Friday December 4, 2009
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall – Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University

Dear Colleagues,

Which has been worse, the legislative process or the commentary? Take your pick: the debate over changing how (some) medical care is financed (mostly) and how some (not all the same) medical care is delivered (well, maybe) has been less than edifying. Nevertheless, for the first time in U.S. history, the House of Representatives has passed legislation that would massively expand health insurance for working Americans. And the Senate is debating legislation to do something sort of like that, maybe. For the final public affairs lunch discussion of the year, Joe White will lay out the basic approach that both bills share, explain some of the controversies over issues like the “public option” and the “Cadillac tax,” give a brief overview of the political cleavages, and suggest a few things to watch for as the political process continues. And we’ll try to have a better discussion than is occurring on Capitol Hill or our television screens.

As usual, we will gather in Room 9 of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, on the lower level of Crawford Hall, for free cookies, beverages, and brown bag lunch.

Best regards,
Joe White

About Our Guest

Professor Joseph White came to Case in 2000 and became Department Chair in 2003. He previously was Associate Professor of Health Systems Management in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, and before that was first Research Associate and then Senior Fellow in the Governmental Studies Program of the Brookings Institution. He received his A.B. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. White’s research focuses on federal budgeting, the costs of health care, health care finance around the world, government capacity, and combinations of all of these. During the 2009 health care reform debate he has focused especially on cost control dimensions of reform. This work includes “The Obama Administration’s Options for Health Care Cost Control: Hope vs. Reality,” with Theodore R. Marmor and Jonathan Oberlander (Annals of Internal Medicine 150, No. 7, April 7 2009); “Public Attitudes Toward Health Care Spending Aren’t The Problem: Prices Are,” with Jonathan Oberlander. (Health Affairs 28:5, 200); and “Systemwide Cost Control – The Missing Link in Health Care Reform,” with Jonathan Oberlander (New England Journal of Medicine 361, Sept 17, 2009). He has also posted web analyses of issues in the Health Affairs blog, Roll Call, the Health Care Cost Monitor blog, and http://ourfuture.org/healthcare/white. Much of this work, as well as his c.v., can be found at http://policy.case.edu/hc.html.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

The Friday Public Affairs Discussion Group Schedule Resumes for the Spring Semester on Friday January 15, 2010. Please watch for a special preview edition of this newsletter, with a partial schedule for next semester, during the break. This newsletter will resume weekly delivery around January 12, 2010.

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made. On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion.

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building. The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.