Deck 8: Health Care Policy

Question 1

What were the causes of the recent reduction of the rate of increased spending on health care?

A) an increase in Americans' health and reduced federal investment in health care
B) the adoption of the ACA and fewer observed instances of serious diseases
C) lower prices on medical equipment, cheaper pharmaceuticals, and a drop in health workers' salaries
D) low growth in Medicare and Medicaid expenditures, the economic recession, and reduced demand

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Currently, the United States uses which approach to pay for health care for its citizens?

A) national health insurance system
B) private-pay system; insurance is completely paid for by private individuals and corporations
C) hybrid system of public and private funding for care
D) universal payment system

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In the United States, what are the leading causes of death?

A) diseases that are due to unhealthy lifestyles (such as, cancer, stroke, heart attack)
B) infant mortality which is higher in the United States than in many other developed countries
C) deaths due to accidents
D) influenza and pneumonia due to the growing numbers of elderly persons in our population

Answer 3

A

Question 4

In 2016, the number of uninsured Americans reached a high of ______.

A) 15 million
B) 20 million
C) 25 million
D) 30 million

Question 5

What did Medicare Part D seek to address?

A) the rising number of uninsured
B) the rising cost of health care
C) the reduced demand for health care
D) the rising costs of prescription drugs

Question 6

Part ______ of Medicare covers physician charges, diagnostic tests, and other charges than hospital stays.

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

Question 7

In the United States, health care is viewed as a ______, in contrast to many other developed countries, which consider health care to be a right.

A) public good
B) merit good
C) pooled benefit
D) hybrid good

Question 8

The ______ is primarily responsible for federal health science research.

A) Surgeon General's Office
B) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
C) Food and Drug Administration
D) National Institutes of Health

Question 9

In recent years, health-care spending has grown at what percent per year?

A) 10%
B) 7%
C) 4%
D) 2%

Question 10

Which statement is true regarding medical errors in the United States?

A) Medical errors lead to a significant number of deaths each year; many are preventable.
B) Medical errors previously had been a major concern, but effective government policies have reduced the number substantially.
C) Most medical errors occur in the older adult population.
D) Recent efforts by hospitals to reduce errors have shown dramatically positive results.

Question 11

By 2016, how many people had signed up for health insurance through exchanges set up by the Affordable Care Act?

A) more than 12 million
B) about 1 million
C) none
D) just less than 25 million

Question 12

The Veterans Health System faces concerns related to ______.

A) poor quality of medical care and growing numbers of veterans needing care
B) rising costs of preventive care and poor quality of medical care
C) cost increases and reduced profitability
D) increased access to care among veterans and reduced costs

Question 13

The ______ part of Affordable Care Act requires that everyone is responsible to obtain health insurance coverage from their employer, through a government program, or by purchasing it themselves.

A) guaranteed issue
B) individual mandate
C) public option
D) insurance exchange

Question 14

What do federal agents say is a major part of Medicare fraud?

A) Mistakes made by users who do not understand complex features of the program.
B) The complex billing process required by law.
C) Health-care providers are putting services into a higher paying category in order to increase profits.
D) Loopholes in the original law that users are taking advantage of.

Question 15

The Health Security Act of 1993 was ______.

A) President Clinton's plan for universal health-care coverage
B) health portability reform
C) a program that expanded children's coverage
D) Medicare's most significant reform

Question 16

This program, added in 1997, expanded health insurance for children.

A) Medicare for Children (MC-C)
B) Medicaid Waiver Children's Program (MA-W)
C) State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
D) Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)

Question 17

What did many state Republican governors and legislators do concerning the creation of state health-care exchanges?

A) They embraced the idea, lauding the ability of individual states to tailor the exchanges to their own needs.
B) They refused to set up state exchanges as a way of showing discontent with the federal law.
C) Although they were reluctant, they eventually set up the exchanges once the Supreme Court ordered them to.
D) They defied the federal law by not setting up exchanges, and many court cases are now pending.

Question 18

Which government program provides medical insurance for the elderly as an entitlement?

A) Medicaid
B) Medicare
C) HMOs
D) SCHIP

Question 19

Which federal agency is responsible for testing and approving medical devices?

