Selling Cost Containment

Health care expenditures in the United States have continued to grow despite efforts to control them. This Article discusses the need for health care reform, outlines the model that reform should follow, and considers why the United States has not progressed toward a workable solution. It introduces a single-payer approach to cost containment and explains how such an approach could be “sold” in the United States. Finally, the Article examines various ways to mobilize support for such health care reform.

Download Full-text

Emerging Hybrids? Health Care Policy Research in Canada and the United States

Practicing Anthropology ◽

10.17730/praa.34.2.715198t603380549 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 34 (2) ◽

pp. 13-18

Author(s):

Denver Lewellen

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Health Care ◽

Health Care Policy ◽

Policy Research ◽

Health Care Expenditures ◽

The United States ◽

Western Hemisphere ◽

Public Expenditures ◽

Single Payer ◽

And Shifts

Since the 1980s, reductions in public expenditures stemming from neoliberal economic pressures have resulted in health care restructuring within the western hemisphere for single-payer systems as well as within the tiered health care system in the United States. These initiatives commenced alongside the fallout of economic crises in core capitalist countries beginning in the 1970s (see MacGregor 2001; Navarro 1996). In Canada and the United States, resulting reductions in health care expenditures have led to the downsizing of inpatient services and shifts towards outpatient community care.

Download Full-text

The Future of Primary Care in a Managed Care Era

International Journal of Health Services ◽

10.2190/fl2w-eljx-l54v-tykh ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 687-696 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Barbara Starfield

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Primary Care ◽

Health Care ◽

Health Care Reform ◽

Cost Containment ◽

The United States ◽

Health Needs ◽

Ultimate Outcome ◽

Market Driven ◽

First Contact

Health care reform in the United States and elsewhere raises many questions about equity and effectiveness of health services. Although the impetus has been cost containment, the reforms have often been justified on the grounds that they will enhance primary care. In this article, health care reform efforts are divided into two types: market-driven, demand-based systems versus systems predicated on meeting population health needs. The two “scenarios” are contrasted with regard to their likely impact on the attainment of primary care characteristics: first-contact care, longitudinality, comprehensive services, and coordination. Since the ultimate outcome of these reforms cannot be predicted, there is compelling need for evaluating them as they proceed.

Download Full-text

Health Care Reform in the United States: Radical Surgery Needed Now More Than Ever

January 2018 - Pain Physician ◽

10.36076/ppj.2008/11/13 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 1;11 (1;1) ◽

pp. 13-42

Author(s):

Laxmaiah Manchikanti

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Health Care ◽

Health Care Reform ◽

Radical Surgery ◽

Health Care Systems ◽

Health Care Expenditures ◽

The United States ◽

American Health Care System ◽

American Health Care ◽

Per Capita

It is often claimed that American health care provides good medical care, but the system through which that care is financed is falling apart. In 1994, Joseph A. Califano, Jr., former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare reported that the American health care system was in such turmoil, that it needed radical surgery. Health care in the United States is different from other countries. Health care costs in America have skyrocketed and in 2006 occupied 16% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with a budget of over $2 trillion. Health care expenditures per capita in the United States are higher than 13 other countries utilized in a sample by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Estimated spending according to wealth was utilized to measure each country’s health care spending in comparison to each other. This measure, including various parameters (undoubtedly some have been missed), largely showed that after adjusting to its higher per capita income levels, the United States spends $477 billion - $1,645 per capita more on health care than any other peer country. Many health care proposals have been forwarded since 1965, when Lyndon Johnson succeeded in enacting Medicare. These come from Republicans, Democrats, Independents, physicians, insurers, non-partisan and partisan groups. However, none has been able to provide a guaranteed proposal to fix the health care ills and also provide reasonable coverage. This manuscript will review escalating national health care expenditures, factors contributing to health care increases, health care systems in many other countries, and various proposals. Key words: Health care reform, Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, Estimated Spending According to Wealth (ESAW), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), universal health care, managed health care reform

Download Full-text

Further Refinements of Canadian/U.S. Health Cost Containment Measures

International Journal of Health Services ◽

10.2190/lwpl-hxkx-lyjm-pvgn ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 23 (1) ◽

pp. 63-67 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Ardeshir Sepehri ◽

Robert Chernomas

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Health Care ◽

Cost Containment ◽

Rapid Growth ◽

The United States ◽

Annual Growth Rate ◽

Canadian Health Care System ◽

Single Payer ◽

Canadian Health ◽

Containment Measures

Critics of the Canadian health care system have argued that the lower health care share of gross national product (GNP) in Canada relative to the United States is more likely to be associated with a relatively more rapid growth in GNP in Canada than with the ability of the Canadian single-payer system to contain costs. In this article the authors use both the level and the average annual growth rate of health care's share of GNP to provide an assessment of cost containment for the United States and Canada. They conclude that the suggestion that the success of the Canadian system has been an illusion created by its more rapid growth in GNP is not supported once the appropriate adjustments are made to the data.

Download Full-text