Health affairs
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Three key ethical issues should inform the broader debate about health reform: (1) Why pursue universal coverage? (2) Why is cost containment an ethical issue? (3) What is fairness in financing? After examining these issues, we conclude that the core ethical values underlying each of these goals-including expanding opportunity, sharing burdens equally, and respect for persons-limit the means that can be pursued in health reform. Although national health reform will not accomplish all of the objectives of social justice, true comprehensive reform-even under conditions of political compromise-represents an important step forward.
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Policies that decline payment in the event of hospital-acquired conditions have generated considerable public attention. Although the projected payment reductions are not large, small payment penalties have been effective in changing human behavior and ultimately in improving the hospital care experience for patients. ⋯ The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will refine these policies as appropriate. Other CMS strategies to reduce hospital-acquired conditions include public reporting, quality improvement initiatives, value-based purchasing, quality metrics and guidelines development, and national coverage decisions.
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In 1998 the medical costs of obesity were estimated to be as high as $78.5 billion, with roughly half financed by Medicare and Medicaid. This analysis presents updated estimates of the costs of obesity for the United States across payers (Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurers), in separate categories for inpatient, non-inpatient, and prescription drug spending. We found that the increased prevalence of obesity is responsible for almost $40 billion of increased medical spending through 2006, including $7 billion in Medicare prescription drug costs. We estimate that the medical costs of obesity could have risen to $147 billion per year by 2008.
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For decades Maryland has maintained a hospital payment system in which all payers-public and private-pay the same rates. This paper describes Maryland's all-payer hospital payment system-the legislative goals and principles that directed regulatory efforts in the state; how well the system performs in meeting these goals; and current initiatives on payment design, quality-based reimbursement, and their application elsewhere in the health sector. Maryland's rate-setting system is one of the most enduring and successful cost containment programs in the United States. Lessons learned are relevant to other states and provide useful bases for consideration of future health reform strategies.
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Millions of people lack access to affordable medicines. The intellectual property rules in the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) provide pharmaceutical companies with monopoly protections that allow them to market some drugs without competition by less costly generics. We examined availability of certain drugs in Guatemala and found that CAFTA intellectual property rules reduced access to some generic drugs already on the market and delayed new entry of other generics. Some drugs protected from competition in Guatemala will become open for generic competition in the United States before generic versions will be legally available in Guatemala.