California Healthcare System

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews and discusses why California's health care system is in a deep crisis. According to the paper, it seems to be a vicious cycle. The paper reports that on one hand, the mounting premium costs discourage people from opting for insurance, while on the other hand, treating the uninsured leads to hospitals transferring uncompensated costs to the insurance company and consequently, causing the rising premiums.

Outline:
Thesis
Introduction
Cost Shifts and Insurance Premiums
Emergency Rooms Closing
Diminishing Insurance Coverage
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"The closing down of more than 65 emergency wards over the past decade in itself shows the gravity of the situation and the unwillingness of hospitals to incur further costs due to treatment of uninsured patients. Statistics show that hospitals bore more than $5 billion in costs in treating uninsured patients. This creates a huge financial pressure on them and there is no alternative but to have the uncompensated care costs to be charged to the insured patients. As a recent article from the California healthcare foundations quotes "They prepare for this reality by: Setting prices for the insured that are higher than expected costs.". [CHA] These financial details clearly indicate that immediate action has to be undertaken in terms of restructuring the healthcare system so as to facilitate hospitals in managing the overwhelming burden they are expected to handle."

Sample of Sources Used:

• State of California, "Gov. Schwarzenegger Tackles California's Broken Health Care System, Proposes Comprehensive Plan to Help All Californians", Accessed on Apr 15th 2007, Available at, http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/press-release/5057/
• Author not available, ""Top 10 Indicators: California's Health Care System IsBroken", Accessed on Apr 15th 2007, Available at, http://www.chhs.ca.gov/docs/Top%2010%20Indicators%20010807.pdf
• "California Hospitals' Financial Condition: On Life Support," California Healthcare Association, June 2004
• Dr.Barry Simon, "Emergency Rooms On Front Line Of Health Care," Contra Costa Times, 12/22/06
• Jean Yoon, E. Richard Brown, Shana Alex Lavarreda and Sungching Glenn, Health Policy Research Brief: "One In Five Californians Were Uninsured In 2005 Despite Modest Gains In Coverage," UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Oct, 2006

More papers on California Healthcare System:

• Research Proposal # 109072 : "Illegal Aliens and California's Healthcare System"
• Research Proposal # 107682 : "Impact of Illegal Aliens on the Healthcare System"
• Persuasive Essay # 106274 : "Universal Health Care System"

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