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Course: The Brookings Institution > Unit 1
Lesson 1: Introduction to health care in the U.S.- Introduction to the U.S. health care system
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- The U.S. uninsured population
- Paying for medicines: copays and deductibles
- Paying for medicines: tiering and formularies
- Understanding your medical bill
- Health care costs
- Private health insurance
- Health care for the chronically ill
- Health care exercise
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Health care for the chronically ill
Caring for chronically ill patients raises significant challenges and is consuming a greater percentage of health care services and spending. These patients often require special care outside of the hospital setting, including rehabilitation, post-acute care, and long-term care. This video explains how and where chronically ill patients receive care, who pays for these services, and how the needs of this population affect the overall health care system. Created by Brookings Institution.
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The video states the PAC cost varies by state due to fees paid by medicare. But, is medicare paid by federal government and not by state ? How would PAC cost vary by state if medicare pays for the cost ?(5 votes)- Why is there a "high spender" and "low spender" for different state? I thought medicare is ran by the federal government?(4 votes)
- Video talk about medicare paying bills. But, medicare is only for 65+. What happens when someone less than 65 years old ends up in this situation ? Who pays ?(2 votes)
Towards the end of the video, he discusses how Medicaid covers some long term care costs. This is state-dependent, though.(2 votes)
Can the chronically ill ever be denied treatment because of lack of money? If so, under what circumstances can this happen?(2 votes)
Yes. If the care isn't urgent, and they don't have any form of insurance that will cover the treatment, then they can, and likely will, be denied care. This is a large driver of cost in the U.S.'s current healthcare system. Many patients cannot afford to receive the non-urgent, relatively inexpensive preventative care that could prevent the urgent, incredibly expensive, acute episodes of care that the chronically ill will inevitably have if their disease is left untreated.
*Bonus fact:* An insurance company may pay ~100-200 dollars for an office visit, but they will pay upwards of ~5,000-10,000 for a single acute hospital stay.(2 votes)
- What ethical issues are covered in this video?(1 vote)
Will there be a cap for LTC from Medicaid? Sometimes there are patients need to live in LTC for a very long time due to very poor prognosis.(1 vote)