In this paper, the authors provide a policy prescription for Canada's aging population. They question the appropriateness of predictions about the lack of sustainability of our healthcare system. The authors note that aging per se will only have a modest impact on future healthcare costs, and that other factors such as increased medical interventions, changes in technology and increases in over...

This study focuses on the use of alternative health care practitioners by Canadians aged 15 and over using data from the 1994-95 National Population Health Survey. A total of 17,626 respondents were selected. Consultation with an alternative health care provider or with a chiropractor was deemed to be an indicator of the use of alternative health care. In 1994-95, an estimated 15% of Canadians ...

Background Health financing is a sensitive issue that is currently being discussed around the world. Main concerns related to this are quality of health services and increasing healthcare cost. The most important features of health services that must be preserved are its equitability, affordability and quality. In many developing countries people are expected to contribute to the cost of health...

Introduction Health insurance premiums in California are increasing much faster than most other areas of the state’s economy. Between 2002 and 2007, premiums rose 86 percent compared to an overall inflation rate for the state of less than 20 percent.1 At the same time, policymakers and the public are eager to identify ways to address rising health care costs, often pointing to health plan admin...

This paper provides a review of the 10 significant publications related to benchmarking in health care. The discussion which follows is presented according to four headings: what the study did, how the study was conducted, what was learnt from the experience, and what the implications were for health care generally. The findings of this review are reassuring in that all studies provided valuabl...

The control of health care costs continues to be the primary goal of managed care. Double digit inflation in the health care sector continues to be problematic; although society as a whole has not declared what fraction of economic productivity is properly applied to health care. No student of the subject can help but be impressed by the circumstantial evidence that suggests that society is beg...

Offering employees self-care information, which encourages them to decide what to do for themselves with and without provider assistance, can be a low-cost, effective approach to health care cost management. Components of such a program may include a printed self-care guide, workshops, software and a nurse advice line. Self-care is a process, not an event and, to be effective, a self-care progr...

There is evidence in California of a broad decline in health care costs to employment groups adopting managed care and managed competition--premium reductions up to 10 percent. National comparisons and utilization data generally confirm the beginning of lower costs. Large California medical groups and health systems have responded to pressure by finding ways to reduce costs and improve quality....

Health care policy seeks to ensure that citizens are protected from the financial risk associated with needing health care. Yet rising health care costs in many countries are leading to a greater reliance on out-of-pocket (OOP) measures. This paper uses 2010 household survey data from seven countries to measure and compare the burden OOP expenses place on individuals. It compares countries base...

Over the past two decades, a wave of hospital mergers and acquisitions has resulted in many highly concentrated hospital markets across the United States. This phenomenon has raised concerns that consolidated hospitals are using their increased bargaining power to secure higher prices from health plans, thereby adding to the nation’s already unmanageable health care costs. A report by the Rober...