Why should public health agencies work with companies or trade associations that represent the business sector? Why should public health entities with altruistic goals work with companies that are primarily motivated by the desire for profit? The differences in mission, perspectives, and priorities create skepticism for public health officials about the motives of the private sector and the ben...

THE UNITED STATES IS A NATION IN WHICH 47 MILlion citizens have no health insurance, more than 16% of the country’s gross domestic product is spent on rapidly increasing health costs, and stark disparities exist in health care access, exemplified by 20% of the population currently residing in federally designated health professional shortage areas. These formidable challenges have led to renewe...

this policy brief discusses preventive care benefits and cost-sharing included in health insurance provisions of the affordable care act (aca) legislation and highlights some consequences to americans and the country in terms of healthcare costs and value.

Identifying and understanding the root causes of preventable hospitalization (PH) is important for improving health outcomes and reducing unnecessary healthcare costs. Thus far, however, the desire to address this issue has been impeded by a general lack of research on factors associated with PH. To begin to address this gap, we propose an evidence-based logic model of individual, environmental...

Assessing the Effectiveness of Health Care Cost Containment Measures Using SOEP panel data and difference-in-differences methods, this study is the first to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of four different health care cost containment measures within an integrated framework. The four measures investigated were introduced in Germany in 1997 to reduce moral hazard and public health expend...

We invoke a triple rationale to rebut Hooper and Spicer's argument against mandatory helmet laws. First, we use the laws of physics and empirical studies to show how bicycle helmets afford substantial protection to the user. We show that Hooper and Spicer erroneously downplay helmet utility and that, as a result, their attack on the utilitarian argument for mandatory helmet laws is weakened. Ne...

As healthcare costs continue to rise across the country more companies are beginning to look for new strategies to cut costs. The evolving health and wellness industry has been shown to reduce expenditures from costly medical services by improving long term healthy behaviors in the work force, aiming to impact the demand and supply sides of healthcare. This paper looks at the history behind the...

Introduction: There are little attention about health spending and public health outcomes especially in the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region. This  paper  presents  an  overview  on  health  spending  and  public health  outcomes  in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean countries during 1995-2011. Methods: This study conducted in 2013 use of health expenditure...

Illegal immigration and healthcare costs both continue to rise and cause healthcare providers to resort to increasingly desperate measures to control uncompensated care costs. This Comment focuses on the newest cost-shifting tactic—hospitals transporting uninsured, undocumented immigrants to their native countries. The story of Luis Alberto Jiménez dramatizes this new form of hospital cost cont...