Reference no: EM132451985

1. Discuss the pledge made by the insurance industry stipulating that if all Americans bought health insurance: preexisting conditions would not be part of the underwriting decisions; all applicants for insurance would be accepted; no further use of higher premiums for women; however, sick people would continue to pay more for coverage than healthy people. What would these insurance industry changes herald for the future of insurance and how would sick people be defined for the higher premiums for their coverage?

2. Debate the possible consequences to the health care delivery system of adding 50 million new enrollees. How would this policy impact medical practices, clinics, hospitals and outpatient diagnostic centers?

3. Explain the concept and operation of the "doc fix." If doctors continue to face cutbacks in Medicare reimbursement, what would be the impact of more medical practices refusing to treat Medicare patients?

4. If tens of millions of uninsured people were converted to paying patients, even with adequate mandated coverage, explain how physicians could handle this onslaught of new patients trying to get appointments in their practices. Many medical practices are already capped, so how could these new covered patients enter the health care delivery system without overloading it?

5. Under healthcare reform, how would Medicaid operate from state-to-state?

6. Explain the key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

7. Why do nursing facilities continue to experience poor quality care as a continuing issue in that industry? If reimbursement rates were to keep pace with the labor cost requirements in skilled nursing facilities, would this balance the quality care issue?

8. If the statistics are reliable and nearly half of people who file for bankruptcy do so because if illness or injury and loss of wage occurs, what are the limits of responsibility for government to make these handicapped persons solvent? Should government assume the role in making everyone who suffers a financial setback solvent? If so, what is the cost and who will finance the payments?