Health Care Policy
Research Findings for Health Care Policy in the U.S.
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Definition
The prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well being through the services offered by the medical, nursing, and allied health professions. Health care embraces all the goods and services designed to promote health, including “preventive, curative and palliative interventions, whether directed to individuals or to populations”.
Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care
Raelene Reymore
Findings
View from George W. Bush
"To build a future of quality health care, we must trust patients and doctors to make medical decisions and empower them with better information and better options. We share a common goal: making health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans. The best way to achieve that goal is by expanding consumer choice, not government control. So I have proposed ending the bias in the tax code against those who do not get their health insurance through their employer. This one reform would put private coverage within reach for millions, and I call on the Congress to pass it this year.
The Congress must also expand health savings accounts, create Association Health Plans for small businesses, promote health information technology, and confront the epidemic of junk medical lawsuits. With all these steps, we will help ensure that decisions about your medical care are made in the privacy of your doctor's office -- not in the halls of Congress."
-- President George W. Bush
January 28, 2008
(Raelene)
"2007 International Health Policy Survey in Seven Countries"
The Commonwealth Fund [2]
This a summary of the findings from a survey completed by citizens of Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Participants were asked a range of questions about their health care and coverage in addition to the care they have recieved. The answers are represented in charts and graphs.
Christine Sandvold
"The French Lesson in Health Care"
Capell, Kerry. Business Week; 7/9/2007 Issue 4042, p98-99, 2p, 1 chart, 2c [3]
The article discusses the health care system in France. The author focuses on the mix of public and private funding for health care in France and contends that it offers a compelling example for health care reform in the U.S. The article outlines the system of care, discussing patient costs, doctor choice, and various levels of care. The motion picture "Sicko," directed by Micheal Moore is also discussed.
Christine Sandvold
"HEALTH CARE: HOW GOOD?"
Mehring, James and Koretz, Gene Source:Business Week; 2/16/2004 Issue 3870, p28-28, 1/3p, 1 graph [4]
Reports that Americans are, on average, less healthy than citizens in Europe and Asia, despite spending far more on health care. Statistics on the rise in the percentage of U.S. real GDP spent on health care; Claim that Americans spend up to 100 percent more on health care per capita than Europeans and the Japanese; Report that U.S. life expectancy is up to 2.5 years shorter than in Western Europe and Canada, and over three years shorter than in Japan; Comparisons by country of infant mortality rates; Reasons why Americans are less healthy, including a higher incidence of obesity and lags in childhood immunization; Assertion by the OECD that the U.S. spends more than other countries on expensive procedures.
Christine Sandvold
"How the United States Exports Managed Care to Third-World Countries"
Monthly Review, May, 2000 by Howard Waitzkin, Celia Iriart [5]
In the mid nineteen nineties European and American governments alike reversed a trend in Health Care Policy that stressed the necessity of Nationalize care. This rejection according to the article, may have resulted from the sense of failure and negative sentiment stemming from the Clinton Administration's attempt at nationalizing the United States Health Care program. Regardless of what caused the change in popular sentiment towards nationalization of Health Care, privatization is the trend today. The article discusses how large multinational Health Care companies have ventured into Third World Country markets due to saturation in the more traditional American and European ones. A running debate continues through the article showing the World Bank taking the side of privatization of Health Care in Third World Countries and other groups that say privatization, "...hinders the reduction of poverty..." in those countries.
Carson W. Bowlin
"Canadian Health Care In Crisis"
CBS News [6]
This article reveals the darker side of the Canadian Health Care System. Universal Health Care is something that Canadians appreciate and are proud of but it certainly is not a perfect system. There are numerous examples in the article of individuals being forced to wait up to years for treatments and surgeries, such as one individual who waited 3 years to get the torn ligaments in her knee fixed and a woman who was forced to take a bus to Vermont every week with her 5 year-old son because she waited 8 weeks for radiation treatment of her breast cancer. The Canadian Government is considering offering a combination of public and private Health Care. There are firm supporters and opposition to this idea. Much of the delays occur because of thee number of people needing medical attention and the lack of funding. Every one in Canada is covered under their Health Care system including the 200,000 immigrants that arrive each year. Funding is also a large issue, but already Canadians pay 48% of their income in taxes and in Ottawa 40% of those tax dollars are spent on Health Care.
Austin Bowlin
Financing Health Care Systems
France
The French Public Health Insurance System (PHIS) is paid for by individuals and employers as well a national income taxes and indirect taxes upon alcohol and tobacco. The French Health Care Fund covers 80% of the entire population, with two other funds coving the self-employed and agricultural workers. The individual's contributions to the PHIS has been increasing over the past years due to decreases in wage rates, this is being paid for via higher income taxes for individuals with more uniform health care rates than in the past. Not all French Health Care is national though. According to the French Embassy, 80% of French also have supplemental Health Care insurance usually given by employers. The Public Health Insurance System covers 100% of all medical costs whether an individual can pay for it or not, whether it is the individuals fault or not as well.
Austin Bowlin
External Links
BusinessWeek Debate Room: Universal Health Care (Austin)[9]
New York Times: Candidates Outline Ideas for Universal Health Care (Austin) [10]
John McCain: Stance on Health Care (Austin) [11]
Hillary Clinton: Stance on Health Care (Austin) [12]
Barack Obama: Stance on Health Care (Austin) [13]
World Health Organization (Austin) [14]
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Lauren) [15]
Definition of Universal Health Care (Lauren) [16]
