JAMA · 1990 · 19 citations · 0 references
Public AffairsHealth PolicyHealth Services AdministrationHealth EconomicsHealth InsuranceHealthcare AdministrationHealth Care CostsHealth FinancingHealth Policy LeadershipHealth Services OrganizationQuality Of CareUniversal Health CoverageGross National ProductHealth Care EconomicsHealth Care PoliticsHealth Care Spending PatternsNational Health Expenditure AccountsNational Health InsurancePublic Health Insurance FinancingService Quality Gaps
This report is the product of two years of work by an ad hoc blue-ribbon National Leadership Commission on Health Care, co-chaired by former Republican governor of Iowa Robert D. Ray and former Florida Democratic Congressman Paul G. Rogers. The commission was organized by Henry Simmons, MD, MPH, and supported by numerous corporations, unions, and foundations. The report's indictments of the American health care system are familiar: (1) some 37 million Americans lack private or public health insurance and a similar number have inadequate coverage; (2) despite a decade of competitive forces and various cost-containment schemes, national expenditures for health care reached $550 billion in 1988 and are projected to double by 1995 and triple by 2000, absorbing most of the increase in gross national product; and (3) there is shocking uncertainty about what really works in medical care and what constitutes quality service. The book has two overwhelming problems: