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You are here > Home > Reading Lists > Healthcare Policy & Politics > Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations Insuring America's Health: Principles and
Recommendations Softcover: 224 pages
The lack of health insurance for tens of millions of Americans has serious negative consequences and economic costs not only for the uninsured themselves but also for their families, the communities they live in, and the whole country. The Committee urges Congress and the Administration to act immediately to eliminate this longstanding problem. Given the growing stress being placed on the
nation's health care system, the exacerbated health problems, and the
substantial societal costs that result from more than 43 million Americans
lacking health insurance, the president and Congress should strive to
achieve universal health coverage in the United States by 2010, says this
report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The
committee that wrote the report offered five guiding principles by which all
proposals for extending coverage should be judged.
"In light of the adverse consequences that uninsurance has for individuals, families, communities, and society as a whole, it should be painfully clear that our nation can no longer afford to ignore this problem," said committee co-chair Arthur Kellermann, professor and chair of emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta. "We must find a way to cover the uninsured." The committee's five guiding principles to judge proposed solutions are:
The first principle -- that coverage be universal -- is the most basic and important. "Any proposal that leaves a significant number of Americans without coverage will allow the consequences we enumerated in our previous reports to continue," Kellermann said. To demonstrate how the principles would facilitate decision-making, the committee used them to assess four generic solutions to covering the uninsured. These prototypes include aspects of the broad range of proposals currently under debate, such as expansions of current public insurance programs, mandates on employers to provide coverage or individuals to purchase it, tax credits to subsidize premium costs, and a single-payer approach. However, none of the examples precisely reflects the proposal of any specific individual or group. This six-part series is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The six books in this important series include:
The committee's assessments reveal that each generic solution has strengths and weaknesses, suggesting that not only could individual strategies be improved with further refinements, but also that the best approach might wed the stronger elements of different proposals. However, any of these prototypes does a better job of meeting the five principles than the status quo, the report says. The escalating costs of the current situation call for prompt action, the report says. The committee set the target date of 2010 for achieving universal coverage to allow for the development, adoption, and implementation of a comprehensive coverage strategy. This date also is consistent with the federal government's own Healthy People 2010 initiative to increase Americans' life spans and quality of life and to eliminate disparities in health among different groups. The first objective of the initiative's "Access to Health Care" goal is to increase coverage to 100 percent by 2010. The committee recognized the current economic pressures on all levels of government and acknowledged that any plan to expand coverage likely will require additional public funding. Because the additional necessary funds depend on many variables, such as the particular benefit packages, the committee was unable to specify how much any of the prototype plans might cost. However, proposals that reduce the amount of time and resources needed to administer coverage could result in substantial cost savings, which could be used to offset the funding increases. Furthermore, the country will reap significant economic benefits from the improved health and enhanced life expectancy that will result from covering the uninsured. This is the final report in a six-part series sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The Institute of Medicine is a private, nonprofit institution that provides health policy advice under a congressional charter granted to the National Academy of Sciences. A committee roster follows:
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a not-for-profit organization driving the improvement of health by advancing the quality and value of health care. IHI is a reliable source of energy, knowledge, and support for a never-ending campaign to improve health care worldwide. We develop and nurture will, energizing a movement for profound change in health care. We spread improvement knowledge across the globe, and provide methods, tools, and other supports, largely through partnerships, for thousands of health care organizations to turn knowledge into improved results. We initiate and support innovation efforts, so as to discover, cultivate, and demonstrate the feasibility of new, more capable, designs. We exercise academic rigor in this work. We work to change the skills, attitudes, and knowledge of the workforce, both in the ongoing development of young professionals and in life-long education, so as to reduce profession-specific silos that limit collaborative effort for the well-being of patients. We seek to improve joy in work, and to help all who work in health care to become better able to help improve care. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. As an independent, scientific adviser, the Institute of Medicine strives to provide advice that is unbiased, based on evidence, and grounded in science. The mission of the Institute of Medicine embraces the health of people everywhere. The National Academies Press (NAP) was created by the National Academies to publish the reports issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council, all operating under a charter granted by the Congress of the United States. The NAP publishes more than 200 books a year on a wide range of topics in science, engineering, and health, capturing the most authoritative views on important issues in science and health policy. The institutions represented by the NAP are unique in that they attract the nation's leading experts in every field to serve on their award-winning panels and committees. Softcover: 224 pages
The lack of health insurance for tens of millions of Americans has serious negative consequences and economic costs not only for the uninsured themselves but also for their families, the communities they live in, and the whole country. The Committee urges Congress and the Administration to act immediately to eliminate this longstanding problem. If you are interested in policy or books about health care reform, please see our up-to-date collection here: Politics, Policy & Reform. (information provided by the publisher) You may also be interested in / The Directory of Healthcare Recruiters / Jump to a List / Health Administration & Leadership / Physician Executive, Medical Staff & Practice Management / Finance, Accounting, Economics, Billing & Reimbursement / Coding for Hospital, Physician & Clinical Services / Law, Malpractice, Ethics, Accreditation & Compliance / Quality Improvement, Outcomes & Customer Service / Risk Management, Security, Error Reduction & Patient Safety / Information Systems, Technology & Medical Records / Clinical Management & Executive Nursing / Behavioral Health, Social Work & Psychiatry Management / Human Resources, Management & Supervision / Directories, Data, Trends & Benchmarks / Software & CD-ROMs / Gift Ideas & Recommended Gifts / Journals, Magazines & Newsletters / Politics, Policy & Reform / Search for Books / Books Index / Go to / Home Page / Toolbox for Health Administrators / Bookstore |
