"I was always interested in doing good policy analysis, and improving the policy process," says Alice M. Rivlin in this interview about her career in public policy and contributions to making the policy process better. She is a senior fellow in Economic Studies and the Center for Health Policy at Brookings, and one of the nation's, and this…

People who get health insurance through their employer under national health reform will lose over $6,000 in wages annually -- but that is actually a good thing. It means we can extend health insurance to many of the 50 million uninsured in the U.S. efficiently without killing jobs. The key is the "individual mandate" to…

Today, the Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate, a central feature of the Affordable Care Act, under the federal government’s power to tax. I attended the Supreme Court oral arguments on the constitutionality of the individual mandate, and I noticed that the legal relationship between mandates and taxes relies very little on the economic relationship…

For several decades health spending in the United States rose much faster than other spending. Forecasters predicted the health sector, already 17% of GDP, would soon exceed 20 to 25% of GDP, driving out other necessary public and private spending. However, in recent years health spending growth dropped dramatically and surprisingly, to a record slow pace for the…

SummaryThe number of Americans insured in the individual health insurance market through exchanges and directly through insurers was at least 13.2 million in the second quarter of 2014 – larger than reported by the government, which only includes the number insured through exchanges – and at least 4.2 million of them would not have been…

A series of articles published this year in JAMA Internal Medicine has substantially added to the empirical literature showing that access to and use of primary care medicine in the US is associated with higher value care and better health outcomes than care that is more specialist-oriented. While these studies confirm our view that the…

THE ISSUE: As Congress considers the new House Republican-backed replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), they must ensure that it accomplishes a set of specific goals that are crucial for providing broad, affordable coverage to U.S. citizens. https://youtu.be/xqe4kBcyQC4 The ability to evolve has to be a key part of the ACA replacement. THE THINGS YOU…

THE ISSUE: If Congress rejects the new House Republican-backed replacement for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the full repeal long advocated for by many Republicans could be their next option. https://youtu.be/4wpHccHawbg A straight ACA repeal would leave an estimated 20+ million people without health coverage. THE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Republicans have long advocated…

It is the middle of the night and I am cloistered in my apartment in downtown Washington, D.C. I am facing four screens, including my smartphone, a laptop, a Mac desktop and a large wall monitor. I am trying to make sense of the fast-changing data on the spread and deadliness of the virus around…

Since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine, the United States has provided Ukraine with $3 billion in reform and military assistance and $3 billion in loan guarantees. U.S. troops in western Ukraine train their Ukrainian colleagues. Washington, in concert with the European Union, has taken steps to isolate Moscow politically and imposed a series of economic…

CSED Working Paper No. 33: Physician Social Networks and Geographic Variation in Medical Care

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, passed by the Senate on March 25 and expected to be rapidly approved by the House and President, is the largest aid package in history. The bipartisan deal allocates $2 trillion in an effort to mitigate the mounting fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, including $1.5 trillion…

I am constantly amazed at the level of political discourse in the US. So a debate about health care degenerates into scares about "death panels" and boycotts of Whole Foods because their CEO is against it. It is all a bit much, and a complete mystery

I went to Whole Foods in Oakland on Saturday, like I do most weekends, but I missed the dance/theater/protest against the grocery chain's co-founder and CEO John Mackey, he of the now infamous quote: "A careful reading of both the Declaration of

Australians may be world leaders in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, but with their new government signing Kyoto as one of its first acts in power, it seems change may well be in the air. So, is Australia about to go green in a big way? UK-based

The extremely dated "It ain't easy being green" title of this Trulia survey actually misinterprets the data; judging by the questions they asked, it is perfectly easy being green; it just ain't cheap.

It was pretty much inevitable; the company just couldn't capitalize on the digital revolution.

Air-drying clothing is definitely the cheapest, and especially the most eco-friendly way of drying your clothes; no energy or machinery is needed. However, if you live in a small space, a rainy country or simply are a busy (or forgetful) person,

The Care Label Project will add a label to thousands of clothes in hopes that people will adopt laundry habits that are better for both fabric and the Earth.

Help your clothes last longer by learning how to decode the mysterious hieroglyphics of care labels.

The name may give you visions of dogs mellowed out, but the Grateful Dog wants to make sure your dog is both happy and healthy throughout their entire stay. You can leave your dog for the day or the week, knowing that

It turns out beauty is more than skin deep, but make sure you're taking good care of that beauty because chemicals are all over the skin care industry

It's almost like there is a concerted campaign to turn distracted walking into a serious problem.

Drivers used to get away with murder; new legislation is much stronger.

With daycare costs rising, perhaps ditching the building is not such a crazy idea.

A number of states are edging out insurance companies. This could be huge for the environment.

Like the word 'sustainability', 'environmentalism' has become a hollow word, a word divorced from meaning, a word lacking in soul, separated from its essence.

Michael Pollan writes in the New York Times about the connection between the American diet and the cost of health care; Surprisingly, conservative writers like Marie-Josée Kravis are saying much the same thing,

The covering-yourself-with-blankets movement isn't nearly as cuddly as it seems.

Studies show that taller buildings are simply less efficient, and don't even give you any more useable area. Why bother?

Despite progress on many fronts, climate commentators and activists are increasingly owning up to their fears.

Working in shared office spaces is an attractive solution for creative start-ups, and has become more and more sought-after in many of the bigger cities. Green Spaces in Manhattan has turned into a well-working

Nobody should be drinking canned beer. Period. But it is particularly bad for young women.

Letting kids venture out alone could be the best thing you do for them.

Not much point in having a healthy house if you spend all day in an unhealthy office.

Two misfortunate advertising campaigns from Argentina use polar bears and tackiness to promote air conditioning.

Even a full day later, a one-hour shift in the clock is hard to adjust to.

Whether they are growing to be thousands of years old, making life-long friendships or confounding us with their resilience, trees provide to us invaluable material resources.

The secret to a diet that makes the microbes in your gut healthy, for fighting obesity and disease

Whether for parental sanity or oceanic health, this is a powerful step toward a much better world.

Looking for indoor plants that are hard to kill? These green troopers are resilient and don't demand too much from their keepers.

Colder weather provides some unique challenges for indoor plants; here's how to how to help them get through it.

Personal care is a big subject, but we'll focus on caring for our general appearance: Cleansing and cosmetics, hair care, skin care, makeup, hair removal and, of course, that time of the month most women deal

With all the talk of the "sharing economy", are we in danger of losing sight of the bigger picture? Sharing is caring after all.

A new scientific study could save a whole lot of elephants.