Another is 4 The Hamilton Project • Brookings Percent Percent that the hospital is only required to stabilize the pa- The existence of such a contract may be hard to tient, not to actually treat the underlying medical issue believe in the only high-income country that has not or ensure they get the proper follow-up care. [...] Inevitably, the government will feel compelled of taking the money that the government currently to set up policies and procedures to try to provide spends on social transfer programs and returning it the essential medical care that the individual cannot to the American public as cash, support compulsory afford. [...] The other approach the United States was about the same share of the is to allow upgrades so that the patient only pays for the economy as it was in these other countries. [...] insurance, the private insurer assumes responsibility Only once a clear budget exists can policymakers for all of the basic benefits that would be provided by engage in the tough choices of how to meet it—what public Medicare coverage, and the government pays new technologies to cover, for example—or whether the private insurer what it would have cost the taxpay- to raise taxes to expand what is c. [...] The first step is a formal assessment phase The point of basic coverage is to fulfill our social con- involving scientific experts that aims to quantify the tract to provide access to essential medical care for clinical impacts of the treatment.
- Pages
- 28
- Published in
- United States of America
