Health insurance reform in the United States: old lessons on a renewed debate
cytuj
pobierz pliki
RIS BIB ENDNOTEChoose format
RIS BIB ENDNOTEHealth insurance reform in the United States: old lessons on a renewed debate
Publication date: 2010
Public Health and Governance, 2010, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 111 - 20
Authors
Health insurance reform in the United States: old lessons on a renewed debate
In 2009, following the election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States, the American public entered into a fierce debate on how to reform its health care system. The intense debate on health care reform, however, is not a new phenomenon in American political life. Debate over health care has cycled its way into the American political discourse every twenty-years or so. History suggests that forceful opposition has prevailed against most major efforts to alter the health system in the United States. Yet, once again the Democratically-controlled Congress and Presidency in the United States aspire to break this cycle of history. With both houses in Congress passing a bill with significant reforms, it seems that this time may be different. While it is very likely some reforms will pass in 2010, no law has been signed yet56. In the end, only time will dictate the outcome of this round of health reform debates.
Through a thorough literature review, this article provides the Polish reader a sense of health care reform efforts in the U.S. from the historical perspective and discusses the current proposed reforms. Particular attention is paid to the evolution of the American health insurance system, failed efforts of past health reform initiatives, their contrast with today’s efforts, and current health and economic indicators that could lead to reform in 2010.
Health at a Glance 2009. OECD Indicators. 2009 http://en_www.oecd.org/document/14/0,3343,2649_34631_16502667 _1 _1_1_1,00.html.
The World Health Report, Health Systems: Improving performance. 2000 http://www.who.int/whr/2000/en.
Medicare and the American Social Contract. Final Report on the Study panel on Medicare’s Larger Social Role. 1999. http://www.nasi.org/research/1999/medicare-american-social-contract.
Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States. www.census.gov/prod/2009/pubs/p60-236.pdf, 2008.
Employer Health Benefits. The Kaiser Family Foundation & Health Research and Education Trust. 2009 Annual Survey. http://ehbs.kff.org/pdf/2009/7936.pdf, 2009.
Consumer Union, Blue Cross and Blue Shield. A historical compilation. www.consumersunion.org/conv/conversions_101/legal_context/doctrines_and_remedies/applying _the_charitable_trust_and_Cy_pres_doctrines/Blue%20Cross %20History%20Compilation.pdf.
Altom L., Churchill L., Pay, Pride, and Public Purpose: Why America’s Doctors Should Support Universal Healthcare. „Med. Gen. Med.” 2007; 9(1): 40.
Corning P.A., The evolutionof Medicare: From Idea to Law. Research Report 1969, No. 29;
Day J.G., Managed Care and the Medical Profession: Old Issues and Old Tensions. „Conn. Insurance Law Journal” 1996; 3(1).
Dorn S., Uninsured and Dying Because of It: Updating the Institute of Medicine Analysis on the Impact of Uninsurance on Mortality. http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411588_uninsured_dying.pdf. Accessed January 2008.
Gruber L.R., Shadle M., Polich C.L., From movement to industry: the growth of HMOs. „Health Aff (Millwood)” 1988; 7(3): 197–208, Summer.
Hacker J., Skocpol T., The New Politics of U.S. Health Policy. J Health Politics, „Policy and Law” 1997; 22(2).
Hacker J.S., National health care reform: an idea whose time came and went. „J. Health Polit. Policy Law” 1996; 21(4): 647–696, Winter.
Hermer L., Private Health Insurance in the United States: A proposal for a more functional system. „Houston J. Health Law & Policy” 2005; 6(1).
Himmelstein D., Thorne D., Warren E., Woolhandler S., Medical Bankruptcy in the United States, 2007: Results of a national study. „Am. J. Med.” 2009; 122(8): 741–746.
Iglehart J.K., The American health care system-expenditures. „The New England Journal of Medicine” 1999; 7, 340(1): 70–76.
Kohut A., Would Americans Welcome Medicare if it Were Being Proposed in 2009? http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1317/would-americans-welcome-medicare-if-proposed-in-2009. Accessed 19 August 2009.
Kresl H., Malone N., How We Got Here; a history of the American healthcare system with respect to organisational information flows. 2009 March 1.
Parson M., Disparities in health expediture across OECD countries: Why does the United States spend so much more than other countries? Written Statement to Senate Special Committee on Aging – 30th September 2009. www.oecd.org/dataoecd/5/34/43800977.pdf.
Quandagno J., Why the U.S. has no national health insurance: stakeholder mobilization against the welfare state 1945–1996. „J. Health Soc. Behav.” 2004; 45 (Extra Issue: „Health and Health Care in the United States: Origins and Dynamics): 25–44.
Schoen C., Collins S.R., Kriss J.L., Doty M.M., How many are underinsured? Trends among U.S. adults, 2003 and 2007. Health Aff (Millwood)” 2008 Jul–Aug;27(4): w298–w309.
Steinmo S., Watts J., It’s the institutions, stupid! Why comprehensive national health insurance always fails in America. „J Health Polit Policy Law” 1995; 20(2): 329–372, Summer.
Thomasson M., From Sickness to Health: The twentieth-century development of U.S. health insurance. „Explorations in Economic History” 2002; 39(2): 233–253.
Turnock B., Managed Care and Public Health: Strange bedfellows? Public Health What it is and How it Works Sudbury, „Massachusetts: Jones and Barlett” 2004; 122–128.
Weisberg J., Obama Brilliant First Year. http://www.slate.com/id/2236708/. Accessed Nov. 28, 2009.
West D.M., Heith D., Goodwin C., Harry and Louise Go to Washington. Political Advertising and Health Care Reform. „J. Health Polit. Policy Law” 1996; 21: 35–68, Spring.
Wilper A.P., Woolhandler S., Lasser K.E., McCormick D., Bor D.H., Himmelstein D.U., Health insurance and mortality in US adults. „Am. J. Public. Health” 2009; 99(12): 2289–2295, Dec.
Wilsford D., Path Dependency, or Why History Makes it Difficult but not Impossible to Reform Health Care Systems in a big way. In: Watson J., Ovseiko P., Health Care Systems: Understanding health care politics. New York, Routledge 2005: 355–383.
Zelman W.A., The Rationale Behind the Clinton Health Care Reform Plan. „Health Affairs” 1994; 13: 9–29, Feb.
Information: Public Health and Governance, 2010, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 111 - 20
Article type: Original article
Titles:
Health insurance reform in the United States: old lessons on a renewed debate
Health insurance reform in the United States: old lessons on a renewed debate
Published at: 2010
Article status: Open
Licence: None
Percentage share of authors:
Article corrections:
-Publication languages:
EnglishView count: 1954
Number of downloads: 0