Health benefits and health policy: public goals through private means
Article Abstract:
It is estimated that employee health benefit plans provide medical coverage for 147 million Americans. The results of a recent survey showed that 80 percent of Americans felt that employers should provide health insurance for full-time employees. As medical care costs increase, employer-provided health benefits become more valuable to the employee. Also, the government views employee health benefits as a means for achieving their goal of providing health care coverage to the population at large. To reach these goals, the government has established regulations that require certain employers to provide medical coverage for specific groups of the population. Medicare, Medicaid, and individual insurance are other forms of medical coverage that have been subjected to governmental regulation. The group practice plans, or health maintenance organizations, are the least susceptible to governmental regulation. One of the major issues that policy makers will face over the next decade is whether governmental regulation over employee health benefits should increase or decrease. In general, employers are not in favor of having the government control health care expenditures. In attempting to reduce the costs of health benefit plans, employers must decide between sharing the medical costs with the employees, providing limited coverage, or reducing the cost of the medical care itself. Methods of reducing the cost of medical care include carefully selecting the providers of the medical care, evaluating the medical services provided to determine if they are appropriate, and direct negotiation of payment. The question of who is to provide health care coverage to the general population and how this is to be implemented will continue to be an important subject for public policy discussion. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journal of Occupational Medicine
Subject: Health care industry
ISSN: 0096-1736
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
A comparison of occupational and nonoccupational disability payments and work absences for alcoholics and nonalcoholics
Article Abstract:
Alcoholism and excessive alcohol consumption are associated with a number of health problems. Research has demonstrated that individuals with alcoholism are at increased risk for chronic metabolic, neurological, and gastrointestinal problems. It has also been shown that alcohol use leads to impaired performance, and alcohol abuse leads to significant risk for physical injury and death. Although assumed as fact, there are no reliable epidemiologic data supporting the premise that chronic alcohol abuse results in high disability insurance payments and increased time lost from work. A retrospective study examined 14 years of employee health insurance and disability payment records of a large, self-insured equipment manufacturer. The firm employed approximately 60,000 persons during this period (1974 to 1987), and 2,405 were identified as having chronic drinking problems. A total of 1,828 hourly employees who had been diagnosed with alcoholism were matched with a nonalcoholic control group selected from the same firm. Seven payment models were established for lost time benefits and indemnity (compensation) payments. Alcoholic employees received average indemnity payments equal to twice those paid to the nonalcoholic control group ($1272 versus $671 per capita), with the largest difference occurring in nonoccupational payments. That is, the difference in indemnity payments appeared to be related to nonwork-related absences and disability. There was no significant difference in payments to alcoholics and nonalcoholics for work-related absences. The notion of an increased risk to alcoholics for work-related injuries, absences and indemnity payments was not supported. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journal of Occupational Medicine
Subject: Health care industry
ISSN: 0096-1736
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Advancing health policy in nursing education through service learning. Disavowal of the behaviorist paradigm in nursing education: what makes it so difficult to unseat?
- Abstracts: Quality of health care and financial performance: is there a link? Demand/capacity management in health care: an application of yield management
- Abstracts: Economic incentives, health status and health services utilisation. Agency in health care: getting beyond first principles
- Abstracts: On the international stability of health care expenditure functions: are government and private functions similar?
- Abstracts: Biochemical and hematological evaluation of chloroprene workers. Traveler's diarrhea: new concepts