Health Care

Revision as of 12:47, 15 September 2009

LexisNexis Congressional

Healthcare Reform

If there is one thing in the current health care debate that everyone agrees upon, it's that the issues are complex. Congressional information provides users with the information they need to examine the isssues and form their own opinions based on fact.

According to a recent CRS report, more than 45 million people have no health insurance, and costs are rising for nearly everyone. The U.S. spends over $2.5 trillion (about 17% of the gross domestic product) on health care services and products. This is far more than other industrialized countries spend, but the U.S. scores on many idicators of health quality are average or worse than average.

Peter Orszag, the director of CBO, is of the opinion that health care contains the largest inefficiencies in our economic and that health care costs are the key to our economic future.

Sources: Health Care Reform: An Introduction, CRS Reports, CRS-2009-DSP-0503, June 30, 2009, LexisNexis Congressional Research Digital Collection; DURABLE-URL: http://www.lexisnexis.com/congcomp/getdoc?CRDC-ID=CRS-2009-DSP-0503

Hearings Testimony

Hearings testimony is a good source of contrasting opinions. All LexisNexis Congressional subscribers can access witness statements from the not-yet-published June 25, 2009 hearing held before the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health by using “Health Reform Legislation” as a title search on the Advanced form and limiting by date. Open the record and click on the link labeled Retrieve Selected Transcripts. The testimony is diverse.

For example, John J. Castellani, President of the Business Roundtable, testified that the recently released first annual Health Care Value Index, launched to track the impact of the U.S. health care system on our ability to compete worldwide, clearly illustrates the disadvantage American companies carry due to our inefficient and costly health care system. "If global economic competition were a 100-meter race," he stated, "the United States would be giving a 23-meter head start to our major economic competitors (Canada, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom) and a 46- meter head start to the three rising economic powers (Brazil, India, China)... To expand coverage for the uninsured while protecting the Americans covered through their employers Business Roundtable believes broad health care reform must be based on four key principles: creating greater consumer value and efficiency in the health care marketplace; providing more affordable health insurance options for all Americans; placing an obligation on all Americans to have health insurance coverage and encouraging all Americans to participate in prevention and chronic care programs; and offering assistance to uninsured, low-income families to meet their obligation.

Castellani argued against public plan proposals on the grounds that a public plan would undermine the private marketplace, but at the same hearing Howard A. Kahn, CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan, America’s largest public health plan, provided information on L.A. Care’s model to demonstrate how a local public health plan option can be cost- effective, preserve choice and competition, and improve quality. And Gerald M. Shea of the AFL-CIO, while supporting a substantial future for employer-based health coverage, also supported the creation of a strong public health insurance option to compete with private health insurance plans. He stated, “We believe a public health insurance plan is the key to making health care coverage more affordable for working families, businesses, and governments, all of which are increasingly burdened by escalating health care costs. A public plan would have lower administrative costs than private plans and would not have to earn a profit. These features, combined with its ability to establish payment rates, would result in lower premiums for the public plan.”

Research Ideas

To better understand the current situation, researchers might examine current Federal involvement in our health care system through Medicare, Medicaid, and Veterans Health Administration programs or assess Federal policies impacting the private health insurance sector. Researchers might compare current health care reform proposals with proposals from the past, including proposals discussed during the Clinton Administration. Or they might examine the development and implementation of national health policies in other industrialized nations. Or examine other public health issues, including information on epidemics, that might shed light on health care problems and needs.

Click here to view a handout on Epidemics

Click here to view a handout on Opposing Viewpoints in the Health Care Reform debate.

Click here to view a handout on the history of health care reform.

Click here to view a handout on Senator Edward M. Kennedy's work in the field of health care.

Click here to view a handout on coverage of foreign health issues in LexisNexis Congressional.

Click here to view a handout on research issues relating to Medical Marijuana.