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Government funding for organ transplants.

This paper examines the role of the federal and state governments in paying for organ transplants. The first section, descriptive in nature, presents data on the past, current, and projected payment patterns for different kinds of organ transplants under various federal and state programs. The second section, which is normative, considers the three principal arguments for and against government payment for organ transplants. These arguments revolve around efficiency, equity, and communitarian claims, and none of them is wholly satisfactory. The final section, which is policy-oriented, assumes that government financing of organ transplants will continue but will be fiscally constrained, and goes on to analyze a number of important payment policy issues in the light of broader principles. These issues relate to eligibility, comprehensiveness of benefits, reimbursement formulas, entitlement, and level of government. The paper concludes by predicting that as transplant procedures become less constrained by organ supply and more routinely performed, they will lose the privileged political position that they now enjoy and will instead be obliged to compete for scarce governmental resources with other social goods on more equal terms. Government policy should be designed to encourage this competition.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗

Having it all: national benefit equity and local payment parity in Medicare.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has identified two important problems with the Medicare+Choice (M+C) program: nationwide geographic inequity in government-financed benefits, and unequal government payments for M+C plans versus fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare in the same market area. MedPAC concludes that both problems cannot be solved simultaneously. We argue that both problems could be solved if Congress discontinued its policy of underwriting the cost of FFS Medicare. Instead, Congress should define a national entitlement benefit package and have all health plans submit bids on the package in each market area. The government's premium contribution should be equal to the lowest bid submitted by a qualified health plan in each market area. The contribution could be adjusted for health risk, the special obligations of FFS Medicare, and welfare enhancements associated with FFS Medicare that are valued by both beneficiaries and taxpayers but unrelated to beneficiaries' health status.

Aged↗

Czechoslovakia's changing health care system.

Before World War II, Czechoslovakia was among the most developed European countries with an excellent health care system. After the Communist coup d'etat in 1948, the country was forced to adapt its existing health care system to the Soviet model. It was planned and managed by the government, financed by general tax money, operated in a highly centralized, bureaucratic fashion, and provided service at no direct charge at the time of service. In recent years, the health care system had been deteriorating as the health of the people had also been declining. Life expectancy, infant mortality rates, and diseases of the circulatory system are higher than in Western European countries. In 1989, political changes occurred in Czechoslovakia that made health care reform possible. Now health services are being decentralized, and the ownership of hospitals is expected to be transferred to communities, municipalities, churches, charitable groups, or private entities. Almost all health leaders, including hospital directors and hospital department heads, have been replaced. Physicians will be paid according to the type and amount of work performed. Perhaps the most important reform is the establishment of an independent General Health Care Insurance Office financed directly by compulsory contributions from workers, employers, and government that will be able to negotiate with hospitals and physicians to determine payment for services.

Communism↗

Lessons from New Zealand for England's NHS Foundation Trusts.

The legislation to devolve responsibility for the management and operation of England's top-performing NHS hospitals to community-owned NHS Foundation Trusts raises several issues relating to the challenges posed to governance structures by private non-profit ownership and control of assets used to provide government-financed services. Building upon the lessons learned from devolution of public hospital governance in New Zealand to boards at arm's-length from central control during the 1990s, this paper analyses the English NHS hospital changes. Whilst local political accountability and competition between hospitals indicate that the English reforms may be more successful in meeting patients' needs more efficiently than the New Zealand reforms, the English proposals may be compromised by the ability of staff to become members of Trusts, boards bearing risks of decisions outside their control whilst simultaneously being insulated from the consequences of their decisions by a 'soft budget constraint', and conflicts of interest as boards simultaneously act as agents of both central regulators and local beneficiaries.

Decision Making, Organizational↗

Projections of national health expenditures, 1980, 1985, and 1990.

This paper presents projections of national health expenditures by type of expenditure and sources of funds for 1980, 1985, and 1990. A major purpose of these projections is to provide a baseline for health care expenditures in the absence of national health insurance and cost containment. Rapid growth in health expenditures is projected to continue to 1990. National health expenditures increased 350 percent between 1965 and 1978, reaching $192 billion in 1978. They are projected to reach $245 billion in 1980, $440 billion in 1985 and $760 billion in 1990, under current legislation. As a proportion of the Gross National Product (GNP), health expenditures rose from 6.2 percent to 9.1 percent between 1965 and 1978. They are projected to continue to rise, reaching 10.5 percent by 1985 and 11.5 percent by 1990. Sources of payments for these expenditures are also shifting. From 1965 to 1978, the percentage of total health expenditures that was government financed increased 16 percentage points, from 25 to 41 percent. The Federal share of public funds during the same period grew rapidly, from 53 percent in 1965 to 69 percent in 1978. In 1985, approximately 42 percent of total health spending is projected to be financed from public funds, of which 72 percent will be paid by the Federal government. Public funds are expected to account for 43 percent of total national health expenditures by 1990.

Financing, Government↗

Social and economic impacts of carbon sequestration and land use change on peasant households in rural China: a case study of Liping, Guizhou Province.

