There is a widespread impression among Canadians that their health-care system is universal, comprehensive and equitable. Given this impression, Canadians may be surprised to discover that, for instance, while annual physicals and receiving advice on dealing with cold symptoms are covered by the...

Physicians and pharmacists in Taiwan both prescribed and dispensed drugs; many elderly people considered the two types of providers to some extent substitutable. This paper studies effects of two policies in the 1990s on elderly people’s choice between physician and pharmacist services: the...

Critics of the U.S. health care system frequently point to other countries as models for reform. They point out that many countries spend far less on health care than the United States yet seem to enjoy better health outcomes. The United States should follow the lead of those countries, the...

Health insurance mandates require health insurers to provide coverage for particular health services or illnesses. This paper examines how various state health insurance mandates influence premiums and enrollment in health insurance plans. Contrary to previous studies that compare premiums...

The United States has state of the art technology and world renowned expertise in medical treatment, yet in terms of healthcare it shows a dramatically poor performance in relation to the other industrialized countries. This situation is surprising, since one would expect that a free market...

In this article, we discuss the public health provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). We first set forth a framework to identify the key reforms that are needed for a robust public health system. These include workforce and infrastructure investments. We then assess...

The "managed care backlash" arguably topped the list of media and policy concerns in 1998. Yet, against the background of the highly charged environment in which the future of our health care system continues to be debated, there is a dearth of concrete, "objective" facts on the nature of the...

Direct primary care is a promising, market-based alternative to the fee-for-service payment structure that shapes doctor–patient relationships in America. Instead of billing patients and insurers service by service, direct primary care doctors charge their patients a periodic, prenegotiated...

Health care usually represents a so called merit good, i.e. a good whose consumption should be promoted and given that in most cases it might be essential to restore health or to stop its decay, most countries have implemented a public health care system where care is supplied to anybody needing...

The idea of regulating private health plans so as to favor major players and the managed care is incompatible with the guidelines of the National Health System [Sistema Unico de Saude (SUS)] and for this reason we defend instead a regulatory action aiming to strengthen the public sphere. In...