Uncompensated Health Care Costs for the Uninsured

Uncompensated Health Care Costs for the Uninsured PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Finance. Subcommittee on Health for Families and the Uninsured
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Health insurance
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Get Book Here

Book Description

Uncompensated Health Care Costs for the Uninsured

Uncompensated Health Care Costs for the Uninsured PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Finance. Subcommittee on Health for Families and the Uninsured
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Health insurance
Languages : en
Pages : 114

Get Book Here

Book Description


Hidden Costs, Value Lost

Hidden Costs, Value Lost PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309133203
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book Here

Book Description
Hidden Cost, Value Lost, the fifth of a series of six books on the consequences of uninsurance in the United States, illustrates some of the economic and social losses to the country of maintaining so many people without health insurance. The book explores the potential economic and societal benefits that could be realized if everyone had health insurance on a continuous basis, as people over age 65 currently do with Medicare. Hidden Costs, Value Lost concludes that the estimated benefits across society in health years of life gained by providing the uninsured with the kind and amount of health services that the insured use, are likely greater than the additional social costs of doing so. The potential economic value to be gained in better health outcomes from uninterrupted coverage for all Americans is estimated to be between $65 and $130 billion each year.

A Shared Destiny

A Shared Destiny PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309168570
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Get Book Here

Book Description
A Shared Destiny is the fourth in a series of six reports on the problems of uninsurance in the United States. This report examines how the quality, quantity, and scope of community health services can be adversely affected by having a large or growing uninsured population. It explores the overlapping financial and organizational basis of health services delivery to uninsured and insured populations, the effects of community uninsurance on access to health care locally, and the potential spillover effects on a community's economy and the health of its citizens. The committee believes it is both mistaken and dangerous to assume that the persistence of a sizable uninsured population in the United States harms only those who are uninsured.

Health Insurance is a Family Matter

Health Insurance is a Family Matter PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309169054
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Get Book Here

Book Description
Health Insurance is a Family Matter is the third of a series of six reports on the problems of uninsurance in the United Sates and addresses the impact on the family of not having health insurance. The book demonstrates that having one or more uninsured members in a family can have adverse consequences for everyone in the household and that the financial, physical, and emotional well-being of all members of a family may be adversely affected if any family member lacks coverage. It concludes with the finding that uninsured children have worse access to and use fewer health care services than children with insurance, including important preventive services that can have beneficial long-term effects.

America's Uninsured Crisis

America's Uninsured Crisis PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309140889
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Get Book Here

Book Description
When policy makers and researchers consider potential solutions to the crisis of uninsurance in the United States, the question of whether health insurance matters to health is often an issue. This question is far more than an academic concern. It is crucial that U.S. health care policy be informed with current and valid evidence on the consequences of uninsurance for health care and health outcomes, especially for the 45.7 million individuals without health insurance. From 2001 to 2004, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued six reports, which concluded that being uninsured was hazardous to people's health and recommended that the nation move quickly to implement a strategy to achieve health insurance coverage for all. The goal of this book is to inform the health reform policy debateâ€"in 2009â€"with an up-to-date assessment of the research evidence. This report addresses three key questions: What are the dynamics driving downward trends in health insurance coverage? Is being uninsured harmful to the health of children and adults? Are insured people affected by high rates of uninsurance in their communities?

Uncompensated Health Care Costs for the Uninsured

Uncompensated Health Care Costs for the Uninsured PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Finance. Subcommittee on Health for Families and the Uninsured
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Health insurance
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description


Care Without Coverage

Care Without Coverage PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309083435
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 213

Get Book Here

Book Description
Many Americans believe that people who lack health insurance somehow get the care they really need. Care Without Coverage examines the real consequences for adults who lack health insurance. The study presents findings in the areas of prevention and screening, cancer, chronic illness, hospital-based care, and general health status. The committee looked at the consequences of being uninsured for people suffering from cancer, diabetes, HIV infection and AIDS, heart and kidney disease, mental illness, traumatic injuries, and heart attacks. It focused on the roughly 30 million-one in seven-working-age Americans without health insurance. This group does not include the population over 65 that is covered by Medicare or the nearly 10 million children who are uninsured in this country. The main findings of the report are that working-age Americans without health insurance are more likely to receive too little medical care and receive it too late; be sicker and die sooner; and receive poorer care when they are in the hospital, even for acute situations like a motor vehicle crash.

