Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T22:23:34.931Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why Public Programs Matter — And Will Continue to Matter — Even after Health Reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Elizabeth J. Fowler  and
Timothy Stoltzfus Jost
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

As we write this paper in spring 2008, many are hopeful that November’s election will open the door to some form of comprehensive health care reform. In all likelihood, we will elect a president who has campaigned to a greater or lesser extent on promises of improving access to health care, improving quality, and reducing costs. Equally important, it seems likely that the 111th Congress is preparing to undertake meaningful health care reform. And perhaps most important, despite recent attention to energy issues and the economy, opinion polls consistently show that the American public continues to rank health care as one of the two or three most important domestic issues in the fall elections and supports comprehensive health care reform.

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , Winter 2008 , pp. 670 - 676
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Caitlin, A. et al., “Health Spending in 2006,” Health Affairs 27, no. 1 (2008): 14–29, at 23.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Id.Google Scholar
Association of American Medical Colleges, Medicare Payments for Graduate Medical Education: What Every Medical Student, Resident, and Advisor Needs to Know (Washington, D.C.: AAMC, 2006).Google Scholar
Harris, D. M., “Beyond Beneficiaries: Using the Medicare Program to Accomplish Broader Public Goals,” Washington and Lee Law Review 60, no. 4 (2003): 1251–1314 at 1271–85.Google Scholar
United States National Health Insurance Act (H.R. 676) (introduced in the 110th Congress by Representative Conyers (D-MI) on January 24, 2007).Google Scholar
AmeriCare Health Care Act of 2007 (H.R. 1841) (introduced in the 110th Congress by Representative Stark (D-CA) on March 29, 2007).Google Scholar
Healthy Americans Act (S. 334) (introduced in the 110th Congress by Senator Wyden (D-OR) on January 18, 2007).Google Scholar
Emanuel, E. J. and Fuchs, V. R., “A Comprehensive Cure: Universal Health Care Vouchers,” paper commissioned by the Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution, and submitted July 2007, available at <http://www.brookings.edu/papers/20077~/media/Files/rc/papers/2007/07useconomics_emanuel/200707emanuel_fuchs.pdf> (last visited September 9, 2008).Google Scholar
Collins, S. R. and Kriss, J. L., “Envisioning the Future: The 2008 Presidential Candidates' Health Reform Proposals,” The Commonwealth Fund, 2008, available at <http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/Collins_envisioningfuture2008candplans_1092.pdf?section=4039> (last visited September 9, 2008).Google Scholar
Kaiser Family Foundation, Ask the Experts: A Public Plan Option Under Health Reform, May 1, 2008, transcript available at <http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2578> (last visited September 9, 2008).+(last+visited+September+9,+2008).>Google Scholar
In November of 2007, 41% of respondents to a Gallup national poll favored a government-run health care system. See <http://www.pollingreport.com/health3.htm> (last visited September 9, 2008).+(last+visited+September+9,+2008).>Google Scholar
See Mann, C. and Lambrew, J., The Role of Medicaid in the Context of a Restructured Health Care System (Washington, D.C.: New America Foundation 2005).Google Scholar
Nearly 2 in 5 Medicare beneficiaries have incomes below 200% of the poverty level, Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicare Chartbook (Washington, D.C.: KFF, 2005): at 6.Google Scholar
See America's Health Insurance Plans, January 2008 Census Shows 6.1 Million People Covered by HSA/High-Deductible Health Plans, 2008, available at <http://www.ahipresearch.org/pdfs/2008_HSA_Census.pdf> (last visited September 9, 2008). (last visited September 9, 2008).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=See+America's+Health+Insurance+Plans,+January+2008+Census+Shows+6.1+Million+People+Covered+by+HSA/High-Deductible+Health+Plans,+2008,+available+at++(last+visited+September+9,+2008).>Google Scholar
Fronstin, P., Collins, S. R., The 2nd Annual Findings from the 2007 EBRI/Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Care Survey, 2008, at 26–29, available at <http://www.commonwealthfund.org/usr_doc/Fronstin_consumerism_survey_2007_issue_brief_FINAL.pdf?section=4039> (last visited September 9, 2008); Lee, T. H. and Zapert, K., “Do High-Deductible Health Plans Threaten Quality of Care?” New England Journal of Medicine 353, no. 12 (2005): 1202–1204.Google Scholar
Ku, L., Comparing Public and Private Health Insurance for Children (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2007), available at <http://www.cbpp.org/5-11-07health.pdf.> (last visited September 9, 2008).Google Scholar
See Catlin, , supra note 1, at 27.Google Scholar
The Medicare end stage renal dialysis program also involves expensive chronic care, and should be included in such a program.Google Scholar
See Gleckman, H., Financing Long-Term Care: Lessons from Abroad (Boston: Center for Retirement Research, 2007, available at <http://crr.bc.edu/images/stories/Briefs/ib_7–8.pdf> (last visited September 9, 2008).Google Scholar
An alternative approach could be a public reinsurance program that would take over the funding of health care from private insurance once costs reached a “catastrophic” level. See Swartz, K., Reinsuring Health: Why More Middle-Class People Are Uninsured and What Government Can Do about It? (New York: Russell Sage, 2006).Google Scholar
See W. K. Kellogg Foundation, School-Based Health Care Policy Program, described at <http://www.wkkf.org/default.aspx?tabid=75&CID=316&NID=61&LanguageID=0> (last visited September 9, 2008).+(last+visited+September+9,+2008).>Google Scholar
Kaiser Family Foundation/Guttmacher Institute, Medicaid's Role in Family Planning, 2007, available at <http://www.kff.org/womenshealth/upload/7064_03.pdf> (last visited September 9, 2008). (last visited September 9, 2008).' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Kaiser+Family+Foundation/Guttmacher+Institute,+Medicaid's+Role+in+Family+Planning,+2007,+available+at++(last+visited+September+9,+2008).>Google Scholar
Rosenbaum, S. and Wise, P. H., “Crossing the Medicaid-Private Insurance Divide: The Case of EPSDT,” Health Affairs 26, no. 2 (2007) 382–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenbaum, S., Medicaid and Defined Contribution Plans and Limited Benefit Arrangements: Implications for Medicaid Beneficiaries, September 2006, available at <http://www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/departments/healthpolicy/chsrp/downloads/Rosenbaum_AHIP_FNL_091306.pdf> (last visited September 9, 2008).+(last+visited+September+9,+2008).>Google Scholar
Statement of V. Gottlich, Senior Policy Attorney, Center for Medicare Advocacy, “Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Health of the House Committee on Ways and Means,” June 21, 2007, available at <http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=view&id=6168> (last visited September 9, 2008).+(last+visited+September+9,+2008).>Google Scholar