Energy and Climate Policy and the Lessons for Healthcare

In 2009, the Obama Administration proposed major legislation to restructure two key areas of the American economy: health care and energy. Both present enormous challenges for American society in the decades ahead, and addressing the problems posed by each will require foresight and planning. We face a substantial transformation of the energy sector in the United States in order to deal with increasing demand, changing technology, the growing obsolescence of current energy facilities, and mounting local and global environmental problems. Building on recent reports issued by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, this presentation discusses the path toward an alternative energy future, and its parallels to and implications for the health care sector.