos, Rutgers University
310 Alexander C. Wagenaar, PhD, University of Florida, College of Medicine
311 Norman Waitzman, University of Utah
312 Steven Wallace, UCLA School of Public Health
313 Anya Wallack, Massachusetts Medicaid Policy Institute
314 David Weiman, Barnard College
315 Thomas Weisskopf, University of Michigan
316 Penny Wheeler, Allina Health System
317 Joseph White, Case Western Reserve University
318 Howard Wial, Brookings Institution
319 Jeannette Wicks-Lim, PERI, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
320 Anmarie Widener, Georgetown University
321 Judith Wittner, Loyola University
322 Max Fraad Wolff, Graduate Program in International Affairs, New School
323 Yavuz Yasar, University of Denver
324 Anne Yeagle, University of Utah
325 Edward Yelin, University of California, San Francisco
326 Ajit Zacharias, Levy Econ Institute of Bard College
327 Ge Zhang
328 Michael Zimmerman, Colorado Public Utilities Commission
329 Ben Zipperer, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
