In most cases, insurance protects against catastrophic events. But @lanheechen notes health insurance is different.
"Health insurance is like if your auto insurance covered oil changes... The system of health insurance itself is a little bit of a misnomer. It's prepaid health care."
bit.ly/4mBVvdX
"When the cameras go on and the recorders start recording, it is hard, I think, for Republicans and Democrats to come together and even agree on basic things," says health care policy expert Lanhee Chen.
"Because compromise is not seen as a good thing as we sit here in 2026."
While he advocates for more price transparency in health care, Lanhee Chen says it is only “part of the puzzle” of fixing the system.
"There is a tendency amongst some to argue that price transparency is like the holy grail. I don't feel that way… There's no silver bullet."
Apple: bit.ly/4chWzAa
"We are headed in the direction of fewer Americans being able to access the system in the way that previous generations have been able to," says health care policy expert Lanhee Chen.
"And that's what I really worry about."
Follow on Apple: bit.ly/4chWzAa
“Our immigration policies are undermining supply of labor in a lot of different areas, including and particularly health care,” says Lanhee Chen.
What has made the American health care system “the finest in the world…is that we have been able to train and retain talent from around the world.”
Conservative health care policy expert Lanhee Chen warns policies that restrict drug prices could have unintended consequences.
"We need to have a system of drug pricing in America that doesn't interfere with what has been an incredible engine of innovation."
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Health care policy expert Lanhee Chen proposes Individual Health Accounts, but he recognizes “it's not for everybody at this point.”
“Health savings accounts as they exist now are predominantly a vehicle for middle, upper-middle income, higher income folks to save for their health care expenses.”
"If our health care system is going to continue to be one of the best in the world, we have to figure out a way to make sure that as many Americans get access to it as possible."
Lanhee Chen makes the conservative case for health care reform.
FULL EPISODE: bit.ly/4chdgvB
“We had a system that grew out of a desire really fundamentally to get around wage controls after World War II.”
@hooverinstitution.bsky.social fellow Lanhee Chen explains how FDR’s executive orders led to the complicated–and expensive–health care system we have today.
On Spotify: bit.ly/4mBVvdX
Hoover's Lanhee Chen joins Margaret Hoover on @firinglineshow.bsky.social tonight to discuss the current state of the American health system, and how to improve it.
Tune in ⬇️
Government price controls might cap health care costs in the short term, says Lanhee Chen, but they won't solve the problem.
"In the long run, it's not going to cost less. What it will do is create a precedent for the government aggressively rationing access to health care."
"If you are looking to have a significant surgical procedure, you're probably going to do it in America," says Lanhee Chen.
"Yet we have a health care system that produces unreasonably high rates of infant mortality."
TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET
@PBS.org listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
Republicans “lost moral high ground” on health care because “for too long Republican policymakers were animated by one goal, and that was the repeal of Obamacare,” says health care expert Lanhee Chen.
“There's no way you would design the system that we have if you went back and started over.”
Health care policy expert Lanhee Chen explains why our health care system is so complicated and expensive--and how to fix it.
FRIDAY @pbs.org
Local listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
Yale Law School Prof. @oonahathaway.bsky.social said in Feb. the Supreme Court has become "extremely partisan in a way that we haven't seen... in my lifetime."
"Big question is, are they going to apply the same limitations to President Trump that they applied to President Biden?"
bit.ly/4vdQmN0
"The founding fathers took it for granted that representative legislatures were at the center of government because the king of course was way across the ocean," says Philip Wallach.
"They assumed that Congress would be the place where the real action was."
Follow on Apple: bit.ly/4vdQmN0
"What it takes to change politics is for young people to get involved, to do the hard work, and to play their role in the system," says Oona Hathaway, citing last fall's NYC mayoral race as an example.
And Philip Wallach argues Gen Z can help fix a political system that is driving Americans apart.
But @oonahathaway.bsky.social says issues like gerrymandering that are fueling hyper-partisanship also need to be addressed.
"Some of these are structural problems and the structural problems are going to require structural fixes."
Voters should put the onus on members of Congress to reassert their power, says Philip Wallach.
"I think we as citizens should all remember that these legislators can make this institution what they decide for it to be."
"There's lots of evidence that Roosevelt wanted to get involved [in World War II] earlier and in fact he was constrained because he knew that Congress wasn't going to support it," says @oonahathaway.bsky.social.
"Today we have a very different world."
Follow on Spotify: bit.ly/41rNAWP
"The whole idea of making a deal has come to be discredited as somehow corrupt," says American Enterprise Institute scholar Philip Wallach.
"And so many of our politicians today spend almost all their time denouncing the institution that they're a part of."
Follow on Spotify: bit.ly/41rNAWP
“Legislators see themselves first and foremost as team players for their parties, not as members of the first branch,” says AEI’s Philip Wallach.
Republicans have “made it quite clear that they don't see their job as placing limits on the president,” adds @oonahathaway.bsky.social.
"So many of our politicians today spend almost all their time denouncing the institution that they're a part of."
Philip Wallach and @oonahathaway.bsky.social discuss why Congress isn't doing its job--and how to fix it--in a forum at @hofstrau.bsky.social.
FULL EPISODE: bit.ly/4snCpcD
"It's absolutely critical that young people turn out to vote, express themselves, and play their role in our constitutional democracy, because it won't work if they don't," says @yalelawschool-yls.bsky.social Professor @oonahathaway.bsky.social.
Follow on Apple: bit.ly/4vdQmN0
This conversation with Margaret Hoover on PBS's Firing Line about Congress and its war powers explores what's gone wrong--and how we might fix it.
Yale Law School Prof. @oonahathaway.bsky.social warns Congress risks becoming a "completely irrelevant institution" if it doesn't reassert power over matters like declaring war.
"It needs to be willing to push back against the president, which right now this Congress is just not willing to do."
"Legislators see themselves first and foremost as team players for their parties," says Philip Wallach.
"They don't see their job as placing limits on the president," says @oonahathaway.bsky.social. "They see their job as enabling him."
TONIGHT 8:30 pm ET
@pbs.org listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
The War Powers Resolution requires congressional approval to wage war, but “presidents have all sorts of ways of manipulating it,” says Philip Wallach.
“Presidents of both parties have found if they initiate short actions, there's very little that Congress can do to really second guess them.”
If Congress doesn’t do its job, “you end up with something closer to a monarchy or a dictatorship,” says @oonahathaway.bsky.social.
“The whole reason for the revolution was to reject that form of government…When the president is able to act without any checks from Congress, all of that goes away.”
What's wrong with Congress--and how can it be fixed?
Margaret Hoover hosts a forum on the role of Congress, war powers, and reform at @hofstrau.bsky.social with AEI Senior Fellow Philip Wallach and Yale Law School Prof. @oonahathaway.bsky.social.
FRIDAY @pbs.org
Local listings: to.pbs.org/39hI6Tf
