Galen Institute

Galen Institute
Formation1995; 30 years ago (1995)
TypePublic policy think tank
Location
FieldsHealth care
President
Grace-Marie Turner
Revenue$746,400 (2019)
Expenses$741,480 (2019)
Websitewww.galen.org

The Galen Institute is an American non-profit research organization that focuses on market-based policy solutions in health care. According to its mission statement, it works to promote “public debate and education about proposals that support individual freedom, consumer choice, competition, and innovation in the health sector.” The Institute was founded in 1996 by Grace-Marie Turner[1] (nee, Arnett) in the aftermath of the national debate in 1993–94 over health policy legislation proposed by then President Bill Clinton.[2][3]

History

The Galen Institute created the Health Policy Consensus Group in 1993[4] to convene market-based policy experts to develop health policy reform proposals.  The Consensus Group’s first statement, “A Vision for Consumer-Directed Health Reform,"[5] was released in 1994 and led to a conference in the Hart Senate Office Building in 1996, “A Fresh Approach to Health Care Reform,” featuring 14 Consensus Group participants.  The presentations were later published in a peer-reviewed book, “Empowering Health Care Consumers through Tax Reform” (University of Michigan Press, 1999).[6]

The Galen Institute has been engaged in major health policy debates since its inception, including re-authorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program,[7] creation of a prescription drug benefit for Medicare,[8] and educating the debate about the Affordable Care Act (ACA).[9][10] Several Consensus Group participants co-authored a book about the ACA, “Why ObamaCare Is Wrong for America”[11] (HarperCollins, 2011). The Galen Institute also filed amicus briefs in U.S. Supreme Court challenging to the health care law.[12]

The Institute also has led in producing the Health Care Choices 20/20 proposal[13] which 82 organizations have signed to offer a health reform alternative that devolves decisions through states to doctors and patients. An independent analysis shows the plan would reduce the costs of premiums in the individual market, result in 4 million more people purchasing health coverage, and decrease federal spending by $36 billion from 2022 to 2030.[14]

Activities

Institute scholars are regularly invited to testify before Congress, including several testimonies by Galen Institute President Turner in 2019 against Medicare for All before the House Committee on Rules,[15] the House Committee on Energy and Commerce,[16] the House Committee on Ways and Means,[17] and House Committee on Education and Labor.[18] The Institute publishes a weekly newsletter, AmericanHealthCareChoices, distributed to thousands of leaders in the health sector and published on the Institute’s website.

The organization’s scholars write major papers,[19][20] op-eds and commentaries,[21] and are quoted regularly in major media outlets. In 2020, the University of Pennsylvania’s 2019 Global Go To Think Tank Report[22] ranked the Galen Institute as the 4th Free Market Domestic Health Affairs Think Tank in the U.S.  That same year, Business Insider named Galen scholars as three of the 24 most powerful people advising Washington officials on healthcare.[23]

Funding

The Galen Institute is a 501(c)(3) organization funded by donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. It neither seeks nor receives government funding.

References

  1. ^ "Scholars and Staff". Galen Institute. February 11, 2019. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
  2. ^ Arnett, Grace-Marie (December 19, 1993). "Cops and Doctors". Washington Post.
  3. ^ "Health Care Reform Initiative". Clinton Presidential Library.
  4. ^ Stark, M.D., Roger (October 22, 2020). "Health Policy Consensus Group's Health Care Plan: Putting Patients in Charge". Washington Policy Center.
  5. ^ Arnett, Grace-Marie (March 29, 1994). "It's Taxation, Stupid". Galen Institute.
  6. ^ Arnett, Grace-Marie (1999). Empowering Health Care Consumers Through Tax Reform. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472097164.
  7. ^ Turner, Grace-Marie (October 18, 2007). "There are Better Ways to Insure Kids". The Wall Street Journal.
  8. ^ Antos, J.; Turner, Grace-Marie (July 23, 2002). "Time for a Sensible Medicare Drug Benefit". American Enterprise Institute.
  9. ^ Turner, Grace-Marie (January 24, 2017). "The Failures of Obamacare: Harmful Effects and Broken Promises" (PDF). United States House of Representatives.
  10. ^ Blase, Brian; Badger, Doug; Turner, Grace-Marie (March 2020). "Affordable Care Act at Ten: Huge Expansion of Welfare and Injury to Individual Insurance Market" (PDF). Galen Institute.
  11. ^ Why Obamacare Is Wrong for America: How the New Health Care Law Drives Up Costs, Puts Government in Charge of Your Decisions, and Threatens Your Constitutional Rights. Harper Collins. 2011. ISBN 9780062076014.
  12. ^ "King v Burwell. Brief of the Galen Institute and state legislators as amici curiae in support of petitioners" (PDF). Competitive Enterprise Institute. December 29, 2014.
  13. ^ "Health Care Choices 20/20. A plan for personalized health care that puts you and your doctor in charge". Health Care Choices 2020. September 2021.
  14. ^ Holtz-Eakin, Douglas; Holt, Christopher (October 22, 2020). "The Health Care Choices Proposal". American Action Forum.
  15. ^ Turner, Grace-Marie (April 30, 2019). "H.R. 1384: The Medicare For All Act of 2019 testimony" (PDF). House of Representatives.
  16. ^ Turner, Grace-Marie (June 10, 2016). "Advancing Patient Solutions for Lower Costs and Better Care testimony" (PDF). House of Representatives.
  17. ^ Turner, Grace-Marie (June 12, 2019). "Pathways to Universal Health Coverage testimony" (PDF). Congress.gov.
  18. ^ Turner, Grace-Marie (February 6, 2019). "Examining Threats to Workers with Preexisting Conditions testimony" (PDF). House Committee on Education and Labor.
  19. ^ Badger, Doug; Blase, Brian (December 2019). "A Targeted Approach to Surprise Medical Billing" (PDF). Galen Institute.
  20. ^ Badger, Doug (March 5, 2019). "Examination of International Drug Pricing Policies in Selected Countries Shows Prevalent Government Control over Pricing and Restrictions on Access". Galen Institute.
  21. ^ Blase, Brian (February 27, 2021). "Dems new Covid relief bill mainly subsidizes health care for the rich". New York Post.
  22. ^ McGann, James G. (2020). "2019 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report". TTCSP Global Go to Think Tank Index Reports (17). doi:10.4324/9780429298318. ISBN 9780429298318. S2CID 188102746.
  23. ^ Leonard, Kimberly (October 31, 2020). "Meet the 24 most powerful people advising Trump on healthcare". Business Insider.