Victor Fuchs

Assistant: Rossannah Reeves

Victor Fuchs is the Henry J. Kaiser, Jr., Professor of Economics and of Health Research and Policy, emeritus; SIEPR Senior Fellow, emeritus; an FSI senior fellow; and a core faculty member at CHP/PCOR. He uses economic theory to provide a framework for the collection and analysis of health care data. He has written extensively on the cost of medical care and on determinants of health, with an emphasis on the role of socioeconomic factors. He has been particularly interested in the role of physician behavior and financial incentives in determining health care expenditures. His current research examines the role of attitudes and beliefs in public support for national health insurance. He is also developing a proposal for a "universal health care voucher" system in which all families or individuals would be given a voucher -- financed by an earmarked value-added tax — that would guarantee them coverage in a private health plan with a standardized package of benefits, including basic health services and catastrophic coverage.

Fuchs is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and was president (1995) and distinguished fellow (1990) of the American Economic Association. He received the Distinguished Investigator Award (1988) and the Distinguished Fellow Award (1996) from the Association for Health Services Research, and was awarded the Baxter Foundation's Health Services Research Prize (1991). He received a BS in business administration from New York University, and an MA and PhD in economics from Columbia University. He is an honorary member of Alpha Omega Alpha.

Focal Areas: Health, Inequality, Innovation and Technology, Money and Finance, Politics and Media, Regulation and Competition, Taxes and Public Spending