Contributor

David Cutler

Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics, Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government

Biography provided by participant

David Cutler has developed an impressive record of achievement in both academia and the public sector. He served as Assistant Professor of Economics from 1991 to 1995, was named John L. Loeb Associate Professor of Social Sciences in 1995, and received tenure in 1997. He is currently the Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics in the department of economics and Kennedy School of Government and recently completed a five-year term as associate dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences for Social Sciences. Honored for his scholarly work and singled out for outstanding mentorship of graduate students, Professor Cutler's work in health economics and public economics has earned him significant academic and public acclaim. Professor Cutler served on the Council of Economic Advisers and the National Economic Council during the Clinton Administration and has advised the Presidential campaigns of Bill Bradley, John Kerry, and Barack Obama. Among other affiliations, Professor Cutler has held positions with the National Institutes of Health and the National Academy of Sciences. Currently, Professor Cutler is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a member of the Institute of Medicine. Professor Cutler is the author of Your Money Or Your Life: Strong Medicine for America's Health Care System, published by Oxford University Press. This book, and Professor Cutler's ideas, were the subject of a feature article in the New York Times Magazine, The Quality Cure, by Roger Lowenstein. Cutler was recently named one of the 30 people who could have a powerful impact on healthcare by Modern Healthcare magazine and one of the 50 most influential men aged 45 and younger by Details magazine.

Recent Responses

May 3, 2010 08:07 AM

The actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a report this week estimating that health reform would marginally increase medical spending over the next decade. The estimated increase was less than 1 percent. Despite the small magnitude, the report was picked up by the usual suspects opposed to comprehensive health reform and used in the usual way—as false proof that the sky is falling. Even though health reform is now the law of the land, the health reform debate is far from over.

But these conservative Cassandras miss the real point. Thanks to the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act we now have in our hands the ability to bend the health care cost curve—to demonstrate that quality health care can be made available to all Americans at lower costs. We no longer need to debate whether health reform will save money. We get to try and prove the skeptics wrong.

The Affordable Care Act contemplates two sources of cost savings. The first is reduction

March 29, 2010 09:12 AM

Don't Skimp On Implementation

Health care reform is now the law of the land, and Congress and the Administration need to treat it that way. For the Administration, that means proceeding with implementation as rapidly as possible. The danger in implementation is in thinking too small. Every successful corporate turnaround has involved new structures operating in a new environment. After all, the old structure is the one that led to the trouble. Health care reform will only succeed if it follows the corporate model.

Health reform is ultimately accountable to the promises the President has made. Thus, the operational center has to be in the White House. A team of officials needs to be responsible for implementation and accountable for progress.

The most wrenching change must occur in the Department of Health and Human Services. The Secretary needs to bring in an implementation team responsible for carrying out reform: creating and operating health insurance exchanges; reforming Medicare payment systems; eliminating administrative excess; monitoring malpractice reform; and the like. Given how burdened