...Report Jonathan Cohn’s “Sick presents case studies that demonstrate how America's current system causes even many middle class Americans serious financial or medical hardship. It lays out a history of health insurance in America and points to the record of systems abroad, particularly in France, as proof that universal coverage works. Cohn quickly dispenses with the common belief that it is the forty-plus million uninsured Americans who are the problem with our present system. It is our insurance itself that forms the biggest problem, an erratic problem that fails to provide needed health. Cohn methodically discusses each piece of the book one by one, using case histories to illustrate his points. He meet a few people with no insurance at all, a few with Medicare or Medicaid, and a few with good private policies. All are hard-working, well-intentioned, and startled that they have been punished, financially, emotionally, medically, or all three, for getting sick. What sets Cohn’s book apart from other compilations of sad stories is the comprehensive, dispassionate analysis he offers of the policy behind the tragedies. He provides a history of U.S. health insurance from the beginning up through the politicking behind Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s, the rise and fall of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the 1990s, and the confused debut of last year’s Medicare Part D (for prescription drugs). I suspect that committed policy wonks might find his analysis fairly...
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...every day, 500 Americans die every week and 2, 175 Americans die every month due to the lack of health insurance. These numbers speak volumes on how many Americans are dying for coverage. Health care reform has been an ongoing battle between policymakers and legislation for years and with the promise of a new President there seemed to be relief on the way. One March 23, 2010 President Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act is said to be the biggest overhaul in the United States healthcare system since Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 (“HealthCare.gov”, 2012). This recent health care reform has expanded access to care in numerous ways and will continue to improve up until the 2014. The new health care reform will improve the quality of health care for American’s as well as more affordable. The Affordable Care Act guarantees that individuals, small business owners and families will have access and control of their own health care (“HealthCare.gov”, 2012). Cutting the cost of premiums for families and small business owners by providing billions of dollars in tax relief, this is said to be the biggest tax cut for middle-class families in health care history (“HealthCare.gov”, 2012). The act will also reduce out-of-pocket expense and preventive care will be fully covered without out-of-pockets expense for families. Individuals that that do not have health insurance will be able to choose the insurance that fits their needs. Insurance companies will...
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...Health Care Reform Healthcare has a long and detailed history in the United States. Since the beginning 20th century it has been a major source of political debate. Both federal and state governments have made efforts in trying to take steps toward a universal health care system. Early reform poured the foundation for today’s government healthcare programs. The United States witnessed social movements that demanded access to the American dream. People who were viewed as second class citizens banded together and demanded reform on their behalves. The largest of these movements was a demand for universal healthcare. American’s greatest issue was sickness and missing work. When working individuals missed work due to “sickness” they lost their wages. The loss of income made sickness the leading cause of poverty. Reformist saw a need for national healthcare and the campaign began. Health insurance that would protect the worker against wage loss and expenses incurred from medical treatment. In 1906, the American Associaltion of Labor Legislation (AALL) became active in the push for national health care. They created a committee that concentrated on healthcare insurance, and in 1915 drafted a bill that gave limited coverage to the working class and to anyone that earned less than $1200 a year. This draft included sick pay, death, and maternatiy benefits. The proposal was meet by opposition (Palmer, 2010). Although the American Medical Association offered its support...
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...Health Care Necessity for a Universal Health Care System in America Health care reform has recently become top priority for policy makers, and health administrators. The current health care system faces many costly problems for the uninsured/underinsured, employment-based insurance coverage, and financially burdened health service providers. Although policy makers have made many attempts to raise the number of insured, through programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, the number of uninsured Americans continues to rise. Currently 45 million American have no health insurance and children make up approximately 10 million of that number reported by the U.S. Census Bureau (8-10). The politicians and largely the medical societies, appear to be unable to decide what society’s responsibility in health care should be to those who are unable to purchase basic coverage. Surveys conducted by institutions like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation have noted that the proportion of people named the uninsured as the single most important domestic issue. Additionally, the Woods and Kaiser Foundation study concludes 55% of the participants expressed willingness to pay some level of taxes to cover the uninsured (1-4). The majority thought that the uninsured should be offered a federal funded health care package. Universal health can enhance health and well-being by promoting access to high-quality care that is cost effective, efficient, safe,...
