The health policy debate in the 2008 presidential campaign year needs to move beyond the well-rehearsed pattern of the past, which focused primarily on how to expand insurance coverage to more Americans and find (or hide) the amount of money needed to pay for more health care services. Expanding the parameters of discussion might create a more productively balanced portfolio of public policy tools that would improve overall health more affordably. Speakers at this conference will examine some of the other policy instruments that could promote healthier behavior, health literacy, skill formation, improved decision-making, and more efficient health care delivery. The initial focus, as part of a continuing research project at AEI, will be on how some of the "upstream" factors (such as education, nutrition, family, culture, and early development) shape the behavior and capabilities of individuals over their entire life cycle of health, as well as how certain "downstream" factors (such as the alignment of payment incentives and development and dissemination of relevant performance measurement information) could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of health care delivery.
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