This paper reports on a re-evaluation of the German health care reform of 1997. A previous evaluation found a limited effect of a 4.4 percent reduction of the number of doctor visits in a sample of pharmacy customers. The re-evaluation based on a representative household survey, the German Socio-Economic Panel, yields a much larger effect. The paper uses this case study to discuss the methods a...

From the moment I took office, the central challenge we have confronted as a nation has been to recover and rebuild from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We’ve taken extraordinary steps to repair the immediate damage and lay the foundation for an economy built to last. And a critical first step on this journey has been taking action to restore health care as a basic pillar ...

The possibility of health care reform has helped focus attention on equity in the receipt of health care. This is a particular issue for the Medicaid program, as State variations in eligibility and payment policies have historically created inequity. This study examines equity for Medicaid beneficiaries and State taxpayers during the latter 1980s. Findings indicate that federally mandated expan...

The United States leads all industrialized countries in the share of national health care expenditures devoted to insurance administration. The U.S. share is over 30 percent greater than Germany's and more than three times that of Japan. This issue brief examines the sources of administrative costs and describes how a private-public approach to health care reform--with the central feature of a ...

Beginning on March 26, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments regarding challenges to the recent federal health care reform legislation. The Court scheduled this unusually lengthy series of arguments to last for three days—a reflection of both the high stakes and the complexity of the legal issues involved. Whatever the Court ultimately decides, the outcome will have ...

BACKGROUND The main challenge in the context of health care reforms and priority setting is the establishment and/or maintenance of fairness and standard of care. For the political process and interdisciplinary discussion, the subjective perception of the health care system might even be as important as potential objective criteria. Of special interest are the perceptions of academic discipline...

BY DOUGLAS A. HASTINGS S en. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) complained last week that the press had done a disservice to the country by virtually ignoring in its coverage of the health care reform bills the important payment and delivery system reform provisions. Now that the fate of comprehensive federal reform is uncertain, health care providers should not make the same mistake. Indeed, the loss of mom...

A new telephone health advice service implemented in September 2000 is integral to the Capital Health (Edmonton) Region's strategy to build a comprehensive approach to primary healthcare. Capital Health Link operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and was the first comprehensive nurse-based health advice phone line in Alberta.

Although some methods for eliciting preferences to assist participatory priority setting in health care in developed countries are available, the same is not true for poor communities in developing countries whose preferences are neglected in health policy making. Existing methods grounded on self-interested, monetary valuations that may be inappropriate for developing country settings where co...