...Evolution From the Medicare/Medicaid focus, I will attempt to break this down from the evolution of the old to the influence of the current or present systems. I would further consider the old concepts of supply and demand. Health care is no different. In early health care delivery, there was not much demand because there was not much known. In many instances, patients weren't as educated about healthcare and illnesses to know where to go to seek care. This is evident by the people using home remedies and other alternatives that prevented them from going to the doctor. Research was not available as much to the average patients or their families to educate them about the risk of not receiving treatment for certain conditions. When looking at doctors, they use to be just local folks who happened to be doctors, and they treated many conditions in their local offices without needing to file on Medicare/Medicaid. The people were their neighbors and the doctor and patients knew each other personally. Cost was not associated with this type of care. It was like doing a favor for neighbors and friends. Tools and supplies doctors used back then were less expensive. To make a long story short, there was not much patient care demand nor was there much cost. So there was not as much for Medicare/Medicaid to pay for. Finally, the people running Medicare and Medicaid trusted doctors more. If the doctor it stated it was needed, neither Medicare nor Medicaid questioned it and paid...
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...------------------------------------------------- medicare trust fund January 17, 2016 Charles gunter January 17, 2016 Charles gunter In 1965, United States instituted the most influential health program in our history. The Medicare and Medicaid program ensured that the aged, disabled, and poor had access to healthcare. The importance of a healthy society had finally made it to the mainstream and become a part of public policy. In this presentation, we will discuss the Medicare program. The Social Security Administration hosts the program and the “Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is the federal agency that runs the Medicare Program” (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2015). To enable these programs to work, funds must be allotted for services. The Medicare Trust Fund is one such vehicle. Currently, although suffering a few hits over the years, the Medicare Trust Fund has expanded and contracted through healthy and unhealthy periods (mostly healthy). Fortunately for the rapidly expanding American elderly population, the current state of the fund is promising. The fund has historically faced challenges and may continue to do so, but policymakers are faced with such a large aging (and voting!) population that the health of Medicare will always be top priority. Many factors that create challenge include fund solvency, fraud, and the growth of the population who fall...
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...2744 Government Spending & Budget As many Federal departments and agencies lurch into an era of running without funds, the leaders of both parties of Congress are spending less and less time searching for a compromise to balance the budget, and more and more time deciding how to use it to their advantage on the campaign trail. Meanwhile money is easily borrowed to pay for government overhead. In an attempt to change this, on June 29, Congress voted in favor of HConRes67 that called for a 7 year plan to balance the Federal Budget by the year 2002 (Hager 1899). This would be done by incorporating $894 billion in spending cuts by 2002, with a projected 7 year tax cut of $245 billion. If this plan were implemented, in the year 2002, the U.S. Government would have the first balanced budget since 1969. There is doubt by citizens that a balanced budget will become reality. A recent Gallop Poll from January, 1996 showed the budget as the #1 concern among taxpayers, but 4/5 of those interviewed said they doubt the GOP will do the job (Holding 14). Meanwhile, an ABC poll from November reported that over 70% of those polled disapprove of the current performance by Congress, and most blamed politicians for failure to take action (Cloud 3709). These accusations of failure to follow through come with historical proof that Congress and Clinton have failed to compromise and resolve the issue. After all, current budget plans are dependent on somewhat unrealistic predictions of avoiding such catastrophes...
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...The “Iron Triangle” The “Iron Triangle” is defined as “a concept that focuses on the balance of three factors: quality, cost, and accessibility to healthcare (Niles, 2011).” These three factors play a key role in making this concept work. Quality is “character with respect to fineness, or grade of excellence (“Quality,” 2010).” Cost is “the price paid to acquire, produce, accomplish, or maintain anything (“Cost”, 2010).” Accessibility means “obtainable; attainable ("Accessibility," 2010).” Although the “Iron Triangle” consist of three important factors, it is hard to have a balance between the three. In order for a healthcare system to work there has to be a balance between all three factors. Each factor in the triangle can affect the other factors. Meaning it is hard to make all three factors equal without losing a factor. “If one factor is emphasized, such as cost reduction, it may create an inequality of quality and access because costs are being cut. Because lack of access is a problem in the United States, healthcare systems may focus on increasing access, which could increase costs. In order to assess the success of a healthcare delivery, it is vital that consumers assess their health care by analyzing the balance between cost, access, and quality” (Niles, 2011). For example, if I hospital needed some new medical equipment they would probably want the best quality they could get. The equipment would be of great quality but they would end up spending a lot...
