Author Archives

Aaron E. Carroll, MD, MS, is an associate professor and vice chair for health policy and outcomes research in the department of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine.

• JAMA Forum: Tackling Obesity and Learning What Works

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on March 20, 2013

  

  Recently, a New York Supreme Court judge struck down the soda ban proposed by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg last fall. I’m on record in the JAMA Forum as being against the ban in the first place. But I… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: Embracing (or Not) the Medicaid Expansion

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on January 23, 2013

  

  Last month, I wrote about the slow trickle of states that were either agreeing or refusing to create local insurance exchanges as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) prescribes. This is one of the 2 major decisions states will have to… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: States Wrangle Over Obamacare’s Health Insurance Exchanges

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on December 12, 2012

  

  Way, way back in the long ago, when Obamacare was just a bill and not yet a law, a robust debate was conducted on how the health insurance exchanges should be set up. Most people who supported the bill in… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: With Some Big Questions Answered by the Election, What’s Next for the Health Care Law?

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on November 7, 2012

  

  By Aaron E. Carroll, MD, MS For months, we’ve debated about what might happen in the next few years with respect to health policy. With the results of yesterday’s election, we can start speaking with more specificity. The big questions… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum — The “Iron Triangle” of Health Care: Access, Cost, and Quality

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on October 3, 2012

  

  When I talk about health policy, I often refer to the iron triangle of health care. The 3 components of the triangle are access, cost, and quality. One of my professors in medical school used this concept to illustrate the… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: Outcome of 2012 Election Will Likely Affect Medicaid Far More Than Medicare

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on September 12, 2012

  

  The last month or so, the Presidential campaign has often felt like a war over Medicare. Republicans have claimed that the Democrats have robbed the trust fund to pay for an entitlement for other people. They claim that the Affordable… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: A Tale of 2 Plans

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on August 23, 2012

  

  Let’s consider 2 plans for health coverage. In plan No. 1, the approach is to help everyone under the age of 65 years who doesn’t have insurance coverage. Everyone who is really poor is offered Medicaid. Everyone else will be… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: Bill Would Gut Patient-Centered Outcomes Research

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on July 26, 2012

  

  Last week, the House Appropriations subcommittee on labor, health and human services, and education approved a spending bill, which moves along this week to the full committee for consideration and possible amendments. Then, it’s on to a vote in the… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum — Supreme Court Ruling on the Medicaid Expansion: Carrots Are Okay, Sticks Are Not

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on June 28, 2012

  

  Most of the country will be focused on the fact that the US Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate, albeit as a tax, not a penalty. The Court made another significant ruling, however, concerning the Medicaid expansion. As a reminder,… Read More ›

• JAMA Forum: Prohibition Won’t Work for Soft Drinks Any More Than It Did for Alcohol

  By Aaron Carroll, MD, MS on June 13, 2012

  

  While much of the nation’s attention is focused on the US Supreme Court’s impending ruling on the Affordable Care Act, other health-centered policy efforts emerge (albeit on a smaller scale). One of the latest is the decision by New York… Read More ›