Not Just Obamacare: How Supreme Court's Conservative Majority Could Remake American Health Care

 Not Just Obamacare:  How Supreme Courts Conservative Majority Could Remake American Health Care by Susannah Luthi.  Politco.  October 15, 2020.  

Death Of Ginsburg Increases Possibility That Obamacare Could Be Abolished: What Are The Implications?

 If The Supreme Court Ends Obamacare, Here's What It Would Mean by Reed Abelson And Abby Goodnough.  The New York Times.  September 22, 2020.  

"Weight Of Evidence Is On The Positive Side"--ACA Has Made A Difference

With The Affordable Care Act's Future In Doubt, Evidence Grows That It Has Saved Lives by Amy Goldstein.  The Washington Post.  September 30, 2019.

After Obamacare Repeal Failure, GOP Seeks New Health Platform

GOP Seeks Health Care Reboot After 2018 Losses by Alexander Bolton.  The Hill.  January 9, 2019. 

ACA Enrollments Largely Stable Despite Efforts To Kill The Program; 2019 May Be Grim However

Despite Changes That Undermined ACA Enrollment, Marketplaces 'Remarkably Stable' by Julie Appleby.  Kaiser Health News.  February 7, 2018. 

Hard-To-Predict Effects Of Republican Efforts To Cripple ACA

Republicans Knock Holes In Affordable Care Act But Don't Demolish The Law by Amy Goldstein.  The Washington Post.  December 25, 2017.  

Premiums For Preexisting Conditions Under ACA Repeal

Latest ACA Repeal Plan Would Explode Premiums For People With Preexisting Conditions by Sam Berger and Emily Gee.  Center For American Progress.  April 20, 2017.

Brief Explanation Of Preexisting Conditions Under ACA and House GOP Plan

Preexisting Conditions:  How ACA Coverage Would Change Under The House GOP Plan by Juliet Eilperin.  Washington Post. May 2, 2017. 

Obamacare Moves GOP Health Care Consensus To TheLeft

Trump Just Moved The GOP's Health Care Consensus Permanently To the Left by Ezra Klein.  Vox.  February 28, 2017

Repealing The ACA Without A Replacement--The Risks To American Health Care

Repealing The ACA Without A Replacement--The Risks To American Health Care by Barack H. Obama, J.D.  New England Journal Of Medicine.  January 26, 2017.  http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1616577#t=article

No Clear Way Forward After Obamacare Repeal

Vowing To Jettison Obamacare Republicans Face Immediate Resistance and Risks by Julie Rovner.  KHN/RealClear Health.  January 3, 2017

Obamacare Repeal Almost Certain Though Probably Not A Slam Dunk

The 'Vote-A-Rama' And Other Democratic Weapons In The Fight Against Obamacare Repeal by Ed Kilgore.  New York Magazine.  January 4, 2017

Context Of ACA Repeal: 10 Facts That Must Not Be Ignored

10 Facts Reporters Should Include In Stories About Efforts To Repeal Obamacare by Cat Duffy.  MediaMatters For America.  January 4, 2016.

Study: Affordable Care Act Largely Explains The Drop In Uninsured Rate

How Much Of A Factor Is The Affordable Care Act In The Declining Uninsured Rate?  The Commonwealth Fund. 

"Extraordinary" Demand For Obamacare Coverage Requires Extended Dealine Before Repeal In 2017

Feds Extend ObamaCare Signup Deadline by Sarah Ferris.  The Hill.  December 15, 2016

Uninsured Children Levels Experienced Largest Two Year Decline On Record; ACA Often Cited As Cause

 Children's Health Coverage Rate Now At Historic High of 95 Percent.  Center for Children And Families.  October 26, 2016

Kaiser Family Foundation Poll: 26% Of Americans Want Repeal of Entire ACA; 50% of Trump Supporters

Kaiser Health Tracking Poll:  November 2016.  Kaiser Family Foundation.  December 1, 2016;

Poll:  Only About 1 in 4 Wants Trump To Repeal Obamacare.  Talking Points Memo.  December 1, 2016

How Obamacare In Arkansas Got Physicians To Look Beyond "Their Little Piece Of The System"

How A Healthcare Revolution Came To One Red State While The Obamacare Battle Raged On by Noam N. Levey.  The Los Angeles Times.  March 25, 2016

As Initial Obamacare Enrollment Period Closes, At Least 9.5 Million Previously Uninsured People Have Gained Health Coverage

Obamacare Has Led To Health Coverage For Millions More People by Noam N. Levey.  The Los Angeles Times.  March 30, 2014.

Same Song, Different Verse: Why Health Care Is So Expensive In the U.S.---Hip Replacement Example

In Need Of A New Hip, But Priced Out of The U.S. by Elisabeth Rosenthal.  The New York Times.  August 3, 2013.

Great case study of why healthcare in the United States is so expensive.

Follow the above link, read the article, and test your recall with a quiz.  This article is well worth a significant amount of study.

(1)  An artificial hip costs about $_____ in the United States.

(2)  In the United States, almost all hip and knee implants are made by ________ companies.

(3)  Generic or foreign-made joint implants are kept out of the United States in three ways which are ___________________________.

(4)  How do the five companies increase brand loyalty?

(5)  How is price secrecy maintained thus preventing more competition?

(6)  Up  to _______ layers of vendors are  physician and patient for a hip replacement often resulting in price _____________ at each layer.

(7)  What is the industry perspective on why prices are high?

(8)  According to an orthopedist quoted in the article:  "(Manufacturers)  price that way because the _________."

(9)  In Belgium, the government determines the __________ preventing manufacturers   from selling an implant at ____________.

(10)  True or False:  The pricing policies of the Belgian government eliminates competition and American firms have pulled out of the country.

(11)  What impact does shareholder expectations play upon hip implant pricing?

(12)  Advances in materials science now allows the patient's own bone to _________________.

(13)  Socialized medicine countries such as ________________ have more hip replacements performed per capita than the United States.

(14)  How do patents contribute to price rises?

(15)  Many doctors say that modifications, such as the "female knee" make ______________

(16)  Warsaw IN is the trademarked "__________."

(17)  How does research and development expenditures in the orthopedics industry compared with the pharmaceutical industry?

(18)  How does "building a personal relationship  with the doctor" play a role in sales?

(19)  True or False:  The United States has a lower surgical infection rate than the United States.

(20)  True or False:  Orthopedist salaries are similar in the United States and Belgium.

(21)  Assuming a insurance reimbursement rate of $36,000, the total cost for join replacement surgeries in 2020 is projected to be _______________ billion.

(22)  True or False:  Medicare negotiates with orthopedic manufacturers resulting in lower prices.

(23)  What have been some of the efforts at cost reduction retirement systems, hospitals, and the Affordable Care Act?

(24)  What has been the political reaction to the tax on profits under the ACA to recoup some medical device manufacturers profits?