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The Healthcare Policy Podcast ®  Produced by David Introcaso

The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso

Dr. Phillip Alvelda and Professor Thomas Ferguson Discuss Their Response to the Senate Finance Committee Democrats’ Recent RFI to Reform US Healthcare

Sep 12, 2026 · 41m

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On July 30 Senate Finance Committee Democrats issued an 86-page Request for Information (RFI) titled, “Health Coverage That Works for Everyone.” As Ranking Democratic Member Ron Wyden explained, much like the Finance Committee’s 2008 white papers that laid the groundwork for the ACA, this RFI constitutes an essential blueprint for necessary and immediate federal healthcare reform. Surprisingly - or not, beyond a limited number of trade publications and policy shops the RFI has to date been ignored. The authors 167-page paper make essentially two arguments: while the Ds diagnosis is correct in that part of the problem is how commercial insurers (termed “Big Insurance”) make money (and how…