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...doubt that the American health care system has a history of being in disarray. Despite the introduction of the managed care, which was intended to help bring costs down, the cost of health care continues to rise. In addition to the spiraling costs of the health care system, millions of Americans still could not afford any form of health care insurance. The question is what can be done about it? The answer is neither easy nor clear cut. In 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010—commonly called the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Obamacare, after its major backer, US president Barack Obama—sought to reform a number of aspects of the US health insurance industry, as well as improve the access to and quality of health care services. Keywords Americans with Disabilities Act; Best Practice Protocols; Fee for Service System; Grassroots Activism; Gross Domestic Product; Industrial Democracy; Managed Care; Medicaid; Medicare; Single-payer System; The Pepper Commission; The Rehabilitation Act - Bill 504 Health Care Reform in the U.S. Overview Health care is very much on the minds of Americans. Former presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton made health care her platform and insisted that universal health care is achievable. Although affordable health care for everyone sounds like a positive step forward, the American public was not sure enough of that statement to support her election as president. The American health care system is bound to the insurance...
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...The Paradox in the Affordable Care Act Submitted By: Vodney Wynn vewynn@aol.com October 12, 2014 PA582_CourseProject Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3 The History of Healthcare Reform……………………………………………………………………………..…4 The Problem with the ACA……………………………………………………………………………………………6 The Current Policy………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8 Policy Alternatives………………………………………………………………………………………………………10 Evaluation Criteria………………………………………………………………………………………………………10 Policy Recommendation……………………………………………………………………………………………..12 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13 References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14 Introduction Recent health care reform legislation, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Education Reconciliation Act, which is now being referred to simply as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. Since the 20th century, several United States presidents have faced challenges in passing national health reform into law. Before the ACA was enacted, national health reform proposals under different governments in the United States faced strong opposition from various stakeholders and multiple interest groups. Therefore, the enactment of the ACA is revolutionary healthcare reform in the history of the United States. Healthcare insurance is a program that assists in paying medical expenses through privately purchased insurance...
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...back into recessions. Health is one of the most talked about public policy topics. Health care is topic that affects local and state governments for many reasons. First of all, health care is insurance for people that are injured or ill. Each county has their own type of health care. There are many different types of health care organizations that are offered to people all over the world. Some of these organizations include: the health maintenance group, provider group, and a proposal that combines aspects from both the health maintenance cgroup and the provider group. The most important type of health care insurance is a universal health plan. Universal health care is what will eventually save Americans a large amount of money and it will also guarantee that every American is insured. The number of uninsured citizens has grown to be above 40 million people. Health care is becoming unaffordable and we can eliminate wasteful inadequacies. A centralized national database can be established to make life easier for doctors, and medical professionals will only have to worry about the patience and not who’s paying for the medication for people. There are many people today who do not like the idea of universal health care and refuse to get it. America is known for having the best medical physicians and people are afraid that it will change drastically if we all share one universal health care plan. Also, if the insurance were to decrease in the universal health plan then taxes should...
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...Health Care Through the decades there have been many public policy topics in our society that have a very large impact on the county as whole. They are reasons why American have either prospered and have been set back into recessions. Health is one of the most talked about public policy topics. Health care is topic that affects local and state governments for many reasons. First of all, health care is insurance for people that are injured or ill. Each county has their own type of health care. There are many different types of health care organizations that are offered to people all over the world. Some of these organizations include: the health maintenance group, provider group, and a proposal that combines aspects from both the health maintenance group and the provider group. The most important type of health care insurance is a universal health plan. Universal health care is what will eventually save Americans a large amount of money and it will also guarantee that every American is insured. The number of uninsured citizens has grown to be above 40 million people. Health care is becoming unaffordable and we can eliminate wasteful inadequacies. A centralized national database can be established to make life easier for doctors, and medical professionals will only have to worry about the patience and not who’s paying for the medication for people. There are many people today who do not like the idea of universal health care and refuse to get it. America is known for having...
