Coverage Matters

Coverage Matters PDF

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2001-10-27

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 0309076099

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Roughly 40 million Americans have no health insurance, private or public, and the number has grown steadily over the past 25 years. Who are these children, women, and men, and why do they lack coverage for essential health care services? How does the system of insurance coverage in the U.S. operate, and where does it fail? The first of six Institute of Medicine reports that will examine in detail the consequences of having a large uninsured population, Coverage Matters: Insurance and Health Care, explores the myths and realities of who is uninsured, identifies social, economic, and policy factors that contribute to the situation, and describes the likelihood faced by members of various population groups of being uninsured. It serves as a guide to a broad range of issues related to the lack of insurance coverage in America and provides background data of use to policy makers and health services researchers.

Care Without Coverage

Care Without Coverage PDF

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-06-20

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 0309083435

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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.

Why the United States Lacks a National Health Insurance Program

Why the United States Lacks a National Health Insurance Program PDF

Author: Nicholas Laham

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 1993-09-21

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13:

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Why is the United States the only advanced industrial democracy today without a national health insurance program? Laham aptly examines the reasons for the current health crisis and assesses the prospects for long-term solutions. Students, teachers, policymakers, activists, and citizens at-large will learn from this comprehensive historical analysis of the political and economic problems that have blocked needed reforms and of the debates and proposals through 1993 which argue for positive change.

Lack of National Health Insurance in the United States Prior to the Affordable Care Act

Lack of National Health Insurance in the United States Prior to the Affordable Care Act PDF

Author: Patrick Kimuyu

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2018-06-19

Total Pages: 10

ISBN-13: 3668730369

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Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Medicine - Public Health, grade: 1, Egerton University, language: English, abstract: The United States seems to be experiencing enormous challenges in public healthcare despite the numerous healthcare reforms, which have been enforced to enhance healthcare sustainability. For instance, the current burden of disease caused by obesity and its related health conditions appear to have become a potential healthcare problem because; the U.S Government has been spending colossal amounts of revenue to the healthcare sector to mitigate the issue. Recent healthcare reports indicate that, obesity consumes the highest percentage of healthcare expenditure and, this probably so because; obesity and its related health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, the heart disease and diabetes have been ranked among the top-five leading causes of mortality, in the U.S. In addition, other Non-communicable diseases such as cancer and arthritis are also exerting intense pressure on the U.S healthcare system. Secondly, the lack of national health insurance has emerged to be another significant challenge to the U.S healthcare, leading to the unprecedented surge of healthcare cost and inaccessibility to healthcare services. Healthpac (2013) states, “75% of all health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, many of which can be prevented, including diabetes, obesity, heart disease, lung disease, high blood pressure, and cancer”. Currently, there are about 48 million uninsured people, in the United States, which translates to 16.3% of the total U.S population (DeNavas-Walt et.al. 2012). It is surprising that the U.S is one of the wealthy industrialized nations in the world but, it does not have a universal healthcare system, which involves national health insurance and, this has led numerous healthcare consequences (Healthpac, 2013). Therefore, this research will give an overview on the lack of national health insurance, in the United States.

America's Children

America's Children PDF

Author: Institute of Medicine and National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1998-10-27

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 0309173930

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America's Children is a comprehensive, easy-to-read analysis of the relationship between health insurance and access to care. The book addresses three broad questions: How is children's health care currently financed? Does insurance equal access to care? How should the nation address the health needs of this vulnerable population? America's Children explores the changing role of Medicaid under managed care; state-initiated and private sector children's insurance programs; specific effects of insurance status on the care children receive; and the impact of chronic medical conditions and special health care needs. It also examines the status of "safety net" health providers, including community health centers, children's hospitals, school-based health centers, and others and reviews the changing patterns of coverage and tax policy options to increase coverage of private-sector, employer-based health insurance. In response to growing public concerns about uninsured children, last year Congress voted to provide $24 billion over five years for new state insurance initiatives. This volume will serve as a primer for concerned federal policymakers and regulators, state agency officials, health plan decisionmakers, health care providers, children's health advocates, and researchers.

