Pennsylvania Universal Healthcare

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that health care in America has been under a strain for some time, and people more and more believe that reform is needed and that major changes are required to reduce rising costs and increase affordability. In addition, the writer points out that many patients feel that the system is not responsive to their needs and that they do not have sufficient control over their own health care. Various reforms have been suggested, and one way of experimenting with reforms has also been suggested by leaving health care to the states so that each state can try an approach that may prove valuable and then be emulated by other states, in lieu of a federal system that would impose one answer on everyone. The writer discusses that Pennsylvania is one state that has developed its particular solution to the health care problem, developing a single-payer system known as the Pennsylvania Balanced and Comprehensive Health Care Reform Act of 2005.

From the Paper:

"The history of efforts to institute some form of universal health care in the United States extend back more than a century, a form of coverage that is found in many other countries in varying degrees. In the United States, such efforts have generally met considerable opposition from business interests. The one exception has been Medicare, which is a single-payer system for the elderly. The private insurance industry is generally seen as not providing the coverage needed for all Americans, yet this industry has also been the leader in opposing any reform that would create a single-payer system with coverage provided by the government. Still, more stats are turning to a variation on a single-payer approach, and the current system in Pennsylvania was formed in imitation of the same sort of system in Massachusetts. In spite of the fact that this is a state effort and that it supports the idea of letting the stats experiment and then decide, conservatives and business interests have opposed it."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Ciavaglia, J. (2007, June 29). House bill: Replace insurers with universal health care. Bucks County Courier Times. Retrieved October 26, 2007 from http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-06292007-1370625.html.
• Lee, C. (2007, January 22). Universal Health Coverage Attracts New Support. Washington Post, A03.
• Michelle, A. (2007, August 24). A State's Plan for Universal Healthcare. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved October 26, 2007 from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-168071179.html.
• New Cooperative Spirit in Health Care Helps Reduce Costs (2007). Pathways. Retrieved October 26, 2007 from http://www.ccp.edu/site/alumni/foundation/pathways_spring07/healthcare_cooperation.html.
• States taking the reins on healthcare reform (2007, March). Healthcare Financial Management. Retrieved October 26, 2007 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_3_61/ai_n18764801.

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