Healthcare Reform
Augusta Harris, Emily
Zhang, and Sydney
Howland
History
• First Presidents to propose reform:
• FDR
• Truman
• LBJ
• Nixon • Health Insurance
• Clinton (Universal) Portability and
• Harry and Louise Accountability Act
• Bush • Medicare
Prescription Drug
Improvement
• 1940s, for-profit organizations begin
History (2)
• Most people agree that change is necessary– no one
agrees about what the change should be.
• Many proposals—employers pay
• Medicare
• Private Hospitals, Doctors
• Compared to UK
Court cases
Gonzales v. Raich (2005)
The business of insurance fell within Congress'
regulatory authority under the Commerce
Clause
Today:
• Companies agreed to negotiate as long as they
don’t lose money
• Senate complicated things
• Reform bill passed anyway on March 21
So..What’s the plan?
• Choices
• Can’t deny coverage
• Requires coverage for EVERYONE.
• Expansion of Medicaid
• Federal Subsidies, cheaper
• Employer Mandates
• Excise Insurance Tax
• Tax cuts for businesses
• Tax credit for low-income families
• Spread over 4 years
The Debate: Democrats
• Opposed to a simply privatized system—think the companies
are monopolizing the field
• Advocate for:
• New health plans
• Free preventive care (free mammograms, colonoscopies,
immunizations, and pre-natal care)
• Allow individuals to choose their doctor within their health
insurance network
• Allow people under 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance
longer
Democrats:
Opposed to:
- Denying coverage to children on the basis of a pre-
existing condition
- Take away health coverage from those who need it
most- “rescission”
- Lifetime limits and restrictions on health coverage
and hospital stays
Democrats
Willing to:
- Protect citizens against risky restructuring efforts
that would complicate or ration health care
- Encourage health promotion and disease prevention
- Facilitate cooperation, not confrontation, among
patients, providers, payers, and all stakeholders in
the health care system
Democrats
Not willing to:
- Put government between patients and their health care
providers.
- Put the system on a path that empowers Washington
bureaucrats at the expense of patients.
- Raise taxes instead of reducing health care costs.
- Replace the current system with the staggering inefficiency,
maddening irrationality, and uncontrollable costs of a
government monopoly.
Republican Viewpoint
• Most Americans work longer and harder to pay for health
care.
• Dedicated health care providers are changing careers to avoid
litigation.
• The need to hold onto health insurance is driving family
decisions about where to live and work.
• Many new parents worry about the loss of coverage if they
choose to stay at home with their children.
…
• The need – and the bills – for long-term care are challenging
families and government alike.
• American businesses are becoming less competitive in the
global marketplace because of insurance costs.
• Some federal programs with no benefit to patients have
grown exponentially, adding layers of bureaucracy between
patients and their care.
• Want Better health care for lower cost.