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...play truth or consequences with the budget sequestration that took effect on Friday. That can be difficult through the fog of political war that has hung over this town. But a step back illuminates roots deeper than the prevailing notion that Washington politicians are simply fools acting for electoral advantage or partisan spite. Republicans don’t seek to grind government to a halt. But they do aim to shrink its size by an amount currently beyond their institutional power in Washington, or popular support in the country, to achieve. Democrats don’t seek to cripple the nation with debt. But they do aim to preserve existing government programs without the ability, so far, to set levels of taxation commensurate with their cost. At bottom, it is the oldest philosophic battle of the American party system — pitting Democrats’ desire to use government to cushion market outcomes and equalize opportunity against Republicans’ desire to limit government and maximize individual liberty. And they are fighting it within a 21st-century political infrastructure that impedes compromise. Those government initiatives include Social Security from F.D.R.’s New Deal, Medicare and Medicaid from L.B.J.’s Great Society, and the 2010 national health care law. President Obama wants to keep them in roughly their current forms — even as the wave of baby boom retirements makes them costlier than ever. His Republican opponents are the philosophic heirs of conservatives who opposed their creation...
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...Demographic Paper Angela McDowell HCS/490 08/25/2013 Tina Folk-Cromartie Demographic Paper Like the rest of the world, the US is an ageing society. This will place substantial additional pressure on publicly-funded health, long-term and income support programs for older people. This paper analyses the demographic changes that the US faces and how they will affect those programs, concentrating on the factors that may affect the economic burden that these programs impose. The aging of the baby boom generation, the extension of life, and progressive increases in disability-free life expectancy have generated a dramatic demographic transition in the United States. Official government forecasts may, however, have inadvertently underestimated life expectancy, which would have major policy implications, since small differences in forecasts of life expectancy produce very large differences in the number of people surviving to an older age. Forecasts were made with a cohort-components methodology, based on the premise that the risk of death will be influenced in the coming decades by accelerated advances in biomedical technology that either delay the onset and age progression of major fatal diseases or that slow the aging process itself (Wiener & Tilly, 2013). . Population Demographic Data Like the rest of the world, the US is an ageing society. Between 2000 and 2050, the number of older people is projected to increase...
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...revenues necessary to pay for the impending surge in the number of beneficiaries. Entry / Reference 2: Steckenride, Janie, Parrott, Tonya (1998). New Directions in Old-Age Policies. The Health Care Policies and Older Americans. Retrieved from: http://books.google.ae/books?id=rwR4rpIrvW0C&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=Reforming+Medicare+in+the+age+of+Deficit+Reduction&source=bl&ots=ZtGKc36-o3&sig=00b8wDb48nxaR4uqWAHTms1slBU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SKgJU77mK8eb0QW-44C4AQ&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAjgU#v=onepage&q=Reforming%20Med&f=false This reference help the current healthcare insurance and managed healthcare issues to explores the changed political environment in the United States and what it means for the policies and programs benefiting the elderly and their families. It includes chapters written by distinguished contributors, such as Fernando Torres-Gil, Assistant Secretary for Aging, Clinton Administration, and discusses specific, realistic policy options for the future. Entry / Reference 3: Levit, Mindy (2011). Reducing the Budget Deficit: The President’s Fiscal...
