hola
payment for Clinton's plan
either broad-based taxes or a requirement that employers provide health insurance for their employees or pay a premium into a public fund (covers medicare and medicaid). Clinton chose the employer insurance but small business community was opposed to bearing the cost of providing health insurance
Water Pollution Control Act of 1972
enacted in reaction to pollution of northeastern rivers and the Great Lakes. Required municipal, industrial, and other polluters to use pollution control technology and secure permits from EPA for discharging waste products into waters; intended to clean up the nation's rivers and lakes
Until the early 1960s
environmental protected was not a prominent element of federal policy. Policy focuses on conservation and the national parks; Nixon pressed for most of the nation's first environmental legislation
health care costs increasing
faster than any other good or service
congress forbade the medicare administration
from negotiating with drug companies for wholesale drug pricing as other governments would do or as the Veteran's Administration does
President Bush pushed for
further opportunities for oil companies to drill in Alaska's tundra; defeated by Senate
Louisiana Rep Billy Tauzin steered the drugs for seniors bill through congress
goal was to enroll 42 million elderly americans in a plan that would reduce their drug costs
60 cents of every dollar put into the gas tank of SUVs
goes to other countries
america does not have a
government - run health care system, nor a completely private one
democrats thought that
government should buy drugs wholesale and resell them at reduced prices
democrats want
government to subsidize drugs and control their escalating prices
Nancy Reagen
has become an advocate for stem cell research
American Association of Retired Persons
has grown from 150,000 members in 1959 to over 35 million today, making it the largest voluntary association in the world
a generation of environmental policies started mostly in the 1970s
has targeted dirty air and water
obesity
have the same effect as 20 years of aging; runs neck in neck with smoking as the nation's leading cause of preventable deaths
between clintons 1993 health care fiasco and Bush's reelection in 2004
health costs in america doubled; drugs prices soared
Clinton made health care reform the centerpiece of his first administration
his Health Security Act proposal was an effort to deal with health care policy problems: costs and access.
the health insurance industry has a
huge stake in the outcome of the debate on national health insurance
Water quality has
improved dramatically; in 1972 only 1/3 of lakes and rivers were safe for fishing and drinking; today it is 2/3; the number of waterfowl in us waters has increased substantially
bush's plan supported more health savings accounts
individuals could set money aside, tax free, to pay for their medical needs or even medical insurance
a program funded and run by the national government would leave
insurance companies without a function ( or a profit)
only about 4% of the US
is now designated as wilderness, and half of that is Alaska
Oregon took the lead on rationing health care, trying to set priorities for medical treatment under the medicaid program
legislature agreed to fund 587 of the 709 proposed conditions from its medicaid budget; Oregon does not pay for some costly treatments that might save or prolong lives, but it can use its resources to provide medical care to a larger pool of people
most common reason for losing health insurance
losing or changing jobs
stem cells
master cells that can grow into virtually any sort of cell in the human body; could help diseases like Parkinsons and spinal cord injuries
in 2003, republican run congress passed the medicare prescription drug improvement and modernization act
medicare beneficiaries would be able to get a price reduction on their drugs; is would cost $530 million over its first decade; seniors would pay an annual premium of at least $420
american spends ____ on health care than people in any other nation
more
Clean Air Act of 1970
charges the Department of Transportation with the responsibility of reducing automobile emssions
insurers
chose HMOs or restricted physician lists for the provision of care, negotiate with physician groups and hospitals on fees, and try to monitor most aspects of care to control unneccessary use
critics feared employers and insurance companies could take part in genetic discrimination
congress passed a law in May 2008 forbidding this
new medicare policy in Feb 2006
covered some obesity surgeries; cost $25000-$40000; nearly 200,000 americans get them a year
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
created in 1970, administers much of US environmental protection policy dealing with land, air, and water quality; largest federal regulatory agency
insurance companies have been making it more
difficult for doctors and hospitals to pass along the costs of others' unpaid bills to them, causing a cost crunch for some institutions, including inner-city hospitals and trauma centers that serve the poor
health maintenance organization
directly provides all or most of a person's health care for a yearly fee; contracted by individuals and employers
founded in 1916, the US has been a world leader in wilderness preservation
most consistently successful environmental campaigns in the postwar era have been those aimed at preserving such wild lands; now 378 national parks and 155 national forests
under age 65
most of the uninsured; young adults are least insured; less than 10% of children are uninsured
medicare is the _________ component of the federal budget
most rapidly increasing
medical rationing
mostly informal: physicians and families quietly agree not to provide further care to a loved some; some formal: medical boards have elaborate rules for allocating donated organs
americans pay ____ of their health care costs
nearly 1/5
Senator Arlen Specter
objected to the very name cloning or therapeutic cloning; he has argued that it is not cloning because it is not meant to produce a baby
defensive medicine
ordering extra tests to ensure that they cannot be sued
National, state, and local governments
pay for 46% of the country's total health bill; median for all industrialized countries is 77%
Clinton was concerned with guaranteeing health care coverage for all americans
plan would have particularly benefited people without any health insurance, but it would also have extended coverage for millions of others with inadequate health insurance
federal laws only regulate
point sources- places where pollutants can be dumped in the water, such as a paper mill along a river; hard to regulate runoff from streets, roads, fertilized lawns
republicans though that
price fixing by government was market interference.