Alternate remedies to healthcare
problem:
• Reward Good Health Care Providers for Delivering
Real Results
• Drive Costs Down With Interstate Competition
• Protect Good Health Care Providers from Frivolous
Lawsuits
• Prevent Disease and End the “Sick Care” System
Green Party Views
- Healthcare is a human right
Willing to:
- Expand preventative health care through public
health care clinics and support for both traditional
medical/surgical care and alternative medicine
- Have the government cover all standard medical
procedures, treatment, diagnosis, etc. as well as drug
treatment, dental care, medication, chronic and
terminal illness, and abortion
Green Party
Not willing to have insurance companies:
- Insure only the healthiest people
- Deny coverage to individuals with “pre-existing” conditions
and routinely terminating coverage to those who become ill
- Keep our current system intact
Alternate remedies to healthcare problem:
Universal Single-Payer Health Care for everyone living in the
United States
2008 Green Party Platform from 2008 Chicago Convention Jul 13, 2008
Interest Groups
• APHA: American Public Health Association
• SEIU: Service Employees International Union
• AARP: Association for the Advancement of Retired
Persons
• AHIP: America’s Health Insurance Plans
Insurance Companies
Negative Impact: Positive Impact:
Reduction in government More competition among
payments to Medicare plan,
companies
Cannot put lifetime caps on
insurance Insurance costs will drop
Cannot exclude children from in the long run
coverage on the basis of pre- Can charge more for
existing conditions minimum packages
Cannot drop adults who are Increase in customers=
sick
less risk
The Disabled
• Community First Choice Option
• Rely on Social Security Disability Insurance
(SSDI)
• Rehabilitation and habilitation services in
addition to providing mental health benefits
• Work in Progress
Immediate Effects of Healthcare
Reform
end pre-existing illness
small business tax credits
Seniors get donut hole rebate
More Young Adults Covered On Parents' Plans
No Lifetime Caps
Adults With Pre-Existing Conditions Covered
New Insurance Plans Must Include Preventative Care
The End Of 'Recissions'
Effects cont'd
Transparency In Insurance Companies
Customer Appeals Process
Indoor Tanning Services Tax
Enhanced Fraud Abuse Checks
Medicare Expansion To Rural Areas
Deductions For Blue Cross Blue Shield
Nutrient Content Disclosure
Better Coverage For Early Retirees
Better Consumer Information On The Web
Encouraging Investment in New Therapies
The other possible solutions
• There are three options:
• Government controls
• Privatized
• Capitalistic flow (aka. A combination of
the two)
Government should provide
universal healthcare
Pro’s Con’s
• Equality for all • Not really possible for US to switch
today
• Less people go • Government controls would make
bankrupt due to it really expensive
medical bills • Inefficient
• Create jobs • Really expensive for the
government, would cost a lot of
taxpayer's dollars
Healthcare system should be
privatized
Pro's Con's
• Competition can • Expensive
control prices to some • Can deny coverage to
extent disabled
Obama's Program
• Pro's • Con's
– Helps out with – Puts a lot of pressure on
businesses the wealthiest
– Helps lower income – Even if it works, 23 million
families will still be uninsured
– Tries to streamline – Doctors may not like it
physicians' practice – Lessens freedom
– Covers the unemployed, – Constitutional?
many of whom were – Really expensive: $1 trillion
uninsured previously in 10 years
Recent Developments
2010 Midterm Elections- Target for newly
elected Republicans
Current Opinions:
Bibliography
• http://americangovernment.abc-
clio.com/Search/Display/200900?terms=health+care+refor
m
• http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id
=cqresrre2009082800&type=hitlist&num=1
• http://www.2facts.com/icof_story.aspx?PIN=i1500070&ter
m=healthcare+reform#h2
• http://www.gallup.com/poll/4708/Healthcare-System.aspx
• http://www.healthpaconline.net/health-care-statistics-in-
the-united-states.htm
http://www.democrats.org/news/blog/marking_the_six_months_since_health_care_and_new_be
nefits_take_effect
http://usgovinfo.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.apha.org/
Bibliography
http://www.bnet.com/blog/healthcare-business/big-winner-in-healthcare-
reform-insurance-companies-eventually/1267
• http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/12/03/lobbies_backi
ng_health_reforms/
• http://www.aarp.org/content/aarp/en/home/politics-
society/advocacy.html
• http://www.seiu.org/our-union/index.php?via=navbar
• http://www.ahip.org/content/default.aspx?bc=31
• http://www.apha.org/
• http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/healthcare/a/hrefdisabled.htm
• http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2010/03/22/health-care-vote/7388/
Photos;
• http://visualization.geblogs.com/visualization/health_access/
• http://www.theobamaupdate.com/wp-
content/uploads/2009/08/fairrington3.jpg
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HChOeYne
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Photos
http://flapsblog.com/2009/08/24/obamacare-47-million-uninsured-
americans/
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-srv/special/politics/8-
questions/pic02942.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
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6&hl=en&start=18&zoom=1&tbnid=84jTRzN5zSHflM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=1
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