Health Care Financ R
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Estimating spending for prescription drugs has become increasingly difficult over the past 15 years as extensive changes have taken place within the retail prescription drug industry. Expenditures for prescription drugs in retail outlets grew rapidly during the 1980s and early 1990s. ⋯ New mechanisms for reimbursing drug purchases led to the flow of rebates between manufacturers and insurers, bypassing retailers. These and other major industry changes required the development of new estimating methodologies for tracking prescription drug expenditures within the National Health Accounts (NHA).
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This article presents data on health care spending for the United States, covering expenditures for various types of medical services and products and their sources of funding from 1960 to 1994. Although these statistics for 1994 show the slowest growth in more than three decades, health spending continued to grow faster than the overall economy. The Federal Government continued to fund an increasing share of health care expenditures in 1994, offset by a falling share from out-of-pocket sources. Shares paid by State and local governments and by other private payers including private health insurance remained unchanged from 1993.
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Health Care Financ R · Jan 1996
Bringing managed care incentives to Medicare's fee-for-service sector.
The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) could work with eligible physician organizations to generate savings in total reimbursements for their Medicare patients. Medicare would continue to reimburse all providers according to standard payment policies and mechanisms, and beneficiaries would retain the freedom to choose providers. ⋯ HCFA could use new and existing data systems to monitor access, utilization patterns, cost outcomes and quality of care. In short, HCFA could manage providers, who, in turn, would manage their patients' care.
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Health Care Financ R · Jan 1996
Historical ArticleThe politics of Medicare and health reform, then and now.