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...Health care is a general rubric for discussing major health policies creation or changes. Health care delivery options often affect the entire population in the United States, because the government sets rules for all hospitals and care facilities to follow. This is important because the patient will not be subject to fraud in a sense because of the rules that the health care facilities have to obey by. In recent news the American health debate will save billions of dollars in over the course of the next 10 years ("Health care blog," 2012) to create a more sustainable, affordable plan for the American population. Therefore the recent health care reforms measures are expanded and allow an easier access to care for patients. The quality, affordable health care act is for all Americans it is one of the many new health care reforms in the United States. This virtually covers everyone from having insurance, even individuals who do not have insurance these individuals will have options on insurance plans. One of the provisions of the act is to allow: “…individuals, families and small business owners in control of their health care. It reduces premium costs for millions of working families and small businesses by providing hundreds of billions of dollars in tax relief – the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history. It also reduces what families will have to pay for health care by capping out-of-pocket expenses and requiring preventive care to be fully covered without...
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...Political Science 12/10/13 100 Years of Health Care Reform: Obamacare Bringing Us into the Future In 2008 when presidential candidate Barack Obama was platforming for universal healthcare for the United Sates, most people thought that it was a revolutionary idea, and liked the way it sounded. Who wouldn’t want affordable universal health care? But what many people did/do not know is that Obama’s platform was not revolutionary at all. In fact there had been many presidents before Barack Obama who had fought for some sort of universal health care. Now hat eager democratic candidate of 2008 has entered into his second term as president of the United Sates, and as his platform promised, he has been able to pass a bill that gives every American citizen affordable health care. This bill is called the Affordable Care Act; though many people know it now as Obamacare. What is interesting about Obamacare is that although it was widely praised by the American public before it was passed, it is now getting many mixed reviews. But to really be able to make a decision about whether or not you are for or against the new bill, you must understand the Affordable Care Act or ACA fully; its history, and its meaning. Private and public health insurance has not always been a part of American medicine. In fact the very first prepaid health care coverage was not established until 1929, when Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Texas developed the Baylor Plan which helped a local teachers union...
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...REFORM HS543 Health Services Finance Summer Term 2012 Instructor: Mary Black Course Project Outline U.S. Healthcare System Reform Submitted By Project Outline This project will explore the current state or our healthcare and where it is predicted to cost us in the future. We will also examine the overall health programs and how the uninsured will affect the system entirely. Universal healthcare would alleviate the financial burden on some of the population and provide access to almost all of the country's population; however, this system will cost more. Funding the program will be discussed as well as the taxes and other funding that will help pay for the coverage. Likewise, how this will affect hospitals and healthcare providers. Topic: U.S Healthcare System Reform Outline I. Abstract II. Introduce the Issue (Background) A. An analysis of our current healthcare system 1. A history of major events 2. Impact to healthcare organizations III. Defining the problem A. Political disagreements B. The increase of expenses IV. Literature Review A. Is U.S. Healthcare deteriorating? B. Effects on the profitability of local hospitals V. Analyze the Problem A. Raising insurance premiums B. The uninsured VI. Possible Solutions A. French Healthcare system B. A public option VII. Implementation Plan A. Financing VIII. Justification A. Access of care B. Quality of care C. Utilization...
