Lemme help you out.

Step one: print money, give it to people.

Step two, people buy stuff, the wheels of commerce whir at supersonic speed

Step three, money begins to lose relative value, omigod!, INFLATION.

Step four (the crucial and "controversial" part) raise taxes ( oh noes!!), soak up money, restore its value, send it back out to people ( who spend it rather than hoard it).

Of course, this is redistribution on steroids, but oddly enough, it's the rising tide raising all boats of which you may have heard.

Oh ... I have a better than average understanding...

Thanks for responding... I know the complete history of the growth of a national health care program from Teddy Roosevelt, through FDR, Truman, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and to the current era.

I have been a vocal proponent of single-payer for all beginning in the mid 1960s. And the following is what I support and hope to see implemented in the future if I live to see it. I simply do NOT wish to see it kicked around like a political football in the middle of a presidential election season:

H.R.676 - Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act 114th Congress (2015-2016) Complete Text

And now... To Kenneth Thorpe. Instead of me blithely pissing on a man's background, I'll simply allow their complete and entire record to speak for them. Thorpe is the type of knowledgeable individual we wish to have on our side.

Kenneth E. Thorpe, Ph.D., is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy & Management, in the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. He was the Vanselow Professor of Health Policy and Director, Institute for Health Services Research at Tulane University.  He was previously Professor of Health Policy and Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; an Associate Professor and Director of the Program on Health Care Financing and Insurance at the Harvard University School of Public Health and Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Public Health at Columbia University. Dr. Thorpe has also held Visiting Faculty positions at Pepperdine University and Duke University. Dr. Thorpe was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1993 to 1995. In this capacity, he coordinated all financial estimates and program impacts of President Clinton’s health care reform proposals for the White House. He also directed the administration’s estimation efforts in dealing with Congressional health care reform proposals during the 103rd and 104th sessions of Congress.

As an academic, he has testified before several committees in the U.S. Senate and House on health care reform and insurance issues. In 1991, Dr. Thorpe was awarded the Young Investigator Award presented to the most promising health services researcher in the country under age 40 by the Association for Health Services Research. He also received the Hettleman Award for academic and scholarly research at the University of North Carolina and was provided an “Up and Comers” award by Modern Healthcare. Dr. Thorpe was awarded the annual Excellence in Patient Care prize from the National Association of Chain Drug Stores in 2014.  He also received the 2012 Champions for Healthy Living Award presented by the YMCA of the USA.

Dr. Thorpe has authored and co-authored over 120 articles, book chapters and books and is a frequent national presenter on issues of health care financing, insurance and health care reform at health care conferences, television and the media.  He has worked with several groups (including the American College of Physicians, American Hospital Association, NationalCoalition on Health Care, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Service Employees International Union, AHIP and the United Hospital Fund) and policymakers (including Senators Wellstone, Corzine, Bingaman, Snowe, Feinstein, Cassidy, Carper, Clinton, Obama and Kennedy) to develop and evaluate alternative approaches for providing health insurance to the uninsured. He serves as areviewer on several health care journals.

Dr. Thorpe is chairman, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease, an international coalition of over 80 groups focused on highlighting the key role that chronic disease plays in the growth in healthcare spending, and the high rates of morbidity and mortality. PFCD focuses as well on identifying best practice prevention and care coordination strategies and scaling them countrywide. He also serves as co-chair of the Partnership for the Future of Medicare, a non-partisan organization focused on identifying long-term reforms that would make the program more efficient and improve the quality of care provided to beneficiaries.
Contact Information

Rollins School of Public Health

Atlanta, GA 30322

Phone: (404) 727-3373

Fax: (404) 727-9198

Email: [email protected]

URL: http://www.fightchronicdisease.org/blog/ken-thorpe

Areas of Interests

    Health Economics
    Health Policy
    Chronic Diseases

Education

    BA, 1978, University of Michigan
    MA, 1980, Duke University
    PhD, 1985, Rand Graduate Institute

Courses Taught

    HPM 799R: Dissertation Research

Publications

    Kenneth E Thorpe, Ph.D., 2016, An Analysis of Senator Sanders Single Payer Plan, ,
    Auchmutey, P., 2012, Beyond Health Reform, Public Health Magazine, ,
    Ken Thorpe, 2010, A Weighty Matter, ,
    Kenneth Thorpe, 2007, Shaping the world's policies, ,
    Ken Thorpe, 2007, Making chronic disease a priority, ,
    Thorpe, K.E., 2004, The Medical Malpractice Crisis: Recent Trends and the Impact of State Tort Reforms, Health Affairs, ,
    Thorpe, K.E., and Howard, D., 2003, Health Insurance and Health Care Spending Among Cancer Patients, Health Affairs, ,
    Thorpe, K.E., and Atherly, A., 2002, Medicare+Choice Program: It's Current Role and Near Term Prospects, Health Affairs,, ,
    Thorpe, K.E. , 1999, Health Insurance Among Children: The Role of Expanded Medicaid, Inquiry, Winter,
    Thorpe, K.E., 1999, Market Incentives, Plan Choice and Price Increases, Health Affairs, 18(6), 194-202

That is all...

~OGD~