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...superiority and perfection we have overlooked the fundamental values that we were built on. In recent years our economic system has been damaged to the extent that we are seeing some of the worst unemployment rates since the great depression. With the population growing by leaps and bounds and a low amount of jobs being created, a large portion of our society is looking to the government for help. That help has proven to be a blessing for some, a hurdle for others and a free ride for the dishonest. In 1930, the United States Welfare Program was enacted in response to the financial effect of the great depression and to help individuals who had lost their jobs, homes, income and health insurance. After the great depression was over, the government maintained the program and continues to help people that are having difficulties supporting themselves and their families. Throughout the years there have been “claims that individuals were abusing the welfare program by not applying for jobs, having more children to get more aid and staying unmarried as to qualify for greater benefits” (“US Welfare System”, 2011). As a result of this abuse, it has become increasingly difficult to get assistance for individuals who have a legitimate claim of need. Over the years I have...
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...heart of America's fiscal crisis is the impending collapse of our entitlement system. And the primary cause of that looming collapse is the explosion of costs in Medicare, the federal program that provides health insurance to every American over 65. Without major reforms of the program, there is simply no way for us to address the federal deficit, contain the national debt, or save Medicare itself from collapse. Medicare's woes are partly demographic. In 2030, when the last of the Baby Boomers retires, there will be 77 million people on Medicare, up from 47 million today. But there will be fewer working people funding the benefits of this much larger retiree population: In 2030, there will be 2.3 workers per retiree, compared to 3.4 today and about 4 when the program was created. But a bigger part of Medicare's troubles is the rapid inflation of healthcare costs. In 2010, the per capita cost of providing healthcare services in America increased by 6.1%, according to Standard & Poor's, while overall inflation increased by only 1.5%. According to the Department of Labor, over the past decade, healthcare inflation has risen 48%, while inflation in the broader economy has increased by only 26%. Providing an increasingly expensive service to a rapidly growing population, while drawing on a declining pool of taxpayers is a recipe for fiscal disaster. The Congressional Budget Office now projects that the Medicare program will be effectively bankrupt in 2021, and its continuing growth...
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...The role of government in the U.S economy extends far beyond its activities as a regulator of specific industries or gatekeeping. The government is also responsible for managing the overall pace of economic activity, with its objective of maintaining high levels of employment and controlling price stability (inflation). It has two main tools for achieving these goals: fiscal policies, which is done through taxes and spending and monetary policies, through which it manages the supply of money. In this paper, I will discuss the why high deficits of today will reduce growth rate of the economy in the future, look at the history of our nation’s debt and deficits, different elements that causes of deficit and why the cause actually matters, what role the fiscal and monetary policies have to lead to higher or lower budget deficits and how deficits affect the overall long-term economic growth and debt of the U.S. Let us first begin by learning the difference between the terms debt and deficit. In economics, the term deficit means a shortfall in revenue of a fiscal year. It is when the government’s revenue called receipts, which are collected taxes (payroll, corporate, excise, income and social insurance), fee revenues and tariffs that are called receipts are lower that what is spent called outlays. In other words, the federal budget deficit is the yearly amount by which spending exceeds revenue. The term debt is described as an accumulation of deficits so the national debt is the...
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...nation should cut, and how the general public’s needs are being paid by, to finally doing some forecasting of future economic needs. At a NCSL Legislative Summit in August, 2013 it was noted that America spends, on average, nearly $9,000 per person on health care each year. The cost to the nation is $2.8 trillion, almost 18 percent of the GDP. The GDP is projected to be at 19.6 percent by 2021 (National Conference of State Legislation, 2013). In the projected years of 2011-2021 Medicare is expected to have a growth of 6.1% per year average over these years, Medicaid growth is expected to be 8.2% per year, private spending average per year 5.3%. By 2021, federal, state, and local government health care spending is projected to be nearly 50 percent of the national health expenditures, up from 46 percent in 2011, with federal spending accounting for about two-thirds of the government share (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 2013). One of the current issues is that of are we spending too much or too little on health care. The issue is not how much health care people are using but the fact that the American people are paying too much for it. I feel that...
