Promoting health as a capital asset. A gastroenterologist with a passion for economics, Dr. Gardner has been influential by proselytizing to employers the importance of assessing employee health as they do any other capital or working asset. At its minimum, this idea says that a worker's health is as indicative of his potential economic contribution to the company as is his education or job experience -- and, therefore, is as deserving of reinvestment as are employer-funded job training programs. Health is obviously a better indicator of potential operating costs. Dr. Gardner continues to help clients put these ideas into practice as a way to improve their benefits plans, through his consulting arm, Human Capital Management Services. The current wave of wellness and employee incentives programs, and the mini-industry of services startups that peddle them, is an outgrowth of Dr. Gardner's work. His nonprofit, the Health as Human Capital Foundation, promotes his research to policy makers. Dr. Gardner lectures at the University of Wyoming Colleges of Business and Health Sciences.

Writing on the reform proposals:

"It’s necessary to continue to offer affordable insurance for unanticipated catastrophes, fund health accounts that grow over time and provide support for the five percent making difficult health and medical care decisions, but the new administration shouldn’t mandate existing, expensive coverage for the other 95 percent until we fix the moral-hazard-laden cost problem."