Health affairs
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Historical Article
Presidents and health reform: from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Barack Obama.
The health care reforms that President Barack Obama signed into law in March 2010 were seventy-five years in the making. Since Franklin D. Roosevelt, U. ⋯ This article explores the highly charged political landscape in which Obama maneuvered and the skills he brought to bear. It contrasts his accomplishments with the experiences of his Oval Office predecessors. Going forward, implementation poses formidable challenges for Democrats, Republicans, and the political process itself.
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The federal government faces a daunting fiscal outlook, which makes the budgetary impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act even more important. The official Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis indicates modest deficit reduction over the next ten years and beyond. We examine the underpinnings of the CBO's projection and conclude that it is built on a shaky foundation of omitted costs, premiums shifted from other entitlements, and politically dubious spending cuts and revenue increases. A more comprehensive and realistic projection suggests that the new reform law will raise the deficit by more than $500 billion during the first ten years and by nearly $1.5 trillion in the following decade.
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The health reform legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama contains numerous payment reform provisions designed to fundamentally transform the nation's health care system. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these is the establishment of a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. This paper presents recommendations that would maximize the new center's effectiveness in promoting reforms that can improve the quality and value of care in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program, while helping achieve health reform's goals of more efficient, coordinated, and effective care.
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Existing research suggests that models of enhanced primary care lead to health care systems with better performance. What the research does not show is whether such an approach is feasible or likely to be effective within the U. ⋯ We analyze potential barriers to implementing the medical home model for policy makers and practitioners. Among others, these include developing new payment models, as well as the need for up-front funding to assemble the personnel and infrastructure required by an enhanced non-visit-based primary care practice and methods to facilitate transformation of existing practices to functioning medical homes.