The current Medicare operation—reimbursing medical goods and services to a growing number of people without basing the reimbursement benefit on the actual cost of the services—is unsustainable, but there are some possible remedies.
A physician outlines the RAND Health Insurance Experiment and its conclusion that the deductible feature of consumer-directed health plans can reduce health care spending significantly.
Consumer-directed health plans will result in a more responsive and sustainable health care system in which patients will take more responsibility for management of their chronic conditions.
A residency program director supports a shortened 2-year family medicine residency program that emphasizes primary care in the ambulatory setting and also allows family physicians to receive additional postgraduate training in their specialty areas of interest.
Marguerite Duane, MD, MHA and Robert L. Phillips, Jr., MD, MSPH
Two physicians argue in favor of extending residency training for family medicine physicians to 4 years so they will be adequately prepared to participate in family medicine's new model of care.
Health savings accounts should not be the focus of a strategy to expand health care coverage to the uninsured, but should be considered complementary to more fundamental health care reform.
As health care coverage decreases and costs increase, the stage is being set for health care reform that includes adoption of a single payer health care financing plan.
An attorney argues that for the uninsured and underinsured, the limitations that exist with health saving accounts far outweigh the benefits and could be a threat to the existence of comprehensive health care coverage.