Access to Health Care in America

Access to Health Care in America PDF

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1993-02-01

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0309047420

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Americans are accustomed to anecdotal evidence of the health care crisis. Yet, personal or local stories do not provide a comprehensive nationwide picture of our access to health care. Now, this book offers the long-awaited health equivalent of national economic indicators. This useful volume defines a set of national objectives and identifies indicatorsâ€"measures of utilization and outcomeâ€"that can "sense" when and where problems occur in accessing specific health care services. Using the indicators, the committee presents significant conclusions about the situation today, examining the relationships between access to care and factors such as income, race, ethnic origin, and location. The committee offers recommendations to federal, state, and local agencies for improving data collection and monitoring. This highly readable and well-organized volume will be essential for policymakers, public health officials, insurance companies, hospitals, physicians and nurses, and interested individuals.

Health-Care Utilization as a Proxy in Disability Determination

Health-Care Utilization as a Proxy in Disability Determination PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2018-04-02

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 030946921X

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The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers two programs that provide benefits based on disability: the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. This report analyzes health care utilizations as they relate to impairment severity and SSA's definition of disability. Health Care Utilization as a Proxy in Disability Determination identifies types of utilizations that might be good proxies for "listing-level" severity; that is, what represents an impairment, or combination of impairments, that are severe enough to prevent a person from doing any gainful activity, regardless of age, education, or work experience.

Crossing the Global Quality Chasm

Crossing the Global Quality Chasm PDF

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-01-27

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 0309477891

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In 2015, building on the advances of the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals that include an explicit commitment to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. However, enormous gaps remain between what is achievable in human health and where global health stands today, and progress has been both incomplete and unevenly distributed. In order to meet this goal, a deliberate and comprehensive effort is needed to improve the quality of health care services globally. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Health Care Worldwide focuses on one particular shortfall in health care affecting global populations: defects in the quality of care. This study reviews the available evidence on the quality of care worldwide and makes recommendations to improve health care quality globally while expanding access to preventive and therapeutic services, with a focus in low-resource areas. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm emphasizes the organization and delivery of safe and effective care at the patient/provider interface. This study explores issues of access to services and commodities, effectiveness, safety, efficiency, and equity. Focusing on front line service delivery that can directly impact health outcomes for individuals and populations, this book will be an essential guide for key stakeholders, governments, donors, health systems, and others involved in health care.

Why the United States Does Not Have a National Health Program

Why the United States Does Not Have a National Health Program PDF

Author: Vicente Navarro

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-05-23

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1351840673

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This book shows how the insurance industry and the medical industrial complex are the major influences in the health policy of the United States. They, and not the people, are those who determine the policies of the U.S. government. The volume shows how the United States could indeed provide comprehensive and universal health benefits coverage to the majority of the U.S. population at lower costs than the current health care nonsystem.

Understanding Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life

Understanding Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life PDF

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2004-09-08

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 0309165865

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As the population of older Americans grows, it is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse. Differences in health by racial and ethnic status could be increasingly consequential for health policy and programs. Such differences are not simply a matter of education or ability to pay for health care. For instance, Asian Americans and Hispanics appear to be in better health, on a number of indicators, than White Americans, despite, on average, lower socioeconomic status. The reasons are complex, including possible roles for such factors as selective migration, risk behaviors, exposure to various stressors, patient attitudes, and geographic variation in health care. This volume, produced by a multidisciplinary panel, considers such possible explanations for racial and ethnic health differentials within an integrated framework. It provides a concise summary of available research and lays out a research agenda to address the many uncertainties in current knowledge. It recommends, for instance, looking at health differentials across the life course and deciphering the links between factors presumably producing differentials and biopsychosocial mechanisms that lead to impaired health.