Overcharging the Uninsured in Hospitals

Overcharging the Uninsured in Hospitals PDF Author: James McGrath
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
In addressing problems with our health care payment system, one of the most contentious debates has been whether the United States should adopt a plan of universal health care. The debate intensifies over whether this country should adopt a single payer health care system, which one commentator describes as a system "in which a federal agency would centrally administer a single, comprehensive benefits package financed through general tax dollars..." Under a single payer plan, everyone in the country would receive at least some level of access to health care for which the federal government would pay. The federal government already pays for or subsidizes health care through many commonly known as well as many indirect and hidden programs. This article explores one particular hidden federal subsidy for treatment of the uninsured: a tax subsidy that results from unpaid, uncollected, and inflated health care bills. Acknowledging this hidden burden on the federal government, the article further erodes two of the common criticisms against adopting a single payer system in this country. First, many opponents of a single payer system assume that in our current multi-payer health care system, competition is necessary to achieve efficiencies, and that market-based economic effects efficiently minimize costs and provide adequate health care.5 Second, opponents of a single payer system predict that a single payer plan would require excessive new federal expenditures and higher taxes to finance such a comprehensive system. Providing at least minimal coverage for the health care of everyone could help utilize our precious health care dollars more efficiently. One of the criticisms of a single payer health care system is that it would require taxpayers, through the federal government, to pay for the health care of all Americans. The problem with this critique, however, is that the federal government is already paying for much of the treatment of the uninsured, in a way that is inefficient, inequitable, and ineffective. Whatever the problems with a single payer plan, any benefit from market competitiveness that exists in our current health care payment system is cancelled by its gross systemic inefficiencies. Part II of this article provides a brief history of the health care funding system and examines our current pricing scheme. Part III analyzes the current hospital pricing scheme in light of its effects on the uninsured. Part IV examines the adoption of a single payer system while recognizing less sweeping approaches that some commentators have advanced to address the immediate concern of paying for the uninsured. The mechanics of shifting our current system to that of a single payer system, or implementation of any other plan to overhaul our health care payment system, is a topic beyond the scope of this article. Such a massive structural change would be onerous, but preferable to forced change in the event of the current system's eventual collapse. Quoting Bill Clinton once again, "[t]he general point I want to make is that I think profound change has happened in societies when essentially people understand that the cost of staying with the present course of action is greater than the cost of change; that the risks of staying with the present course of action are greater than the uncertain risks of change." Although additional federal funding or some stopgap state response could address disparate treatment of the uninsured, this would merely ameliorate a symptom in the short term, while preventing treatment for the underlying systemic failure.

For-Profit Enterprise in Health Care

For-Profit Enterprise in Health Care PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309036437
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 580

Get Book Here

Book Description
"[This book is] the most authoritative assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of recent trends toward the commercialization of health care," says Robert Pear of The New York Times. This major study by the Institute of Medicine examines virtually all aspects of for-profit health care in the United States, including the quality and availability of health care, the cost of medical care, access to financial capital, implications for education and research, and the fiduciary role of the physician. In addition to the report, the book contains 15 papers by experts in the field of for-profit health care covering a broad range of topicsâ€"from trends in the growth of major investor-owned hospital companies to the ethical issues in for-profit health care. "The report makes a lasting contribution to the health policy literature." â€"Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.

Report to the Congress, Medicare Payment Policy

Report to the Congress, Medicare Payment Policy PDF Author: Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (U.S.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hospitals
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Get Book Here

Book Description