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...1. Point-Counterpoint State Medicaid Policy and Health Reform Harold A. Pollack University of Chicago Authors: Pollack, Harold A.1 Source: Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law; Feb2013, Vol. 38 Issue 1, p161-163, 3p The article discusses the positive and negative implications of the new ruling that the federal government could not require states that receive federal funds under the Medicaid program to participate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's (PPACA's) Medicaid expansion. Several shortcomings like limited provider payment and associated patient access barriers have been observed in Medicaid that make its adoption not a good idea. However, families below the poverty line can benefit. In July 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The Court thus ended one phase in the political and legal battle over health reform. Yet in doing so, it opened a new front. In a notable departure from post–New Deal commerce clause jurisprudence, the Court ruled that the federal government could not require states that receive federal funds under the Medicaid program to participate in the PPACA’s Medicaid expansion. In effect, the Court made states’ participation in the PPACA’s Medicaid expansion voluntary — a possibility that neither the act’s supporters nor its opponents seriously entertained during the long legislative battle of 2009 and 2010. The full implications of these...
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...Care Act can apply to Puerto Rico and the impacting the Medicare, Medicare patient services and employees. Most of the people in the island think that the Affordable Care Act is giving more security and help to address the existing disparities in the healthcare system. With the new Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, the insurance companies can no longer drop the coverage if one becomes sick, bill individual into bankruptcy because of an annual or lifetime limit, and they will not be able to discriminate against anyone with a pre existing condition. Most of the Medicare and Medicaid community suffers do to the imbalance in our healthcare system this situation affects the quality of care and places a financial strain on the government, individuals and families, employers and employees, and public and private providers. Most of the Medicare beneficiaries have to enroll in the MA program to help them to succeed and receive the adequate treatments without MA to help the disadvantaged seniors on the island, Puerto Rico's elderly citizens will be forced to turn to Mi Salud in larger numbers. Although Mi Salud is scheduled to receive an average of $690 million annually during the next five years, the widening deficit in MA funding is likely to create a net negative impact on federal funding for healthcare in Puerto Rico. The Health care Policies and Issues Ethical concerns and issues The Affordable Care Act (ACA) policies are intended to give patients more access to...
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...effects of changes in population demographics on the needs and services for a selected population. The author must identify the population on which the case study will focus on the aging population, patients with a particular chronic disease, children, patients with AIDS, patients requiring long-term care, or emergency management. The author must identify the targeted population, gather data about the population demographics, and describe the general impact that changing demographics may have on the health care market. The author will discuss why and how the changes in demographics will affect health care. Two health care related challenges identified for the population is chosen. The author will also describe how a chronic disease wellness program may affect the costs for this demographic. In conclusion, the author will discuss the marketing needs or services needed for this population as well as how the chosen population can address these challenges. The population demographics that the author has chosen to write a summary on is the influence of illegal immigrations on emergency health care. Immigration reform is one of the most forming or expressing division or issues opposing the United States policymakers. The increase in the number of illegal immigrants in the United States over the last 10 years has led to conflict about the influence of illegal immigration on emergency health care. The number of possible security threats assumed by unauthorized entrance into the country has...
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... 2012 Welfare Reform Government assistance programs have been around for many years. The US welfare program began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression (US Welfare System - Help for US Citizens, 2012). The whole idea behind the welfare program was to give aid to families who had little or no income. The welfare program, in the United States, was originally designed to help provide a minimal level of aid to help maintain the wellbeing of citizens. Previously, the local communities would help the less fortunate. Social groups would give donations of food to struggling families. These groups would also donate clothing and other necessities. Now, the government is the largest provider of these programs. The programs were originally based on helping those unable to work or provide for themselves. Until the 1960’s only disabled, or elderly citizens were qualified to receive aid. Legislation not only changed the recipients eligible for help, but also the help available. Programs such as health care, food stamps, pregnancy assistance, and help for single mothers started to emerge. The next addition to the program was housing benefits. To some, the addition of these new programs made it more enticing to receive aid rather than work. The programs had now become considered easy money. If you were able to show need, you would most likely qualify for benefits. Over the last 80 years, the welfare program has been subject to abuse and fraud. Citizens and non-citizens...
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