Problem Solving in a Polarized Age: Comparative Effectiveness Research and the Politicization of Evidence-Based Medicine
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Alan S. Gerber
This essay uses the case of the "medical evidence gap" to illustrate how polarization and party competition can undermine efforts to solve a societal problem. Policy experts associated with both parties agree that the lack of hard evidence about what treatments work best for patients with different conditions is a significant health care problem, and that greater investments in "comparative effectiveness research" (CER) would enable patients, providers, and payers to make more informed decisions. Until recently, CER was a technocratic, third-tier issue. Over the past year, however, CER became highly politicized because it got caught up in the partisan struggle over universal health care reform. The story of how CER morphed into a symbol of crude rationing schemes and government interference with the doctor-patient relationship offers a cautionary lesson about the limits of pragmatic governance in an era of polarization.
©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- The Scenic Road to Nowhere: Reflections on the History of National Health Insurance in the United States
- Harry Reid and Health Care Reform in the Senate: Transactional Leadership in a Transformational Moment?
- Problem Solving in a Polarized Age: Comparative Effectiveness Research and the Politicization of Evidence-Based Medicine
- Simulating Representation: Elite Mobilization and Political Power in Health Care Reform
- Why the "Death Panel" Myth Wouldn't Die: Misinformation in the Health Care Reform Debate
- After the "Housequake": Leadership and Partisanship in the Post-2006 House
- Loss Aversion and the Framing of the Health Care Reform Debate
- Public Opinion on Health Care Reform
- Why Major Health Reform in 2009-10 Won't Solve Our Problems
- Review
- Review of Presidential Party Building: Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush
- Review of Fighting for Democracy: Black Veterans and the Struggle Against White Supremacy in the Postwar South
Articles in the same Issue
- Article
- The Scenic Road to Nowhere: Reflections on the History of National Health Insurance in the United States
- Harry Reid and Health Care Reform in the Senate: Transactional Leadership in a Transformational Moment?
- Problem Solving in a Polarized Age: Comparative Effectiveness Research and the Politicization of Evidence-Based Medicine
- Simulating Representation: Elite Mobilization and Political Power in Health Care Reform
- Why the "Death Panel" Myth Wouldn't Die: Misinformation in the Health Care Reform Debate
- After the "Housequake": Leadership and Partisanship in the Post-2006 House
- Loss Aversion and the Framing of the Health Care Reform Debate
- Public Opinion on Health Care Reform
- Why Major Health Reform in 2009-10 Won't Solve Our Problems
- Review
- Review of Presidential Party Building: Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush
- Review of Fighting for Democracy: Black Veterans and the Struggle Against White Supremacy in the Postwar South
