n engl j med 362;17 nejm.org april 29, 201

Four challenges face the nursing workforce of today and tomorrow: the aging of the baby boom generation, the shortage and uneven distribution of physicians, the accelerating rate of registered nurse retirements, and the uncertainty of health care reform. This article describes these major trends and examines their implications for nursing. The article also describes how nurses can meet these co...

Governments have been thrust to the forefront of health care reform efforts as growth in government health care costs was faster than growth in all other sponsor sectors in 1991. In the business sector, real health care costs per worker have risen 65 times faster than real wages and salaries per worker during the past 26 years. Households continue to devote 5 percent of income after taxes to he...

Peter Singer has proposed health care rationing that includes an invidious discrimination against people with disabilities. Unfortunately, Congress has codified the potential for such discrimination in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. But why should any public official have the discretion to treat the lives of people with disabilities as of "lower value" than the lives of an...

Series Editor's Note: This article provides a comprehensive look at many of the health policy issues related to children 3health insurance. It was originally written in April 1997 when the outcome of foderallegislation was unclear. Even though Congress has recently decided to increase health insurance coverage for children, however, the issues presented in this paper remain critically important...

Public hospitals play an important role in the delivery of essential healthcare in Australia as in many countries. The Australian Government has in the recent years implemented national healthcare reform to improve the performance of and access to public hospital services. This reform extends to all public hospitals including remote hospitals. However, there is limited information on how reform...

OBJECTIVES In national and local discussions of health care reform, there is disagreement about whether a national health insurance plan should be mandatory or voluntary. This study describes characteristics of low- income people who were more likely or less likely to be covered by a voluntary plan. METHODS Survey data were available from an evaluation of Washington State's Basic Health Plan,...