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...Matter of Health The government provides education, police, and fire protection, why not provide health care for the people? Universal health care coverage is coverage that is extended to an area. Every industrialized country has some form of a national system that provides health care for its people, except for the United States. This could be from a health insurance plan funded by taxation or it could be where all coverage is entirely paid for from taxation. The United States should provide universal health care to all its permanent residents. In many other countries health care is provided by a government facility that covers most of its residents, if not most, all of the residents. Germany has had a national health system since 1883 when the Ministry of Health and Social Services was assembled and still manages to cover the health care of eighty-three percent of its citizens. France has a statutory health system that all residents with incomes are part of and even covers those who make below the poverty level. France also spends only 9.7% of its GDP on health care, which is about half of what the United States spends. Sweden is another country with a great health care system. The health care system covers the entire residential population and is paid for through a tax-based program. In 2006, Massachusetts implemented a health care reform through a government agency recently created called Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector. This new government- funded health plan...
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...What role does early American history have to play in the quest for Universal Health Coverage in the U.S. during the 20th century? Fiona Nelson-Lafuse ENG122 Emily Fancy 18th February 2013 INTRODUCTION The topic question for this research paper is, “Most developed countries have universal health coverage. Why doesn’t the United States have universal health coverage? There have been repeated attempts by many different legislators over the past 150 years to introduce some form of universal health coverage to this country; and given the successive failures, it seems crucial to investigate early American history to uncover the origins of this steadfast resistance to universal health coverage; and gain an understanding of the impact those early citizens have had from the time of the Constitution on down through subsequent generations in their quest to keep universal health care off the legislative table. Despite the fact that the Constitution does not explicitly provide for universal healthcare, and there has been constant resistance to any attempts to bring it in, during the period 1900 - 1920, it seemed likely universal health coverage would pass into law – then at the last moment it failed. In the period between 1902 and 1965, 19 attempts were made to push universal health care coverage into legislation; and before this paper moves on to examine the role of social, political and commercial interests in these failures, it is important to consider...
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...Comparison Presentation Assignment: 5 | Health Economics, HSA 510, Dr. Lewis Mustard | Kristie Parker, December 19, 2012 | 1. Select three to four main aspects that you discovered in your research to highlight. The first thing that I would like to highlight in my research of Canadian universal healthcare vs. US healthcare is that Canadian health care is federally funded and covers mostly all of the medical services used by the residents. The US has healthcare for the people but is covered at the citizens’ expense via an insurance company. The citizens are responsible for maintaining the premiums set by the insurance companies via the employer of the citizens or privately attained. However, this could explain why nearly 50 million people are uninsured because a lot of Americans cannot afford the premiums set by the insurance companies or quoted to them privately. The issue without healthcare is that the premiums are many times to expensive. The insurer will not pay because the conditions the patient may have could be pre-existing and will cause the company to pay for many expenses that are acquired before they are insured. Unlike the US, Canadian is federally funded so those issues are not of a concern, only finding when the care can be provided is the concern. Next, even though universal care for the Canadians appear to be ideal and a dream come true, the Canadians still have longer waiting lines and longer times for the services to be carried out than the...
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...Health Care Utilization Danjerell Burks HCS/235 July 16, 2014 Joseph Chiappetta The Affordable Care Act started changing the country’s health-care system almost from the moment it was signed into law in March 2010. It has already expanded coverage of young adults by allowing them to stay on their parents’ plans until they turn 26, outlawed lifetime limits on what insurance will cover, lowered the cost of drugs for seniors on Medicare, caused 13 million consumers to get premium rebates totaling some $1.1 billion, and expanded access to free preventive care for patients of all ages. Last summer it survived a challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court. But all that is prelude to the transformation coming in 2014, when almost all Americans will have access to affordable health insurance that covers essential care. By Oct. 1, 2013, every state will have an insurance exchange—an organized marketplace where individuals and small-business owners can select from among the entire qualified private health plans available in their area. It’s expected that most consumers will shop on their state’s marketplace online, but they can also shop by phone, through brokers, or with the personal assistance of trained helpers called Navigators. There will also be help available for consumers who don't speak English. The health care law was intended to expand the government-run health program for low-income Americans to cover up to 16 million more people with household incomes up to 133 percent...
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