United States relies on _____ to pay for health care
private health insurance (sometimes subsidized by employers)
most common means of access to health care
private insurance plans; began in WW2 when employers paid health benefits to attract workers; about 60% of americans get health insurance from employers
in recent years ___ have transformed the country's health care system dramatically
private market forces
US has the most thoroughly
privatized medical care system in the developed world
medicaid
provides heath care for the poor; serves about 42.7 million people
2007 average family paid___ for heath insurance
$12,100
cost of health care a year in US
$2.3 trillion
by 2008 gas was
$4 a gallon
Laurence J. Kotlikoff estimates US owes _____ for social security, medicare, and medicaid
$70 trillion
government subsidizes employer-provided health insurance with tax breaks for
$77 billion a year, benefits go to highly paid workers
aarp claims
1 in 8 americans
private insurance companies over ____ of american's health care
1/3
Health expenditures account for how much of GDP
1/7 15.4%; Canada, France, and Germany spend only 8-11%
medicare is ____ percent of the federal budget
12 %
number of foreigners who travel to India for medical care annually
150,000
US rank for infant mortality
18th
in 2015_____
20%
more than _____ physicians work for the fed. government
20,000
percent in texas of people who do not have private health insurance
24%
people without health insurance face a ____ percent higher risk of dying than those with insurance
25
by 2030 medicare will be ____ percent of the federal budget
30 %
Medicare and Medicaid consume ____ of GDP
4.5%; by 2050= 22%
only ____ percent of people below the poverty line qualify for medicaid
42%
number of people who do not have private health insurance in the US
46 million; 15% of national population
among those who call themselves social conservatives, ___ percent support national health care
59
in 1970 _____ today______
7%; 15%
average american life expectancy
77 years, lower than other countries; 24th among other countries for life expectancy
CAA amendments of 1990 marked one of the most radical innovations in pollution control policy
Congress permitted utility companies to use emissions trading, essentially the right to buy and trade rights to pollute on the open market; a utility generating cleaner fuel could bank its savings and sell them to other utilities around the country; actually helped reduce pollution rates
______ was the first president to call for national health insurance
Harry Truman; it was strongly opposed by American Medical Association
National Health insurance
a compulsory insurance program to finance all Americans'medical care
if you have medicare
a doctor will not necessarily treat you because medicare cuts back on fees that it will pay doctors and hospitals
americans compared to other countries pay _____ for health care
a lot
medicaid is
a means-tested program
a health insurance policy
a policyholder pays an annual premium and then is entitled to have the insurance company pay a certain amount of the cost of health care for the year
Medicare
adopted in 1965 to provide health care for eldery americans; Part A covers hospitalization insurance and short-term nursing care; Part B is voluntary and permits older Americans to purchase inexpensive coverage for doctor fees and other nonhospital medical expenses
doctor visits per person
are declining in US
skeptical environmentalist Bjorn Lomborg
argues that environmentalists overlook plenty of improvements in the world;s resource supply and environment.
conflict between the government and private employers is increasing
as private insurance rates increase, employers complain that they are paying inflated premiums for their workers to cover the costs of those who cannot pay or whose insurance provides only partial reimbursement for medical care
most common reason for lacking health insurance
being poor
medicaid is funded by
both the states and national government; in 2005 they spend $330 billion on Medicaid
at least 3/4 of doctors
signed contracts, covering at least some of their patients, to cut their fees and accept oversight of their medical decisions; these grew slowly in 1970s but tripled in 1980s and doubled again in 1990s. Today they cover 60% of americans, representing 85% of workers who receive health insurance
1990 Congress passed a reauthorization of the Clean Air Act
significantly increased the controls on cars, oil refineries, chemical plants, and coal-fired utility plants
american may generally be in favor of doing something about the environment
specific proposals to limit suburban growth, encourage carpooling, and limit access to national parks have met with strong resistance; VP Cheney once called them personal virtues
2/3 of americans ____ national health insurance
support
most americans continue to believe
that they and their loved ones are entitled to all the medical care they or someone else can pay for
since WW2
the entire federal budget has never amounted to more than 20% of GDP
people think insurance companies pay most health care costs but
the gov is more involved than private insurance industry
republicans want
to encourage private plans to get seniors drugs
a goal of most participants in our health care system is
to maximize one's health benefits at someone else's expense
two decades ago President Carter
vowed to make the US energy independent; now we are more dependent on foreign oil than when he made the pledge
bush argued that the market for health care
was alien to the medical care system
health care is expensive in america becuase
we like high-tech medicine which is expensive
Scientific American rebutted
with Science Defends Itself Against the Skeptical Environmentalist
evidence shows that Oregons plan
works well and that patient satisfaction is higher after the plan than it was before
with the Bush's plan the government
would lose $60 billion in tax breaks over a decade, more than the administration would be able to squeeze from cuts in medicare and medicaid