...Medicaid Expansion: Dichotomous Philosophy Threatens the Economy and Health of Millions Medicaid is a federally funded program that insures disabled, elderly and low-income Americans. While all 50 states have yet to opt-in to its expansion per the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which would add 21 million people to its rolls, or half of the nation’s uninsured, many states chose to opt in following the June 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision which deemed the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act (PPACA) constitutional (AAFP)(Mears) Despite the ruling of the Supreme Court, the decision to accept Medicaid remains a divisive and heavily debated issue in many states. Indeed partisan bickering, already strained budgets and questions of uncertain monetary futures all weigh heavily upon those relegated to make the final decision of acceptance or refusal. There is also a question as to whether refusal to accept is ultimately meritorious, as acceptance necessarily requires states to agree to some future percentage of the bill while refusal renders them ineligible for millions in federal funding every year. Thus, in a way, the ACA, perhaps much like many governmental policies, could well be considered a gamble either way. Accept it now and don’t miss out on federal funding or decline it, miss out on the funding but don’t put your state on the hook for unknown quantities of money that have to come from somewhere. The option of acceptance or refusal is indeed a very loaded choice;...
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...Health Economics HSA 510 Week 3 Assignment 1 4/22/2012 Question #1 Describe how you would assess the impact of the health care issue you selected in microeconomic terms. The health care issue I have chosen is the uninsured Americans and the cost effect on the Unites States government. The issue of uninsured Americans has been one issue that keeps coming up from time to time because a large number of the society are losing their medical insurance due to loss of employments and pre-existing conditions that most insurance company don’t accept. Government and the hospital emergency rooms where those that are uninsured end up going are at the losing end on whole situation. I will try and use Cost Benefit Analysis to evaluate the cost of the uninsured on the Government purse. Cost benefit analysis is an important economical tool that can be used in the healthcare industry because it helps in determining what the outcome of a project would be. It looks at both the positive and the negative aspect of the program. It will also show the cost and consequence of being uninsured. According to Jack Hadley, the Principal Research Associate at The Urban Institute, uninsured Americans have cost the Federal government in the three following ways: The Government already spends a substantial amount of money...
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...Too many Veterans in the United States lack health insurance and are ineligible to receive care provided by the Veteran’s Health Administration. According to American Community Survey (ACS) conducted in 2010, one in 10 of the nation’s 12.5 million veterans under the age of 65 is uninsured. A veteran is defined by federal law as any person who served for any length of time in any military service branch. Contrary to the presumption of most, not all veterans qualify for free healthcare through the Department of Veteran Affairs. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) operates as a branch of the Department of Veterans Affairs and is the largest health system in the nation. It is recognized for its commitment to providing high-quality population specific healthcare. The VHA also works closely with academic medical centers across the nation. Haley and Kenney (2012) identify eligibility for health care provided by the VHA as being on veteran status, service-connected disabilities and income level. Other factors include demographic location and cost sharing requirements. Health insurance coverage for veterans as with other groups of nonelderly adults has heavy dependence on access to employer sponsored insurance (ESI) and the costs of obtaining it. It must also be considered that the majority of states in our nation deny Medicaid coverage to nondisabled adults without dependent children. Medicaid coverage is also typically denied for nonelderly adults with incomes above the...
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...improving Quality and Value in the U.S. Health Care System August 2009 Preamble The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) is a public policy advocacy organization founded by former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell. Its mission is to develop and promote solutions that can attract the public support and political momentum to achieve real progress. The BPC acts as an incubator for policy efforts that engage top political figures, advocates, academics, and business leaders in the art of principled compromise. This report is part of a series commissioned by the BPC to advance the substantive work of the Leaders’ Project on the State of American Health Care. It is intended to explore policy trade-offs and analyze the major decisions involved in improving health care delivery, and discuss them in the broader context of health reform. It does not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Senators Baker, Daschle, and Dole or the BPC’s Board of Directors. The Leaders’ Project was launched in March 2008. Co-Directed by Mark B. McClellan and Chris Jennings, its mission is (1) to create a bipartisan plan for health reform that can be used to transform the U.S. health care system, and (2) to demonstrate that health reform is an achievable political reality. Over the course of the project, Senators Baker, Daschle, and Dole hosted public policy forums across the country, and orchestrated a targeted outreach campaign to...
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