Maine: Peter Orszag

June 1, 2009 - 12:25 pm
NEWS FEED: Turn Maine Blue

Why health insurance is different, and how that explains its failure

Peter Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and budget, has a blog. Today's entry is about the administration's effort to reform the health care delivery system in our country, but in a way that still includes for profit private insurers. From it:
On Friday, I blogged about the fiscal effects of health care reform. Since then, the cost containment efforts we are undertaking and their potential impact on long-term health care cost growth have gotten a lot of attention. Our cost containment falls into two categories: Medicare and Medicaid savings that are key to achieving scoreable savings over the medium term but that by themselves would be unlikely to generate substantial long-term efficiency improvements in the health system, and "game-changers" that are unlikely to generate significant scoreable savings in the medium term but that are crucial to moving toward a health system that addresses the issues discussed in Atul Gawande's compelling New Yorker article.

February 26, 2009 - 04:34 pm
NEWS FEED: Turn Maine Blue

OMB Director Peter Orszag has a blog

The White House arranged another blogger conference call today, this time with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Direct Peter Orszag to discuss the "overview budget" sent to Congress by the adminstration ealier today (I'll write about it later).

But during the call Mr. Orszag mentioned that he has started a blog (his first post is here), and while he doesn't think he'll be able to post much on it for the next week or so, he looks forward to making frequent posts in the future.

How cool is that?

Jesse Lee, White House Director of Online Programs, then points us to this video of Director Orszag discussing blogs in general, which you can find here (sorry - I couldn't get the embed to work).

This certainly is change. For the better.

February 18, 2009 - 05:41 pm
NEWS FEED: Turn Maine Blue

Transparency: www.recovery.gov

Peter Orszag, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), sent this memo to every department and agency head:
This memorandum transmits the first installment of government-wide guidance for carrying out programs and activities enacted in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ("Recovery Act") of 2009. Please bring this memorandum and attachment to the attention of any personnel within your organization who will be involved in these matters.

The Administration is committed to investing Recovery Act dollars with an unprecedented level of transparency and accountability so Americans know where their tax dollars are going and how they are being spent. The guidance issued today contains critical action steps that Federal agencies must take immediately to meet these objectives and to implement the Act effectively.