Health Affairs/RWJF Health Policy Brief Series

Health reform discussions in Congress encapsulate dozens of complex issues, but a new resource from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) can help make following the debate easier. This new series of Health Policy Briefs, will provide clear, accessible overviews of timely and important health policy topics. The briefs are geared to policy-makers, congressional staffers, and others who need short, jargon-free explanations of health policy basics.

The briefs include competing arguments from various sides of a policy proposal and the relevant research supporting each perspective. Color maps and charts help tell the policy story at a glance, and often show how individual states are affected. For example, the first policy brief on Medicare Advantage, not only explains how payments to private plans are calculated, but also delineates the arguments and points to research on both sides of the issue of cutting plan payments. The second brief in the series explains the pros and cons of the Obama Administration’s proposal to save $177 billion through a new competitive bidding system.

Health Policy Briefs are written by Health Affairs Senior Writer Susan Jaffe, and reviewed by distinguished Health Affairs authors and other outside experts.