WASHINGTON, D.C. – Health economists from the National Center for Policy Analysis say that creating an Independent Medicare Advisory Board and changing doctors' payments will not lower health care costs.
The idea that an Independent Medicare Advisory Board can reduce costs is being touted by other economists and a number of Senators on Capitol Hill. A new NCPA report shows that even if such "demand side" management worked perfectly it would lower health care costs by only 5%. Given normal imperfections, there is no reason to expect any lowering of costs.
The NCPA briefing will feature former Medicare Trustee and NCPA Senior Fellow Thomas R. Saving, NCPA Senior Fellow Andrew J. Rettenmaier, and a presentation from NCPA President John C. Goodman.
| WHAT: | Briefing by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) |
| WHO: | Thomas Saving |
| Former Medicare Trustee and NCPA Senior Fellow | |
| John C. Goodman | |
| President and Kellye Wright Fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis | |
| Andrew J. Rettenmaier | |
| Exec. Associate Dir. Private Enterprise Research Center at Texas A&M Univ. | |
| NCPA Senior Fellow | |
| WHEN: | Tuesday, December 15, 2009 – 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET |
| WHERE: | SVC-215 – U.S. Capitol Visitors Center |
| Washington, D.C. |
The National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization established to develop alternatives to government regulation by relying on the private sector. The NCPA's "Free Our Health Care Now" petition for free-market health care reform now has more than 1.3 million signatures with more coming daily, making it the largest policy petition ever presented to Congress.