ISBN:
9781461436645
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource (XV, 108p, digital)
Series Statement:
SpringerBriefs in Political Science 7
Series Statement:
SpringerLink
Series Statement:
Bücher
Parallel Title:
Buchausg. u.d.T.
Keywords:
Social sciences
;
Economic policy
;
Social Sciences
;
Social sciences
;
Economic policy
Abstract:
Jr.
Abstract:
Progressives need a balanced federal budget more than Conservatives, because they believe that government has an important role to play in modern life. Lack of a long term plan to move toward a sustainable budget crowds out short term Progressive priorities: infrastructure spending, green technology, education and needed governmental interventions in the short term to support and improve our weak economy. The federal budget is unsustainable. For all the bluster of the debt ceiling debate, the plan passed so far does not address the changes most obviously needed if we are to ever have a balanced budget again: an increase in taxes and the next steps on health reform to address the biggest driver of our long term budget deficit, health care costs. Slowing the rate at which health care costs are growing is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition to developing a long range balanced budget. You should ask any politician saying they think a balanced budget is a priority one question: what is your health reform plan? Without one, they have no hope of achieving their goal. This book offers progressives solutions to health care reform and a balanced budget, and will be of interest to academics, students and educated readers interested in politics, public policy and government finance. Donald H. Taylor is an Associate Professor of Public Policy, Center for Health Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University and is an Associate Professor of Community and Family Medicine and Nursing, Duke Medical Center.
Description / Table of Contents:
Balancing the Budget is a Progressive Priority; Prologue; Preface; The Big Questions; Book Outline; Acknowledgments; Contents; Chapter 1: Progressives Need a Balanced Budget; Why a Balanced Budget Is a Progressive Priority; What Proportion of the Economy Should Be Redistributed by Government?; The Standard: The Ins Match the Outs; The Redistribution Rabbit Trail; Multiple Plans, Same Diagnosis; Social Security, Defense, and Taxes; The Challenge; Chapter 2: Why the De fi cit Is a Problem; How Big Is Too Big?; The Mere Existence of a De fi cit Is Not Evidence of a Problem; The Kitchen Table
Description / Table of Contents:
Fast Forward to 2020De fi cits Crowd Out Progressive Priorities; Not If, but When?; Chapter 3: Health Reform: The Problems; The Problems; Problem Number 1: Cost; How Did We Get Here?; Who Pays for Health Care?; Big Problem Number 2: Lack of Coverage; Big Problem Number 3: Quality; Medical Errors; Inappropriate Provision of Care; Chapter 4: Health Reform: The Policy; First Step, or Last?; Individual Mandate; Insurance Reform to Ban Denial of Coverage for Preexisting Conditions; Setting Up State-Based Insurance Markets; Medicaid Expansions
Description / Table of Contents:
Cut Planned Medicare Spending to Partially Finance Insurance ExpansionsIncrease Taxes to Partially Expand Insurance Expansions; Aspects of ACA That Could Address Health Care Cost In fl ation; Tax on High Cost Insurance; The Independent Payment Advisory Board; Medicare Innovation Center, Etc.; Chapter 5: Health Reform: The Politics; Political Flashpoints: Individual Mandate and Rationing; The Patients' Choice Act; Soft Individual Mandates; End Tax Exclusion of Employer Paid Insurance; Tax Credit Would Provide Catastrophic Coverage Only
Description / Table of Contents:
Proposed Board of Experts to Make Policy Decisions for the Entire Health Care SystemCake Not Fully Cooked; The Political Bottom Line; Chapter 6: Health Reform: The Barriers; We Have to Develop Our Own System; The Biggest Obstacle Is Us; Can Anyone Say No?; Saying No to Palliative Care; Focus on Value; How Do We Start?; Chapter 7: Health Reform: Next Steps; Overview of Suggested Reforms; Replace the Individual Mandate with Catastrophic Coverage; Cost Reduction; Settle Coverage Questions and Focus on Costs; Reform the Tax Preference of Employer Paid Health Insurance
Description / Table of Contents:
Move to End the Medicaid Program Over the Next DecadeExpand Medicare's Ability to Be an Active Purchaser; Expand the Authority of the Independent Payment Advisory Board; Give the Kitchen Sink Approach to Improving Quality and Reducing Costs a Chance to Work; Experimentation with Competitive Bidding; Medical Malpractice Reform; Cap Federal Health Spending Backstopped by a Tax-Based Fail Safe; I Do Not Favor Raising the Medicare Age; The Way Forward; Chapter 8: Social Security; Principles for Social Security Reform; The Nature of the Problem; What About Life Expectancy Gains?
Description / Table of Contents:
Speci fi c Social Security Reforms
Note:
Description based upon print version of record
DOI:
10.1007/978-1-4614-3664-5
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