How Should We Deliver Health Care in the US? AMSA/OU Pre-Med Club February 21 st 2007

AMSA’s 4 Strategic Priorities Fighting for Universal Health Care Eliminating Health Disparities Advocating for Diversity in Medicine Transforming the Culture of Medical Education

AMSA’s Universal Health Care Definition “Universal health care refers to the idea that every American should have access to affordable, high-quality health care”

The Problem

Why Is This Important? 18% of the US population under the age of 65 are uninsured and many more are underinsured An important issue but little seems to be done politically Disagreement about how to achieve universal health care coverage

Multi-Payer System Every citizen has access to health care coverage through a single-payer system. However, individuals and/or employers have the ability to purchase insurance privately.

Tax Credits The government would provide tax credits to individuals to be used for the purchase of private health insurance. Depending on how the tax-credit scheme is structured, uninsured people would be able to use the tax credit to pay for all or a portion of insurance premiums.

Medical Savings Accounts Money is placed into a tax-exempt savings account for individuals to use solely for health care. Some of the money is used to purchase a high deductible catastrophic-insurance plan. Routine or minor health care is paid for from the remainder of the savings account or out of pocket.

Managed Competition Employers and individuals join health care purchasing cooperatives that negotiate with private insurers offering a minimum set of benefits. Individuals choose among plans offered by their purchasing cooperative, with employers paying most of the premium. The premiums are priced the same for everyone in the plan, regardless of health status. Cooperatives serve not only to negotiate prices but also to gather relevant information for consumers about each available option.

Single-Payer System Under a single-payer health care system, one entity (usually the federal government) is responsible for financing basic medical costs for the entire population. Revenue is generated through taxation. The central role of the government in this system is to collect and distribute money. It does not necessarily control any of the other aspects of health care.

Single-Payer Animation What is Single-Payer?

Want to Learn More? U.S. Healthcare Crisis Presentation Kicking off AMSA/Pre-Med Club Health Week! Monday, February 26 th, 6:00 pm, Bentley 124 Dr. John Ross, MD –Director Of Ambulatory Internal Medicine at Saint Vincent Mercy Medical Center and Associate Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at the Toledo School of Medicine –Past President of Physicians for a National Health Program (