Reports Examine Health Insurance Reform, Single-Payer System NEJM Perspective Discusses New Medicare Reimbursement Rule

"A Roadmap to Health Insurance for All: Principles for Reform," The Commonwealth Fund: The report describes how health care proposals by presidential candidates and lawmakers fall into three general types: tax incentives and individual markets; mixed private-public group insurance with shared responsibility for financing; and public insurance. According to the report, health care proposals that build on a mix of private and public health insurance and share costs among government, employers and beneficiaries would be the most practical to implement (Collins et al., "A Roadmap to Health Insurance for All: Principles for Reform," 10/18).


"Comparing Public and Private Health Insurance: Would a Single-Payer System Save Enough To Cover the Uninsured?" Manhattan Institute: The report by Benjamin Zycher, an economist and MI senior fellow, examines the idea that a single-payer health care system would expand coverage and reduce costs. Zycher compares the costs of administering Medicare with the administrative costs of a private system and finds that Medicare administration costs are twice as high as is commonly reported. His analysis also suggests that a single-payer health care system would not yield enough savings to cover the costs of the uninsured (Zycher, "Comparing Public and Private Health Insurance: Would a Single-Payer System Save Enough To Cover the Uninsured?" October 2007).


"Nonpayment for Performance? Medicare's New Reimbursement Rule," New England Journal of Medicine: In the NEJM perspective, Meredith Rosenthal, an associate professor of health economics and policy at the Harvard School of Public Health, discusses CMS' decision to stop paying hospitals for care of conditions resulting from medical errors or improper care. Rosenthal also examines the effects the new rule could have on hospitals' behaviors (Rosenthal, NEJM, 10/18).


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