Category: Volume 2 Issue 1

Volume 2 Issue 1

How Losing Your Job Might Impact Your Health

Samuel Dresner

 

Abstract
Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the impact of job loss on healthcare utilization is evaluated. Employment is often tied to insurance and the economic theories about how job loss might impact healthcare utilization. The major conclusion from this study is that job loss seems to increase utilization of health care through its intermediate impact on worsening health outcomes.  This is an intriguing finding especially since an initial hypothesis was that job loss leads to negative health outcomes through the mechanism of loss of insurance.

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Volume 2 Issue 1

Uninsured Under the ACA: What Went Wrong?

Anurag Saraf, Linda Song, Kate Morant

 

Abstract
The Affordable Care Act was advertised to increase access to healthcare, however almost 27 million people still do not have health insurance. The reason uninsured rates persist is due to a combination of problems both in cost and in access. Approximately half of the uninsured today cannot afford health insurance primarily due to lack of Medicaid expansion; similarly, many do not qualify for financial assistance or are undocumented. The other half of the uninsured, a majority of whom consist of younger adults and minorities, are resulting from lack of access from not understanding the requirements or preferring to pay the fine. These major elements should be addressed in any attempt to repair the ACA.

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Volume 2 Issue 1

The Federal Tort Claims Act as a Precedent for the Future of Malpractice Reform

Beth Bentley

 

Abstract
Malpractice reform in the United States has been a contentious, and largely avoided, topic in health care reform and among policymakers. The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) provides a precedent by which malpractice reform might be considered. Under this Act, the federal government becomes the primary insurer, and only tries meritorious cases in court. Allowing the federal government to control these aspects of malpractice may save billions of dollars annually by minimizing the cost of malpractice insurance and preventing the practice of defensive medicine.

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Volume 2 Issue 1

Comment: Cost Containment Areas in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Suhasini Padhi

 

A system that forces you to choose between life-saving medications for your heart, diabetes, or allergies based on affordability, is one that has ample room for change. On analysis of the various cost-saving measures employed by high-income countries around the world, one common thread emerges – controlling pharmaceutical prices and policies (Stabile et al., 2013). The United States found out first-hand what the lack of a price cap means for drug affordability, when pharmaceutical company Mylan raised the price of EpiPen by almost 500 percent over the past seven years. At a price tag of 608 dollars, many parents balked at the prospect of not being able to provide an emergency life-saving treatment to their children, for a medical condition as ubiquitous as anaphylaxis. When patients found out that profit margins of the company went up from 8.8 percent to 60.3 percent, concurrent with 16 price hikes on EpiPen, public outrage was instantaneous, and led to a congressional oversight meeting to demand accountability from Mylan’s leadership (Dorfman, 2016). The resulting investigation revealed some troubling data about how the company was able to monopolize the market and dictate its own pricing.

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Volume 2 Issue 1

Comment: What Makes the US Healthcare System so Difficult to Improve?

Sam Grossman

 

The US healthcare system depends on a shared responsibility between private and public organizations to ensure that its citizens are properly cared for. This system has been historically inequitable, even after the institution of progressive legislation, including most notably, the enactment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 and the Affordable Care Act in 2010. As of 2016, 27.3 million Americans and two thirds of undocumented immigrants remain uninsured (Mossialos, Djordjevic, Osborn, & Sarnek, 2017). At the same time, the country’s per capita healthcare spending is the highest in the world at $9,364 US dollars as of 2014, while life expectancy (31), infant mortality (36), and male and female healthy life expectancy (28 and 29, respectively) rank lower than other developed nations (Berwick, Nolan, & Whittington, 2008; Mossialos et al., 2017). Despite these troublesome statistics, America is still the only industrialized nation without universal health insurance. It may seem that the problems involved in this inequitable and costly healthcare system can be fixed easily with increased access to public health coverage. Unfortunately, the political atmosphere surrounding entitlements spending is one of the most difficult barriers to finding compromise in healthcare reform.

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