1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
A major concern motivating health reform is the desire to make health insurance accessible and affordable to everyone regardless of their economic and personal circumstances. The Senate and House health bills promise to extend insurance coverage to about 30 million more people, almost achieving universal coverage for legal residents
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of the United States. But on closer inspection, the bills include complex rules about who is eligible for premium subsidies and where they are allowed to buy insurance. Employees in companies that provide coverage will be restricted largely to their company's plan and will not have access to the generous new subsidies and wider range of choices available in the health insurance "exchange" open to others. Does this seriously advantage some people over others who are in nearly identical economic circumstances?
A distinguished panel of experts will discuss how the pending legislation is likely to determine the cost and availability of health insurance to individuals depending on their income level, employment status, and other characteristics. Panelists include James Capretta, a former Senate and White House aide who is now a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, John Sheils, senior vice president at the Lewin Group well known for his analyses of health reform proposals, and Eugene Steuerle, institute fellow and Richard B. Fisher Chair at the Urban Institute and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax analysis. AEI's Joseph Antos will moderate and participate in the discussion.
| 9:00 a.m. | Registration | |
| 9:15 | Presenters: | James Capretta, Ethics and Public Policy Center |
| John Sheils, Lewin Group | ||
| Eugene Steuerle, Urban Institute | ||
| Moderator: | Joseph Antos, AEI | |
| 11:15 | Adjournment |
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-862-4876
E-mail: wistar.wilson@aei.org
American Enterprise Institute
1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 202-862-4871
E-mail: VRodman@aei.org
Speaker biographies
Joseph Antos is the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at AEI. He is also a commissioner of the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission, a health adviser to the Congressional Budget Office, and an adjunct professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before joining AEI, Mr. Antos was assistant director for Health and Human Resources at the Congressional Budget Office. At AEI, Mr. Antos's research focuses on the economics of health policy, including Medicare reform, health insurance regulation, and the uninsured. He has written and spoken extensively on the Medicare drug benefit and has led a team of experienced independent actuaries and cost estimators in a study to evaluate various proposals to extend health coverage to the uninsured. Mr. Antos also writes for AEI's Health Policy Outlook series.
James C. Capretta is a fellow in the Economics and Ethics Program of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC). He is also a contributing editor to EPPC's journal The New Atlantis and the author of the health care policy blog Diagnosis. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Capretta served as the Bush administration's top budget official for health care, Social Security and pensions, education, and labor policy. He was the lead official in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for all aspects of Medicare and Medicaid reform policy development and implementation as well as for the development of the president's other important domestic policy initiatives in education and labor. From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Capretta was a managing director of Wexler and Walker Public Policy Associates, where he performed a wide range of consulting and advocacy services for clients. Before serving in the Bush administration, Mr. Capretta served for nearly a decade as a senior policy analyst on the Republican staff for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee under Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.Mex.), handling health care and Social Security issues, and as a professional staff member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health. Mr. Capretta is a principal at Civic Enterprises, a public policy consulting firm; an adjunct fellow with the Global Aging Initiative of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; and an adjunct fellow with the Hudson Institute. Mr. Capretta served as a visiting lecturer at the Sanford Institute of Public Policy at Duke University in 2006 and was a visiting fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution in 2005–2006. Mr. Capretta began his career as a budget examiner at OMB from 1987 to 1990.
John Sheils is senior vice president of the Lewin Group, a national health care and human services consulting firm. He has worked with state governments and legislatures, the federal government, private associations, foundations, and health plans. He has testified before various congressional committees and commissions on health reform. He has also worked directly with members of Congress in designing health reform proposals. Mr. Sheils's recent engagements include assisting in the development of health reform legislation for the office of Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and developing estimates of the impact of President George W. Bush's health care tax deduction proposal for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
Eugene Steuerle is an Institute Fellow and the Richard B. Fisher Chair at the Urban Institute. His research focuses primarily on budget and tax policy, health care, Social Security, the charitable sector, and other social issues. Earlier in his career, Mr. Steuerle served in various positions in the Department of the Treasury under four different presidents, including as the deputy assistant secretary for tax analysis. Mr. Steuerle has also served as the president of the National Tax Association and was the chair of the 1999 Technical Panel advising the Social Security Administration on its methods and assumptions. He has served on several advisory panels or boards, including those of the Congressional Budget Office, the Government Accountability Office, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. He is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of fifteen books and nearly one thousand articles, briefs, and congressional testimonies.
