A Word from Jacob Hacker

Publication Date: March 2009

Publisher: Covering America Project Papers; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Author(s): J.S. Hacker

Research Area: Health

Type: White Paper

Abstract:

The Covering America project was one of the most productive and collegial collaborations in which I have had the pleasure of participating. It brought together an all-star cast of health policy experts from a variety of perspectives. And it gave this group the opportunity to think about an issue that was not currently in the legislative spotlight: how to cover the nation's then-around 40 million uninsured in a cost-effective way that would improve American health care. Perhaps because the issue was not actively under debate in Congress, participants felt unusually free to put aside acrimony and accusations and address the issue creatively and constructively, bringing new ideas and new mixes of ideas to bear. I can think of few groups that better combined policy expertise with practical thinking about how to break the logjam that had stymied action for so long.