Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CHAPTER 8
Health Care: Transformation or Continued
Crisis?
SUMMARY OVERVIEW
I. Health Care: Historic Change
Spring 2010 witnessed historic change in Washington. After nearly of
century of struggle, debate, false starts, and incremental change, major health care
reform legislation passed both houses of Congress and received President
Obama’s signature. What presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard
Nixon, and Bill Clinton (and their respective congresses) failed to achieve,
President Obama and the Democratic House and Senate achieved – significant
movement toward universal health insurance coverage and the promise of
substantial change in the way health care is delivered and financed.
Yet the victory was by the narrowest of margins in an extraordinarily
rancorous political climate, following an ideological and political battle of epic
scale and complexity. That the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act (PPACA) was historic cannot be doubted.
III. Contemporary Policy: Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act
The federal government has long provided direct medical care to active
duty military personnel and veterans. Beginning with the establishment of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1937, the federal government has supported
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When policy analysts evaluate health care policy in terms of its intended
goals, a mixed picture emerges. Federal programs have helped to train thousands
of health care providers and to fund path-breaking research. Quality of care is
good, but not as good as it should be.
CHAPTER OUTLINE
II. Contemporary Policy: Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act
1. Medicare
a) Medicare Modernization Act of 2003
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b) Medicare Costs
2. Medicaid
3. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
a) ACA and Access to Insurance
b) Access Expansion
c) Medicaid
d) Spending Reductions
e) Delivery System Reform and the Quality of Health Care
4. Other Federal Programs
V. Summary
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• Which state provides healthcare to the majority of its citizens? How does it
deliver and pay for the healthcare provided?
• Is there a “right to health care?” What ethical principles and what arguments
might you offer for or against such a right?
• Compare the United States health care system to that of one other OECD nation.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of that nation’s system? What could the
United States learn from that country?
• How should the United States long-term care system cope with the coming
retirement of the “baby boom” generation?
LECTURE LAUNCHERS
• Discuss the history of health care reform and why certain presidents were
more successful than others.
IN-CLASS ACTIVITIES
• Break students up into groups and have them look up and compare the health
care statistics between “red” states and “blue” states.
• Break students up into groups, assign them a country and have them look up
health indicators, i.e., infant mortality rates, average life expectancy, etc.
Discuss whether the indicators are impacted by the level of health care
provided.
WEB LINKS
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part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-
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Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
www.cms.gov
Hastings Center
www.thehastingscenter.org
Health Affairs
www.healthaffairs.org
Modern Healthcare
www.modernhealthcare.com
TEST QUESTIONS
Multiple Choice
2. Which group is more likely to suffer illness and struggle to get access to health
care?
A. the homeless
B. the aged
C. the poor and aged
D. the poor
E. none of the above
7. There are several reasons physicians are seeking employment by hospital and other
organizations except for
A. Working conditions
B. Income
C. Research capabilities
D. Quality of life
10. The United States has made great gains in healthcare, surpassing Sweden, Japan,
England and Canada in life expectancy and infant mortality rates.
A. True
B. False
11. Expensive curative care receives more attention in the American health care system
than
A. Primary care
B. Health education
C. Disease prevention
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
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part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-
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12. Even though American medical technology is the most advanced in the world, the
United States still ranks behind ______________ in infant mortality.
A. Netherlands
B. Canada
C. Australia
D. United Kingdom
14. The 1999 Institute of Medicine estimated that 100,000 hospital deaths occurred due to
_____________.
A. lack of testing equipment
B. paperwork errors
C. medical errors
D. patients being too sick to cure
15. According to 2002 data, which of the countries below had highest health expenditures
as percentage of GDP?
A. USA
B. Germany
C. Sweden
D. France
18. Un-insurance is a dynamic process, but several groups are more likely to be uninsured
than the general population. These groups include all but
A. Persons living in the south and West
B. Those over sixty-five
C. Young adults
D. Low-income working adults
19. The percentage of the population having health insurance coverage has
______________ since 1980.
A. remained the same
B. increased
C. doubled
D. declined
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22. Among the consequences of a high rate of uninsured Americans are which of the
following?
A. worse health outcomes
B. financial burdens on families
C. "job lock"
D. all of the above
23. The areas and person with the greatest needs for health care are not the areas and
persons with the greatest access to care which means that medical care is
maldistributed.
A. True
B. False
24. Poor children tend to suffer more form chronic and acute conditions, not
including
A. Upper respiratory ailments
B. Elevated blood lead levels
C. Vision problems
D. Low hemoglobin
E. All of the above
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27. The largest share of American health care spending is paid by _______.
A. the patient directly
B. private health insurance plans
C. government
D. charitable foundations
28. Which of these countries does NOT have mandated universal health insurance
coverage through employers or private policies?
A. France
B. Italy
C. Canada
D. Great Britain
29. Which country actually provides Socialized Medicine for its citizens?
A. Germany
B. Canada
C. France
D. England
30. Which of the following health care issue has broader coverage in other nations than
the United States?
