Tax subsidies,the rational demand for insurance and the health care crisis

An individual's optimal insurance coverage depends on balancing his gain through avoiding risk against his loss through the distortion of demand. The U.S. tax system subsidizes the purchase of excessive health insurance by excluding employer premium payments from employees' taxable incomes and by permitting the deduction of a portion of individual premiums. The current operational model of demand for health insurance shows that the tax subsidy does substantially increase insurance coverage. Since much of the rise in health care costs can be attributed to the growth of insurance, the tax subsidy is responsible for much of what is widely perceived as a health care crisis.     

Cash value health insurance: one answer to the crisis

To address the demand managed care has created and bring the health care economy closer to market equilibrium, we must find a way to balance value and cost, by both using new tools and looking at critical issues in a different way. Although the concepts of consumer-driven health care described in this article are not the only health care cost-management solution, they are surely a next logical step.     

Nurses leading the response to the crisis of palliative care for vulnerable populations

All nurses are prepared to be generalists in palliative care. Within the discipline there are nurses who seek advanced educational preparation and develop clinical expertise in palliative care nursing. These are our leaders in palliative care nursing who can exert influence in all health care settings to support nurses providing palliative care. It is nurses and advanced practice nurses in partnership who are capable of developing and advocating for palliative care across settings. The focus of care is the person, not the diagnosis or the setting. The viewpoint that "all nursing care is palliative care" can transform health care with nurses taking the lead.     

充分认识十六大的重大意义

在新世纪召开的第一次党代表大会党的十六大的重大意义在于，这是我们党在新世纪召开的第一次代表大会。进入新世纪，国际局势发生了冷战结束以来最深刻的变化，单极与多极的矛盾、称霸与反称霸的斗争，将成为２１世纪相当一个时期内国际斗争的焦点；科学技术特别是高科技的蓬     

Palliative care: a paradigm of care responsive to the demands for health care reform in America

Palliative care is poised to become a universally available approach to health care which addresses both the needs of patients and families experiencing serious, progressive, and life-threatening illness, and also the costs of delivering such needed services. Palliative care and hospice are part of a continuum of care with palliative care provided at any time during the illness trajectory, while hospice care is offered at the end of life. Within the context of health care reform, we believe palliative care addresses critical economic imperatives while enhancing quality of life even as death approaches. As leaders in health care, advance practice nurses, specifically, and the nursing community in general are best positioned with the knowledge, expertise, and commitment to advance the specialty of palliative care and lead the way in the reform of America's health care system.     

Plan design innovations to control health care costs

Southern California Edison has achieved measurable success in health care cost management. Dr. Sokolov observes that the essence of SCE's problem-solving approach can be transferred to almost any organization.