Project Categories

The Politics of Relative Values: Physicians and Medicare Fees

Award Year: 2009 Investigator: Miriam Laugesen
Two decades after Congress reformed Medicare physician payment, Medicare costs continue to rise, physicians are still paid for each service provided to each patient, and payment incentives remain skewed toward highly specialized, procedure-oriented care. Although spending for physician services exceeded annual targets from 2003 to 2010, Congress postponed nine scheduled cuts in physician fees. Clearly, Medicare's system for paying physicians needs fixing.
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Manacled Competition: Limiting Health Insurance Choices

Award Year: 2005 Investigator: Yaniv Hanoch, Thomas Rice
With all the new options now available to Medicare recipients, both seniors and policymakers are asking a relatively simple question: is "more" the same as "better"? Are the many choices producing better health care decisions, or do they so confound seniors that they are more likely to make bad decisions that hurt their quality of care? Co-investigators Thomas H. Rice, Ph.D. and Yaniv Hanoch, Ph.D.
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The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003: Ideologies, Interests, and Policy Feedbacks in the Contemporary Politics of Medicare

Award Year: 2005 Investigator: Andrea Louise Campbell, Kimberly Morgan
Few are happy with it, politicians on the right and left criticize it, but the fact remains that the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 ushered in the greatest expansion of Medicare coverage in the program's history. Its lukewarm support, combined with its dramatic impact, make the act a fascinating subject for anyone interested in the politics of modern health care. Kimberly J. Morgan, Ph.D. and Andrea L.