A. dental service
B. nursery homecare
C. eye glasses
D. cosmetic surgery
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part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-
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32. Medicare shifted responsibility for the health needs of elderly and disabled persons
from their family and charitable organizations to the federal government.
A. True
B. False
34. ____________ is a voluntary insurance program for persons age sixty-five and older.
A. Social Security
B. Welfare
C. Coinsurance
D. Supplementary Medical Insurance
35. Which of the following health care coverage were added to Medicare in the Medicare
Modernization Act of 2003?
A. Prescription drug coverage
B. Coverage for renal kidney failure
C. Hospice care
D. Home health care
36. Which of the following is NOT covered by Medical Insurance (Part B)?
A. outpatient hospital services
B. physician services
C. dental services
D. some home health and other medical services
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37. Which of the following is not a prime cause for the growth in Medicare costs?
A. higher hospital costs
B. increased death rate
C. higher physician’s fees
D. higher drug prices
E. advances in technology
38. Chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and arthritis accounted for more of
Medicare growth than hospital based treatment of acute illness such as
______________.
A. stroke
B. cancer
C. heart attacks
D. renal failure
E. (b) and (d)
39. Medicaid is
A. a program for the young specifically
B. a supplement to social security for all recipients
C. a protection to the aged population against the risks of medical disaster
D. a public assistance program funded out of general revenues
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part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-
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41. The main problems of U.S. health care can be grouped into which of the three
following categories:
A. access, cost, and quality
B. time, cost, education
C. education, age, quality
D. access, education, time
43. The Affordable Care Act was designed to respond to which financial pressure?
A. The rising cost of health care pressure on federal and state government budgets
B. Increased premiums and co-pays
C. Reduced levels of benefits
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
44. Which of the following features of the Single-Payer system of health care
administration do its supporters argue will reduce health care costs?
A. Reduction of administrative costs, such as billing and office staff.
B. Abolition of private, for-profit health insurers.
C. Centralization of administration.
D. All of the above
45. Which of the following is NOT an argument in favor of the moral imperative of
universal insurance coverage?
A. all citizens should have equal access to health care regardless of income.
B. National Health Insurance would drive up the cost of health care.
C. all citizens should have access to a basic minimum of health care.
D. The government should take responsibility for the health of all citizens.
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46. Health care reform will expand access to 32 million people by
A. requiring most citizens and legal residents to purchase insurance
B. mandates some employers to provide insurance
C. insurance market reform
D. all of the above
50. Many physicians and dentists don’t accept Medicaid patients because
A. the patients can’t afford the co-pay
B. they must accept the Medicaid schedule as full payment
C. it takes too long to get reimbursed
D. they have to prescribe generic drugs
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51. Which of the following are the greatest determinants of premature death?
A. economic status
B. environmental conditions
C. behavioral
D. all of the above
E. (A) and (B) only
52. The ___________ amendment bans federal Medicaid funding for most abortions.
A. Strong
B. Frist
C. Hyde
D. Howe
E. Johnson
54. Which of the following is NOT true of patients who use emergency room care as a
substitute for health insurance?
A. cost the same as basic care
B. patients remain ill longer
C. care received is often too little too late
D. patients have more disability
55. Labor and technology is a primary contributor to the high cost of medicine.
A. true
B. false
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56. Service intensity may be the most important cause of higher health care costs because
A. new drugs can treat conditions formerly requiring surgery
B. the system of payment procedures is an incentive
C. doctor can perform more non-invasive procedures
D. B and C
E. all of the above
57. The increasing number of persons 65 and over in the population has ___________
utilization of health care facilities.
A. increased
B. decreased
C. not affected
D. ceased
58. Which is NOT a technique used by managed care to keep costs down?
A. utilization review which includes second opinion before surgery or
hospitalization
B. disease management programs
C. use of a gatekeeper or primary care physician who approves when patient can
see specialists
D. computerized patient files
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Solution Manual for American Public Policy An Introduction, 11th Edition
60. The Supreme Court ruled that terminally ill people have no constitutional right to die
and, therefore, no right to physician-assisted suicide.
A. true
B. false
Essay Questions
• Compare and contrast the politics of Medicare from the politics of Medicaid.
What accounts for the similarities and the differences?
• Compare and contrast the rollout of Medicare with the rollout of the Affordable
Care Act.
• Describe how a single payer healthcare system would work in the United States.
• Explain why rural areas have poor healthcare services than urban areas and what
solutions could help fix the problem
• What are some of the reasons that many working people do not have health
insurance? Will President Obama’s health care policy help them?
• How are other countries able to provide universal health care? Are their methods
transferable to the United States?
• Compare how the elderly fared in the United States prior to the passage of the
Medicare and Medicaid? Although they are expensive entitlement programs, are
they worth the cost?
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