Who Makes the Decision?

According to a March 12–March 22 poll conducted by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health, more than half of US residents said they would trust an independent scientific panel to determine which treatments medical insurers should cover. This is compared to the 42% who would trust a government health agency.

Currently, health insurance plans have no national standard to commit to. As part of the Obama administration’s stimulus package, $1 billion has been assigned for comparative effectiveness research, to study different types of medical treatment to determine what works best. Officials have been seeking out public opinion and advice from public health officials on how it should be conducted.