Why business is rushing to support NHI

Article Abstract:

Due to the excessive rise in health care costs, the business community is becoming more interested in the role of the government in financing health care. Health care accounts for 11 percent of the gross national product, and a large proportion of health care costs are paid by the business community. However, at the same time, 37 million Americans do not have medical coverage. A national health insurance plan is now being considered. A survey showed that 89 percent of Americans were not satisfied with the heath care system, and 61 percent favored a national health plan. Four different proposals concerning such a plan, including one developed by a group of 2,000 doctors, have been developed. However, Congress is currently providing only minor solutions to the problem of rising health care costs. The percentage of Americans covered by Medicaid decreased from 65 percent in 1980 to 38 percent in the current period, and many employers dropped coverage. Hence the percentage of persons with health insurance has decreased by 28 percent over 10 years. Subsequently uninsured persons do not seek preventive care or medical attention until their problems are very serious and costly. These expenses ultimately become the responsibility of paying customers. Because of health care costs, companies must increase the prices of their products. The four proposals for a national health care system are discussed, and include: (1) a Canadian-style plan; (2) a managed-care plan; (3) a combined Canadian-style and managed-care plan; and (4) a plan for the poor and uninsured. Various aspects of these four strategies for financing health care are discussed. The attitudes of the medical profession, hospital industry, Congress, and the business community are mixed, although most agree that the current health care system is flawed and must be modified. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Finance, Employer liability, Political aspects, Public opinion, National health insurance

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Redoing the health care quilt: patches or whole cloth?

Article Abstract:

The health care industry in the United States is in distress. Some of the principal shortfalls of our health care system are defined. The uninsured mass of 37,000,000 persons includes 12,000,000 children and a large number of pregnant women. The costs of care increase out of proportion to the quality of care and efficiency of health care delivery systems. Administrative and operating costs continue to skyrocket. The Medicaid program is regulated by multiple layers of bureaucracy, each contributing its own special incompetence. The health insurance industry is dedicated to profits, first; service and access to care are secondary. Insurance programs are directed at treatment, not preventive care. Clinical decisions are frequently based on the economics of malpractice, not the practice of medicine. Remedies that address some of these problems include: reform and expansion of Medicaid to serve the medically needy, not only those who are financially needy; Sen. Kennedy's "Basic Health for American Act-1987" which provides for some minimum level of universal employer coverage; Oberg's "Universal Maternal and Child Health Program" which provides services to those who require care on the basis of need only; the insurance reforms of the Pepper Commission; and a multitude of others proposed reforms intended to apportion costs and services on the basis of need. Recommendations that exhaustively change the current system include a copy of the Canadian system which provides universal coverage, the Claude Pepper Health Comprehensive Health Care Act, Mediplan (a proposal under consideration in the Congress) and many other alternatives. A new health care policy is urgently needed. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Health aspects, Economic aspects, Laws, regulations and rules, Medically uninsured persons, Health insurance, Medical care, Cost of, Health care costs

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