Essentials of Health Policy and Law

by Teitelbaum, Joel B.; Wilensky, Sara E.

• ISBN13: 9780763734428
• ISBN10: 076373442X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-03-09
• Publisher: Jones & Bartlett

Summary

Public opinion polls, media coverage, and policy debates at all levels of government and in private industry attest to the important place that health care and public health hold in the minds of the American public, policymakers, and lawmakers. The questions are well known: What effect is healthcare spending having on national and state economies? What policies will best protect the privacy of personal health information in an increasingly electronic medical system? How do we address the existant health disparities based on race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status?

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. vii
Series Page	p. ix
Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xv
About the Authors	p. xvii
Overview of Policy and Law in the United States
Introduction: Understanding the Role of and Conceptualizing Health Policy and Law	p. 3
Introduction	p. 3
The Role of Policy and Law in Health Care and Public Health	p. 3
Conceptualizing Health Policy and Law	p. 5
Conclusion	p. 7
Policy and the Policymaking Process	p. 11
Introduction	p. 11
Defining Policy	p. 11
Public Policymaking Structure and Process	p. 13
The Health Bureaucracy	p. 23
Interest Groups	p. 28
Conclusion	p. 29
Law and the Legal System	p. 31
Introduction	p. 31
The Role of Law	p. 32
The Definition and Sources of Law	p. 32
Key Features of the Legal System	p. 35
Conclusion	p. 41
Essential Issues in Health Policy and Law
Understanding Health Insurance	p. 47
Introduction	p. 47
Health Insurance Coverage	p. 48
A Brief History of the Rise of Health Insurance in the United States	p. 48
How Health Insurance Operates	p. 50
Managed Care	p. 55
Conclusion	p. 61
Health Economics in a Health Policy Context	p. 63
Introduction	p. 63
Health Economics Defined	p. 64
Economic Basics: Demand	p. 67
Economic Basics: Supply	p. 71
Economic Basics: Markets	p. 73
Conclusion	p. 77
Government Health Insurance Programs: Medicaid, SCHIP, and Medicare	p. 79
Introduction	p. 79
Medicaid	p. 80
State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)	p. 92
Medicare	p. 94
Conclusion	p. 99
The Uninsured and Health Reform	p. 103
Introduction	p. 103
Characteristics of the Uninsured	p. 104
The Importance of Health Insurance Coverage to Health Status	p. 106
Ways to Count the Costs of Uninsurance	p. 107
Safety Net Providers	p. 108
The Difficulty of Reform in the United States	p. 109
Unsuccessful Attempts to Pass National Health Insurance Reform	p. 112
State Health Reform	p. 115
Conclusion	p. 116
Individual Rights in Health Care and Public Health	p. 131
Introduction	p. 131
Background	p. 132
Individual Rights and Health Care: A Global Perspective	p. 134
Individual Rights and the Health Care System	p. 134
Individual Rights in a Public Health Context	p. 144
Conclusion	p. 148
Health Care Quality Policy and Law	p. 151
Introduction	p. 151
Medical Errors as a Public Health Concern	p. 152
Promoting Health Care Quality Through the Standard of Care	p. 153
Tort Liability of Hospitals, Insurers, and Managed Care Organizations	p. 156
Federal Preemption of State Liability Laws Under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)	p. 159
Conclusion	p. 162
Basic Skills in Health Policy Analysis
The Art of Structuring and Writing a Health Policy Analysis	p. 167
Introduction	p. 167
Policy Analysis Overview	p. 167
Structuring a Policy Analysis	p. 169
Conclusion	p. 178
Index	p. 179
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