title: Health and budget reform as handmaidens.
abstract: Meeting almost any new major federal budget priority--for children, the elderly, energy independence, budget balance, or even the uninsured--soon will be nearly impossible if health costs grow as projected. Budget-driven reforms in health policy, therefore, are almost inevitable for any president seeking to set new national priorities. Those health reforms must confront the fundamental budgetary flaw of health policy: creation of decision-making structures and incentives that look mainly to benefits while shifting costs freely to others. All players need more reliable mechanisms for making choices reasonably, albeit no longer for open-ended consumption of care or payment to providers.
authors.affiliation: Urban Institute. esteuerle@urban.org
authors.forename: C Eugene
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Steuerle
authors.forename: Randall R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Bovbjerg
mesh_terms: D002017:Budgets / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D017047:Cost Sharing / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003657:Decision Making; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D005102:Health Expenditures / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D014481:United States