The fact that most medical expenditures are paid by health insurance often blinds us to the actual costs of medical care. Despite the initiation of cost-saving measures known as "managed care" in the mid 1980s the cost of health insurance continues ...
Why have healthcare costs risen so precipitously? For one thing, the medical scene itself has changed, as Dr. William Schwartz, author of The Painful Prescription remembers. In the 1950s health-related expenditures comprised 5 percent or less of gro...
Are there approaches to health care or decision-making models other countries use that might prove helpful? Dr. William Schwartz comments on the results of his investigation of the British healthcare system. From an international perspective, most c...
Another factor in the healthcare equation is the efficiency of the delivery system itself. Many hospitals have not been operating at full capacity; some are closing for this reason. Hospitals with trauma centers find it particularly expensive to mai...
Competing need...limited dollars. Should more people be served a little less well or should medical care be provided, regardless of cost, to anyone who can afford to pay for it? Renowned health policy experts and health care professionals probe the ...
In the last few years, many healthcare solution strategies have been placed on the table. The fact that no definitive course of action has been adopted reflects the complexities of the issues involved. Equitable access to the healthcare system, many...
The figures are staggering. Forty-four million people in the United States are not covered by health insurance of any kind; two-thirds of the unprotected are children. At the same time costs for even simple tests and procedures are rising at an alar...
The question of who decides about access to healthcare in a particular circumstance is a major issue facing this nation. Kidney dialysis was just such an issue before it became a Medicare entitlement. Today patients and doctors find themselves fight...
Chinese medicine, as practiced by Dr. Ka Kit Hui, uses a systems approach to healthcare. "I'm very interested to solve problems, and I think that different healing traditions have their unique strengths and weaknesses." Dr. Hui has had success combi...
The insurance plan that is selected often influences the choice of a primary care physician who will provide periodic checkups, suggest preventive strategies, and respond when illness strikes. The primary care doctor recommends specialists when nece...