Chapter 9.F.1. and 9.F.2, (or 3.F.1 and 3.F.2) -- Foreign Models and Comprehensive Reform Proposals

Here is detailed information about the health care systems in dozens of foreign countries: http://www.euro.who.int/observatory/Hits/TopPage
See also Daniel Callahan & Angela Wasunna, Medicine and the Market: Equity v. Choice (2006) (focusing on developing countries);  Michael Tanner,  The Grass Is Not Always Greener: A Look at National Health Care Systems Around the World, Cato Policy Analysis No. 613 (March 2008); Nathan Cortez, International Health Care Convergence, 26 Wisc. International L. J. 646 (2008). On China and India, see Symposium, 27(4) Health Aff. 918 (July 2008).

Analyzing the implications of the Canadian Chaoulli case for U.S. constitiontional law, see Roy G., Spece, Jr., A fundamental constitutional right of the monied to "buy out of" universal health care program restrictions versus the moral claim of everyone else to decent health care, 3 J. Health & Biomed. L. 1-90 (2007).

Arguing, based on experience in other countries, that a legal right to health care is justiciable, see Puneet K. Sandhu, A legal right to health care: what can the United States learn from foreign models of health rights jurisprudence?, 95 Cal. L. Rev. 1151-1192 (2007).

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For discussion of various reform proposals that are receiving current attention, see:

• Health Affairs Blog
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Covering the Uninsured
• Commonwealth Fund
• Kaiser Family Foundation
• Links to Congressional Bills and Hearings
• AcademyHealth
• Urban Institute
• Seton Hall Law School’s Blog
• Slate magazine
• National Academy of Social Insurance
• President’s Council on Bioethics
• Fresh Thinking (affiliated with Stanford)
• Health Affairs

Here are good spoofs of some of the paranoia, mistruths and misunderstandings surrounding the reform debate: http://haarm.org/ (Watch the ones at the bottom of the page first.)

For additional discussion of a proposed single-payer system, see Physicians Working Group for Single-Payer National Health Insurance; Jeffrey Stempel, Adam, Martin and John, 14 Conn. Ins. L. J. 229 (2008).

Paul Krugman has written a series of  penetrating articles in the New York Times analyzing various proposed solutions for the problems in the U.S. health care system.  Tom Mayo has posted a summary and links to the articles  on the Health Law Prof Blog. Atul Gawande continues to write compelling narrative analyses of various reform issues, in The New Yorker.

For additional academic discussions of comprehensive reform, see Tom Daschle, Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis (2008); Ezekiel Emanuel, Healthcare Guaranteed: A Simple, Secure Solution for America (2008); Harold Luft, Total Cure: The Antidote to the Health Care Crisis (2008); Tim Westmoreland, Can we get there from here? Universal health insurance and the congressional budget process, 96 Geo. L.J. 523-538 (2008); Victor Fuchs, What are the Prospects for Enduring Comprehensive Health Care Reform?, 26(6) Health Aff. 1542 (Dec. 2007) ("virtually nil"); David Orentlicher, Health Care Reform: Beyond Ideology, 301 JAMA 1816 (2009); Symposium, 27(3) Health Affairs 619 (June 2008); Symposium, 26(6) Health Aff. 1523 (Dec. 2007); Symposium, 36 J. L. Med. Ethics 612 (2008).

On state health care reform generally, see Alice Burton, et al., State Strategies To Expand Health Insurance Coverage: Trends And Lessons For Policymakers (Jan. 2007). On the demise of Tennessee's managed competition program for Medicaid ("TennCare"), see 25(3) Health Aff. w217 (2006). On California’s failed attempt at reform, see Symposium, Learning from Failure, 28(3) Health Aff. w417 (March 2009).

The following publications explore the legal aspects of anticipated health care reform: Georgetown University’s O’Neill Institute, Legal Solutions in Health Reform; Timothy Jost & Ezekiel Emanuel, Legal Reforms Necessary to Promote Delivery System Innovation, 299 JAMA 2561 (2008); Timothy Jost, Health Care Reform Requires Law Reform, 28(5) Health Aff. w761 (Sept. 2009); National Academy of Social Insurance, Expanding Access to Health Care: A Management Approach (2009).

Massachusetts's complex plan (adopted in 2006 and effective in 2007) for achieving near-universal health insurance coverage melds several distinct approaches, all orchestrated by an agency called the "Health Insurance Connector."  Provisions include:  a) an individual and employer mandate that taxes those who do not purchase insurance; b) sliding-scale subsidies to lower-income non-poor workers to help purchase private coverage; c) expansion of Medicaid for children in families up to 3 times the poverty level.  For more information, see www.roadmaptocoverage.org;  Michael Tanner, No Miracle in Massachusetts: Why Governor Romney's Health Care Reform Won't Work (Cato Institute, 2006); Symposium: The Massachusetts Plan and the Future of Universal Coverage, 55 U. Kan. L. Rev. 1091-1373 (2007); Symposium, 28(4) Health Aff. w578 (May 2009); Commonwealth Connector website.

A good place to explore how managed competition works is the web site for federal employees.

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