Under President Obama’s health care plan, the United States Preventive Services Task Force now wields great power to decide which health services (like mammograms) doctors should provide, yet it has few checks on its sweeping authority.

The health policy debate in the 2008 presidential campaign year needs to move beyond the well-rehearsed pattern of the past, which focused primarily on how to expand insurance coverage to more Americans and find (or hide) the amount of money needed to pay for more health care services. Expanding the...

The health care system is ready for change, but to make it better, politicians should embrace five principles for designing effective, sustainable reform.