Bibliography
1. Eakin, Douglas and Michael Ramlet. (2010) "Health Care Reform is Likely to Widen Budget Deficits -- Not Reduce Them." Health Affairs, 29, no.6:1136-1141. Eakin and Ramlet examine the underpinnings of the Congressional Budget Office's projection that enacting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will decrease deficits, and conclude that it is built on a shaky foundation of omitted costs, premiums shifted from other entitlements, and politically dubious spending cuts and revenue increases. A more comprehensive and realistic projection suggests that the new reform law will raise the deficit by more than $500 billion during the first ten years and by nearly $1.5 trillion in the following decade. This is an excellent article with regards to my article, written by two policy commentators at the forefront of their field. This article shows expertise in medical economics and offers compelling, clear arguments for the increase in the federal deficit due to the massive spending on entitlements as a result of passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They project deficits, opposing the Congressional Budget Office, through their insightful analysis.
2. Marmor, Theodore, Jonathan Oberlander, and Joseph White. (2009) "The Obama Administration's Options for Health Care Cost Control: Hope vs. Reality." Ann Intern Med. 150:485-489. Controlling the costs of medical care has long been an elusive goal in U.S. health policy. This article examines the options for health care cost control under the Obama administration. The authors argue that the administration's approach to health reform offers some potential for cost control but also embraces many strategies that are not likely to be successful. Lessons the United States can learn from other countries' experiences in constraining medical care spending are then explored. This article offers evidence for the lack of cost containment in the Obama administrations' plans for health reform. It gives a good analysis of the international scene in health care as well.
3. Collins, Sara, Michelle M. Doty, Karen Davis, Cathy Schoen, Alyssa L. Holmgren, and Alice Ho. (2004) "The Affordability Crisis in Health Care." Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey. Published in 2004, The Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, conducted from September 2003 -- January 2004, presents new and timely information on where the American public stands on solutions to reform the health care system. The survey finds widespread support for federal efforts to extend health insurance to more people, as well as a widely held belief that the financing of health care should continue to be a shared responsibility among individuals, employers, and the government. The survey also uncovered potential reasons for such strong support for health care reform. Among the insured and the uninsured alike, there is concern that health care security in the United States is eroding. People are experiencing reductions in insurance coverage that are threatening their financial security.
4. Etheridge, Lynn (1984) "An Aging Society and the Federal Deficit." The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly. Health and Society, 521-543. This article serves as early warning sign of the deficit battles to come. It argues that the conflict between the growing needs of an aging society and a federal budget which cannot afford its current commitments has become one of the nation's most difficult government policy dilemmas. Assistance for the elderly through Social Security, Medicare, and other programs-is already the federal government's largest fiscal responsibility. In 1985 these programs will require nearly half of all domestic program spending an estimated $256 billion. The future costs of these commitments will rise rapidly well into the next century, accounting-with national defense and interest costs-for virtually all of the spending increases in the projected $200 to $300 billion deficits. Etheridge asserts that the decisions about the nation's assistance to the elderly -- and about reaffirmation, reform, and/or retrenchment of these commitments-will thus be central to the coming budget debates.