Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, plus a related thought

Posted on
October 13, 2008

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences announced its new members this morning. I'm quite honored to be included in this group -- along with Jose Escarce, who is on CBO's Panel of Health Advisers. I view my inclusion as testimony to what the outstanding CBO health staff has taught me about health care and health policy, and look forward to continuing to learn from them and other innovators in the field.

While I'm on the topic of health care, I'd like to make a point related to the current turmoil in financial markets. Many observers have noted that addressing the problems in financial markets and the risks to the economy may displace health care reform on the policy agenda -- and that may well be the case for some period of time. (As a small example, I know that over the past few months I have been spending less time on health care because the turmoil in financial markets and associated issues have consumed much more of our time and attention at CBO.