A New Federal-State Partnership in Health Care
Real Power for States
- Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD;
- Ron Wyden, JD
- Author Affiliations: Department of Bioethics, the NIH Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (Dr Emanuel); and US Senate, Washington, DC (Sen Wyden).
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
- HEALTH POLICY
- HEALTH CARE SYSTEM REFORM
- HEALTH CARE COSTS
- INSURANCE, HEALTH
- MEDICARE
- STATE GOVERNMENT
- TAXES
- UNITED STATES
When governors as talented, passionate, and devoted to health care reform as Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Arnold Schwarzenegger of California are beaten back in their efforts for state-based health care reform, it is time to rethink the problem and begin a new discussion about how states should participate in health reform. Governors Rendell and Schwarzenegger were not alone. In the days after April 2006, when Massachusetts passed its health reform bill, virtually every state legislature met and sought to enact legislation providing health care for all state residents; however, not one was successful.1
States cannot reform health care on their own. Governors and state legislators, in concert with federal officials, must reconceive federal-state health care relations so that together they can meet the health care needs of all Americans.
States as Laboratories of Reform
Some commentators argue that reformers should not look to Washington for progress. Instead, they argue that “answers on health …
