Robert Moffit

Robert E. Moffit, PhD. is the Director of the Center for Health Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation, [http://www.heritage.org] a conservative think-tank based in Washington D.C. As a former senior official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Personnel Management. Moffit has specialized in Medicare reform, health insurance, and other federal health policy issues for nearly three decades.

Career

Moffit received his bachelor's degree in political science from La Salle University in Philadelphia and his Masters and Doctorate from the University of Arizona. He served as an Assistant Director in the Office of Personal Management during the Reagan administration, with responsibilities in both federal personnel policy and Congressional relations, as well as the Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Following his federal service, Moffit was a senior associate of the Capitol Resources Group International, where he assisted clients primarily in the field of federal health care policy.

After joining The Heritage Foundation in 1991, Moffit gained notoriety with his draft of Heritage's analysis of President Bill Clinton's plan to nationalize the U.S. health care system. In 1993, "The Washington Post" ran a feature story detailing Moffit's criticisms of the Clinton proposal. Meanwhile, he called for a consumer-driven health care policy providing tax credits to help people buy health insurance of their personal choice.

Recently, Moffit's team helped develop Massachusetts' health insurance reform initiative in 2005. The Massachusetts plan developed a new system that would allow employees in small businesses to choose their health plan through a statewide "health insurance exchange." The exchange was one of the first in the country to provide a market-based approach to health care, enabling individuals to own a private and fully portable health insurance plan and take it with them from job to job. After Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney signed this plan into law, officials in almost two dozen states have asked Moffit and his colleagues to help them develop statewide market-based solutions for their health system problems.

Media appearances

During his professional career, Moffit has been a regular source for the media on health care issues. He has appeared on all major cable news channels and the broadcast networks. He has received public service awards from several organizations, including The American College of Eye Surgery, the Great Lakes Association of Clinical Medicine and the National Hispanic Family Against Drug Abuse. He has appeared on ABC News, NBC News, CNN, CNBC, Fox News and "The Jim Lehrer News Hour". He has also published in such professional journals as "The Catholic Historical Review, Health Affairs, Health Systems Review, The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, The Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy", and "The Journal of The Georgia Medical Association", as well as "Modern Age", "The Political Science Reviewer" and "Postgraduate Medicine". Moffit contributes to "Controversial Issues in Social Policy" (Allyn and Bacon, 2002), a university text, and his articles, quotes, and op-ed essays have appeared in a variety of American newspapers including "The New York Times", "The Wall Street Journal", "The Washington Post" and "The Washington Times", as well as in "The Irish Independent".

Views on health care

Moffit's research has also involved him in debates over Medicare reform, how to ensure access to prescription drugs, and how to improve access to private health care coverage. As a longtime advocate of a consumer-driven approach, Moffit recommends that the government adopt a new program for the baby boomers entering Medicare in 2011 similar to the consumer-driven Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP), which allows members of Congress and federal workers to select coverage from a broad range of competing private health plans. Moffit has also been an advocate of the free market principles of consumer choice and competition since the early 1990s, when he chastised Congress for keeping such a system of choice and competition "exclusively for itself and federal workers while considering ways to impose vastly inferior systems on almost all [other] Americans."

Studies and Papers

* [http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm1414.cfm The Massachusetts Health Plan: An Update and Lessons for Other States]
* [http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg1933.cfm Patients' Freedom of Conscience: The Case for Values-Driven Health Plans]
* [http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/wm1344.cfm The President's Medicare Budget Proposal: A Step Forward on Entitlement Spending]
* [http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/StateInitiatives/wm1317.cfm The Schwarzenegger Health Plan: A Great Leap Forward for Bigger Government]