HCP Professor John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP, testified on Capitol Hill before the House Ways and Means Committee at its March 11 hearing on “Health Reform in the 21st Century: Expanding Coverage, Improving Quality and Containing Costs.” He presented key findings from the recently released report of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Health Insurance Status and Its Consequences.  

Ayanian served as a member of this IOM committee that evaluated trends in health insurance coverage in the United States and assessed new evidence since 2002 on the health effects of lacking and gaining coverage for children, adults, and communities. Other Harvard faculty and leaders who served on the IOM committee included James Mongan, MD, HMS Professor of Health Care Policy and CEO of Partners HealthCare; Katherine Baicker, PhD, HSPH Professor of Health Economics; and Robert Reischauer, PhD, member of the Harvard Corporation and President of the Urban Institute.  Michael McWilliams, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Health Care Policy and Medicine, was commissioned by the IOM committee to conduct a comprehensive review of recent studies on the health effects of lacking insurance coverage for adults.

Ayanian’s opening testimony to the Ways and Means Committee has been posted by the committee staff on YouTube. Dr. Ayanian also discussed the IOM findings on the consequences of eroding health insurance coverage in news reports by USA Today and WebMD.