A closer look at the evolution of Medicare Advantage demonstrates that the private sector has proven to be a remarkable laboratory for innovation and progress in our health system’s core evolution—to align the payment and care delivery system with value and the outcomes we care about most for America’s seniors.

A panel of federal appeals court judges on Tuesday sounded likely to uphold a lower-court ruling that a central provision of the ACA — the requirement that most people have health insurance — is unconstitutional. But it was harder to discern how the court might come down on a much bigger question: whether the rest of the sprawling health law must fall if the insurance mandate does.

The GOP has to come to terms with its past failures, reflect on its limited successes, and chart a new course. They have to boldly define what we are for, not just what we are against, and win the hearts and minds – and trust – of voters. 

We find privatization [in Medicaid] led to improvements in health care—including increased consumption of high-value drug treatments and fewer avoidable hospitalizations—but also higher Medicaid spending. We conclude that private provision can be beneficial when constraints in the public setting limit efficiency.

Lawmakers are trying to set aside their irreconcilable differences over the Obama-era Affordable Care Act and work to reach bipartisan agreement on a more immediate health care issue, lowering costs for people who already have coverage.