President Obama in his State of the Union address Tuesday addressed critics of his health-care law, saying “anything can be improved. If you have ideas about how to improve this law by making care better or more affordable, I am eager to work with you.”
Many are trying to take Obama at his word, for instance Rep. Bobby Schilling, freshman Illinois Republican, requested a one-on-one meeting with Obama Wednesday.
Heritage Provider Network, a network of doctors and medical groups in California, is touting its answer to health-care innovation: a $3 million prize to the person who can derive an algorithm to prevent unnecessary hospital visits.
The prize, which Heritage estimates could save $30 billion in health care costs if successful, is part of a trend toward offering big prizes for innovation.
The X-Prize Foundation is the most famous instance. One prize affiliated with the X-Prize Foundation is the Google Lunar X-Prize, which will award $30 million to the first privately funded team to send a robot to the moon.
California Republican Rep. Dan Lungren also introduced legislation for a $1 billion prize to the first company to sell 60,000 cars that get 100 miles per gallon in fuel efficiency.
Are prizes the answer to more innovation? Dr. Richard Merkin, head of the Heritage health-care prize, says: “I think this will change the world.”