2005 annual summary

Opportunity

“…[Representatives of] the health care industry, corporations, unions, and conservative and liberal groups have been meeting secretly for months to seek a consensus on proposals to provide coverage for the growing number of people with no health insurance. The participants, ranging from the liberal Families USA to the conservative Heritage Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said they had made progress toward overcoming the ideological impasse that has stymied action on the problem for eight years.” – The New York Times, May 30, 2005.

In June, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney unveiled a comprehensive health reform plan, based on Heritage policy recommendations. It would transform the Bay State’s over-regulated health insurance market into one driven by consumer choice and competition. It’s already being touted as a national model—one that could extend health coverage among the millions of Americans who have none.

Heritage got involved in Massachusetts, and we worked with other state-level reform initiatives. We do this because we’re worried about millions of Americans lacking health coverage, and that Capitol Hill can’t seem to even get meaningful reform initiatives off the ground.

Congress had better act soon. At year’s end, our Center for Data Analysis (CDA) produced a report showing the dire consequences of trying to maintain Medicare by simply hiking taxes. This ill-advised move would stifle economic growth and cost Americans millions of jobs, proving that long-term Medicare reform is a necessity.