Lanhee Chen on fixing America’s broken health care system

Health care policy expert Lanhee Chen joins Margaret Hoover to unpack the paradox at the heart of American medicine: the best care in the world—and some of the highest costs. What’s broken, and why hasn’t Washington been able to fix it?

Chen—a Hoover Institution fellow who has advised Republican leaders from George W. Bush to Mitt Romney—traces how a patchwork system evolved into one that’s both expensive and confusing. He lays out a market-based vision for reform, aimed at putting patients—not insurers or government—in control of spending.

From new tax-advantaged health accounts to price transparency and expanding the supply of doctors and facilities, Chen argues that better incentives—not more regulation—are the key to lowering costs.

He also offers a candid critique of his own party, acknowledging that Republicans spent years attacking the Affordable Care Act without offering a clear alternative—and reflects on whether meaningful reform is even possible in today’s polarized political climate

Support for Firing Line with Margaret Hoover is provided by Robert Granieri, Vanessa and Henry Cornell, The Fairweather Foundation, The Tepper Foundation, Peter and Mary Kalikow, The Beth and Ravenel Curry Foundation, Pritzker Military Foundation, Cliff and Laurel Asness, The Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation, Katharine J. Rayner, Charles R. Schwab, Lindsay and George Billingsley, The Meadowlark Foundation, Jared Stone, Al and Kathy Hubbard, and Craig Newmark Philanthropies.