Many key health reform bills in the 103rd Congress include proposals to overhaul the medical malpractice system. One of the factors motivating such legislation is the practice of defensive medicine, or care that does not benefit the patient and is provided solely to avoid malpractice claims. Estimating the costs of defensive medicine is difficult because of the many conflicting and overlapping motivations facing physicians. Although our estimates delineate a wide range of potential savings, systemwide savings from aggressive malpractice reform could approach $41 billion over five years.
{"title":"How much does defensive medicine cost?","authors":"R J Rubin, D N Mendelson","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many key health reform bills in the 103rd Congress include proposals to overhaul the medical malpractice system. One of the factors motivating such legislation is the practice of defensive medicine, or care that does not benefit the patient and is provided solely to avoid malpractice claims. Estimating the costs of defensive medicine is difficult because of the many conflicting and overlapping motivations facing physicians. Although our estimates delineate a wide range of potential savings, systemwide savings from aggressive malpractice reform could approach $41 billion over five years.</p>","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 4","pages":"7-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21007606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ten years ago, federal officials predicted that an AIDS vaccine was just around the corner. Today--millions of dollars and scores of research trials later--AIDS researchers at the National Institutes of Health are deciding whether to test two promising AIDS vaccines. This time, officials aren't promising a quick fix.
{"title":"An AIDS vaccine: a flickering light at the end of the tunnel.","authors":"C Kent","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ten years ago, federal officials predicted that an AIDS vaccine was just around the corner. Today--millions of dollars and scores of research trials later--AIDS researchers at the National Institutes of Health are deciding whether to test two promising AIDS vaccines. This time, officials aren't promising a quick fix.</p>","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 4","pages":"33-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21007589","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Patient Protection Act: investing in patient care, not corporate profits.","authors":"J S Todd","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 4","pages":"28, 30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21007588","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Insurance reform may be sure bet, but will it work?","authors":"C Kent","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 4","pages":"5-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21007594","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Opponents of universal coverage argue that 37 million uninsured Americans exaggerates the "health care crisis" because most are uninsured for just a short time. But new estimates show that 54 percent of America's uninsured live for more than two years without insurance and three out of four live without coverage for more than a year.
{"title":"Estimating the real number of chronically uninsured.","authors":"T D McBride","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Opponents of universal coverage argue that 37 million uninsured Americans exaggerates the \"health care crisis\" because most are uninsured for just a short time. But new estimates show that 54 percent of America's uninsured live for more than two years without insurance and three out of four live without coverage for more than a year.</p>","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 4","pages":"16-20, 22-3"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21007585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The elderly are hit hard by high out-of-pocket expenses for medicines, but a stand-alone pharmaceutical benefit could cost the country billions and still not improve older Americans' quality of care. Such a benefit should be coordinated with patients' overall medical benefits. A systems-based pharmaceutical benefit is financially feasible through a combination of premiums and cost sharing, market-driven price reductions, and cost savings achieved through integrated managed care programs and improved outcomes.
{"title":"Designing an integrated drug benefit for the elderly.","authors":"A B King, B H Colligen, R A Levy, K R Cohen","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The elderly are hit hard by high out-of-pocket expenses for medicines, but a stand-alone pharmaceutical benefit could cost the country billions and still not improve older Americans' quality of care. Such a benefit should be coordinated with patients' overall medical benefits. A systems-based pharmaceutical benefit is financially feasible through a combination of premiums and cost sharing, market-driven price reductions, and cost savings achieved through integrated managed care programs and improved outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 4","pages":"41-5"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21007592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dismissed as a luxury only for the young or wealthy, medical savings accounts could be used by a majority of Americans--who are neither poor or chronically ill--to make cost-conscious choices about their health care. Current federal tax laws and insurers' inability to sell catastrophic group coverage policies pose obstacles to their widespread use and should be removed.
{"title":"Why medical savings accounts deserve a closer look.","authors":"G A Jensen, R J Morlock","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Dismissed as a luxury only for the young or wealthy, medical savings accounts could be used by a majority of Americans--who are neither poor or chronically ill--to make cost-conscious choices about their health care. Current federal tax laws and insurers' inability to sell catastrophic group coverage policies pose obstacles to their widespread use and should be removed.</p>","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 3","pages":"14-23"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21006437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
No wonder Americans are confused about which health reform proposal would best solve the country's needs. Many opinion polls conducted this year by the major news networks have focused on the public's approval of specific elements in the Clinton health plan, while ignoring its perception of the problem and alternative solutions. For polls to offer useful information to policymakers, pollsters must determine what the public wants, what it knows, and what paths it favors to reach those goals.
{"title":"Do health reform polls clarify or confuse the public?","authors":"K H Jamieson, J N Cappella","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>No wonder Americans are confused about which health reform proposal would best solve the country's needs. Many opinion polls conducted this year by the major news networks have focused on the public's approval of specific elements in the Clinton health plan, while ignoring its perception of the problem and alternative solutions. For polls to offer useful information to policymakers, pollsters must determine what the public wants, what it knows, and what paths it favors to reach those goals.</p>","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 3","pages":"38-41"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21006447","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Rick Scott: health care's $10 billion man.","authors":"C Tokarski","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 3","pages":"24-7"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21032381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"States take closer look at medical savings accounts.","authors":"A Holmes","doi":"","DOIUrl":"","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":79741,"journal":{"name":"The Journal of American health policy","volume":"4 3","pages":"55-6"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"1994-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"21006446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}