The Facts

Reports

Health Care For America

A proposal for guaranteed, affordable health care for all Americans building on Medicare and employment-based insurance

Health Care For America allows people to keep the health care coverage they have and offers Americans the choice to buy into a public plan like Medicare. It combines personal responsibility and an employer contribution to create a new framework ensuring that everyone is covered. more »

Envisioning the Future: The 2008 Presidential Candidates' Health Reform Proposals

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This report analyzes the health care proposals of eight Democratic and Republican 2008 presidential candidates—Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Rudolph Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Dennis Kucinich, John McCain, Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney. Their approaches to health insurance reform fall into three categories: 1) proposals that emphasize tax incentives for obtaining insurance through the individual market (Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain, Romney); 2) proposals that build on existing private and public group insurance with shared responsibility for financing coverage (Clinton, Edwards, Obama); and 3) proposals that aim to cover everyone through publicly sponsored insurance systems like Medicare (Kucinich). The report examines differences among the proposals, and evaluates them against key principles like affordability, provision of essential services, financial protection, streamlined administration, and fair financing. more »

Fast Facts

Molly Swartz's picture

CAF STAFF

Medicare becoming more cost-efficient

Medicare cost savings rose to $1.2 billion in 2006 from $136 million in 2001

Source
"Fewer Heart Attacks and Related Hospital Admissions Offset Rising Medicare Costs" PR-USA.net, 10 April 2008. http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=96792&Itemid=9
Molly Swartz's picture

CAF STAFF

Pharmacy Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Contributes to High Costs for Medicare Part D

Approximately 1 percent of prescription costs are likely due to fraud, waste, or abuse. This amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs for the Medicare Part D program and its beneficiaries.

Source
“Prompt Payment” Mandates Would Raise Costs Due to Pharmacy Fraud, Waste, and Abuse" Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, April 2008. http://www.pcmanet.org/assets/2008-04-10_Research_FINAL%20Fraud%20Detection%20Survey%20Findings%20April%202008.pdf

Fact Sheets and Briefs

Health Insurance Coverage of Women Ages 18 to 64, by State, 2005- 2006

This fact sheet provides state-by-state data on the uninsured rate, as well as rates of private insurance coverage and Medicaid coverage, among women nationally, in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. more »

Trends in Health Care Costs and Spending

This September 2007 fact sheet on health care costs presents key statistics about the growth, level and impact of rising U.S. health care costs. It covers spending on various medical services, sources of health spending, employer-sponsored health coverage and the impact on businesses and people. more »

Public Pulse

Eric Lotke's picture

CAF STAFF

Doctors support universal health care

More than half (59%) of U.S. doctors now favor switching to a national health insurance program ; fewer than a third (32%) oppose the idea, according to a new survey published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Source
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN3143203520080331
Alex Carter's picture

CAF STAFF

Voters are Angry as Costs are Major Concerns!

Voters are increasingly angry about an economy in which wages are flat and costs keep rising. Costs cause the most tension, especially health care. Even as the housing crisis was breaking, a Wall Street Journal poll of adults from July 2007 found that “the cost of health care” ranked as the biggest economic issue (44%), with “jobs going overseas” ranking second (34%). more »

Source
NBC News/Wall Street Journal, July 27-30, 2007 survey of adults. http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/WSJ0707_poll.pdf Washington Post-ABC News Poll, survey of adults, January 9-12, 2008. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_011408.html