Numerous innovative approaches to mitigate effects of excessive emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) on global climate change are being proposed and formulated. Sequestering carbon to terrestrial ecosystems represents one of the important clean development mechanisms. Reforestation through converting various non-forest lands to forests is undoubtedly an important dimension of carbon sequestration. Using Liping County in Guizhou Province as a case region, this study examines the perceived change in social and economic livelihoods of peasants and the factors responsible for the variations in the changes. The results of the study reveal that socio-economic changes associated with the government-financed project are multifaceted and profound. Because of the financial subsidies provided by the central government, this environmental action in many aspects can be regarded as a poverty reduction measure in the underdeveloped area where rural poverty is widespread. A majority of peasant households have benefited from project participation. The land conversion project with continued financial support also contributes to the social transformations of traditional rural society in remote areas to a more mobile, less subsistence agriculture-based, and open society.

Agriculture↗

Occupational hierarchy, economic sector, and mortality from cardiovascular disease among men and women. Findings from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study.

PURPOSE: Although socioeconomic position has been identified as a determinant of cardiovascular disease among employed men and women in the U.S., the role of economic sector in shaping this relationship has yet to be examined. We sought to estimate the combined effects of economic sector-one of the three major sectors of the economy: finance, government and production-and socioeconomic position on cardiovascular mortality among employed men and women. METHODS: Approximately 375,000 men and women 25 years of age or more were identified from selected Current Population Surveys between 1979 and 1985. These persons were followed for cardiovascular mortality through use of the National Death Index for the years 1979 through 1989. RESULTS: In men, the lowest cardiovascular mortality was found for professionals in the finance sector (76/100,000 person/years). The highest cardiovascular mortality was found among male non-professional workers in the production sector (192/100,000 person years). A different pattern was observed among women. Professional women in the finance sector had the highest rates of cardiovascular mortality (133/100,000 person years). For both men and women, the professional/non-professional gap in cardiovascular mortality was lower in the government sector than in the production and finance sectors. These associations were strong even after adjustment for age, race and income. CONCLUSIONS: Characteristics of government, finance and production work differentially influence the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality. Men, women, professionals and non-professionals experience this risk differently.

Adult↗

Financing rural health and medical services.

The provision and utilization of health care services in rural areas are tied directly to the structure of financing. The model of rural health care shaped by federal policies over three decades was significantly altered by changes during the 1980s. With reactions of third-party payers to health care costs rising faster than inflation, the difficulty of accommodating access to care and cost efficiency in provision became evident. This review begins with the literature on patient services and capital financing of rural hospitals, then continues with the financing of clinics, community centers, and other supply forms. Research during the 1980s provides insight into the effects of various financing policies on the supply of services. The demand for health care in rural areas is characterized by less generous third-party coverage, leaving residents paying a larger share of their incomes for care than do urban residents. As a consequence, access to care is especially difficult for low-income and elderly people, heavily dependent upon government financing. Third-party payers have severely reduced cost shifting as a mechanism for taking care of the health care needs of a sizable share of the population, thereby placing providers in an uncomfortable position. Several potential and more formalized financing options for replacing cost shifting are discussed. Several important changes will take place with rural-focused legislation enacted in the late 1980s. These are used to present a rural financing research agenda for the 1990s.

Capital Financing↗

The introduction of clinical magnetic resonance imaging in Australia.

Magnetic resonance imaging is a new, but expensive, modality that is being introduced into clinical use in Australia. While it promises increased safety and accuracy in many situations, its precise role when compared with computed tomography and other modalities is not fully established. Therefore, a Government financed evaluation of costs and efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging units in five teaching hospitals is to be conducted over two years (1986-1988). Experience with the introduction of computed tomography to Australia and other nations has revealed difficulties in the evaluation by conventional methods of a diagnostic technology that is improving rapidly; it is to be hoped that a systematic evaluation of the clinical applications of magnetic resonance imaging will be more achievable and useful. Open cooperation between the Commonwealth and State Governments and the medical profession in this evaluation should lead to a rational policy for the clinical availability of magnetic resonance imaging within Australia in the future.

Australia↗

The Human Genome Project after a decade: policy issues.

The Human Genome Project began a decade ago, its early momentum fueled by two reports. A report from the National Research Council (NRC) in February 1998 endorsed the project and provided the basis for the first joint plan by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy (DOE). A report from the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in April 1988, provided Congress with a means to assess the roles of NIH and DOE. Both reports highlighted the importance of genomics and emphasized the need for a concerted research program. The committees did not predict the large investment of private funds or the extensive patenting of sequences, and they underestimated the rate of progress. Overall, though, the consensus-building provided by the committees helped to set the blueprint for one of the great success stories in modern biology.

Advisory Committees↗

From flywheel to dovetail.

Education and research can be considered as important investments in society. Government financing greatly outweighs market relationships, but policy today aims at more involvement of industry. Government regulations relating to universities appeared to be an insufficient guarantee that research generates applications. In order to improve the knowledge transfer several measures have been taken concerning education and the financing structure for universities, including shorter graduation time, another system of financing for research, revolving funds and deregulation. It is hoped that the re-establishment of the pricing mechanism will be profitable for market relationships relating to research and education.

Drug Industry↗