A) Food and Drug Administration
B) National Institutes of Health
C) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
D) Surgeon General's Office

Question 20

The ______ program, established in 1965 and funded jointly by states and the federal government, provides health-care coverage for poor adults and children.

A) Obamacare
B) Medicare
C) SCHIP
D) Medicaid

Question 21

Most of the innovations in health-care policy have been produced at what level of government?

A) Federal
B) State
C) County
D) Municipal

Question 22

Why did Congress expand TriCare to cover Medicare gaps but not apply increased coverage to elderly Americans not in the military?

A) Congress felt it was necessary in order to address the issue of increased numbers of wounded soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan.
B) The increased coverage of TriCare was just a pilot program in preparation for a larger, national increase.
C) Congress actually did expand Medicare coverage for all Americans while also expanding TriCare.
D) It was a politically attractive move in an election year, and a national increase in coverage was deemed too costly.

Question 23

Critics of the U.S. health-care system argue that, in the long run, treating the diseases that afflict people who are obese is much more costly than investing in strategies to prevent obesity. They argue that, in this way, the U.S. health-care system is not ______.

A) efficient
B) practical
C) equitable
D) effective

Question 24

Some argue that a policy decision to invest in preventative care should be evaluated on the criterion of equity, since ______.

A) it is inequitable to spend so much more money to treat diseases for those with unhealthy lifestyles in comparison to little spending on those with healthy lifestyles.
B) the cost benefit of preventing disease is so much stronger.
C) the efficiency of providing preventive care is not well established.
D) most believe that the U.S. health-care system is one of the most equitable in the world.

Question 25

In the U.S. health-care system, insurance typically pays for each doctor's visit, test, and exam separately. This is called ______.

A) Medicare
B) boutique health care
C) Medicaid
D) fee-for-service health care

Question 26

Which statement is true about a single-payer health-care system?

A) The government is the only major payer for health care.
B) It is often characterized by universal coverage.
C) The administrative costs of this system are much lower than those of multiple-payer systems (like the United States) because there is only one major payer that all providers deal with for basic health-care services.
D) All of these.

Question 27

A centerpiece of Obama's reform plan that is popular with the general public is ______.

A) the individual mandate
B) pilot tests and demonstration projects
C) insurance reform to remove preexisting-condition exclusions
D) expanded coverage for Medicaid populations

Question 28

Which statement is true about the Obama health-care reform plan?

A) As of September 2014, all lawsuits against it have been resolved and no more court cases are pending.
B) It is the second major overhaul of the U.S. health-care system since the Clinton plan did so in 1993.
C) It creates a single-payer system in the United States (a government takeover).
D) It is being implemented gradually and only came into full effect in 2014.

Question 29

Which statement describes health-care spending over the past 20 years?

A) Total spending is increasing, but per-capita spending is actually down.
B) Total spending, per-capita spending, and percentage of GDP spent on health care are all increasing.
C) Total, per-capita, and percentage of GDP on health care have declined.
D) Spending on health care in the United States is remaining fairly constant.

Question 30

______ provide health care by forming networks of physicians, hospitals, and other health-care providers; they supposedly control costs by monitoring and regulating the care patients can receive.

A) State Health Insurance Programs (SCHIPs)
B) Managed-care organizations or preferred providers
C) Insurance exchange organizations
D) Boutique health care

Question 31

One of the most promising ways to reduce health-care costs may be to ______.

A) emphasize preventive health care
B) set up pilot tests in states
C) expand Medicaid
D) pay physicians and hospitals using fees for services instead of the current system, salaries.

Question 32

It could be said of U.S. health care that ______.

A) it is an equitable system with regard to who has access to regular, basic health-care services
B) it is the most effective system in the world with regard to the overall health outcomes of the U.S. population
C) it is an inefficient system; the return is low for the amount of money invested
D) all of these

Question 33

Until 2010, the United States had pursued a strategy of making ______ reforms to its health-care system.

A) incremental
B) rational
C) pluralistic
D) socialized

Question 34

One of the major challenges facing the U.S. health-care system is declining access to care. This includes ______.

A) the reduction of benefits and difficulty obtaining care among persons enrolled in Medicaid
B) private insurance companies restricting coverage for many services
C) more and more people have jobs that pay low wages and do not provide health insurance
D) all of these

Question 35

Overall, the two broad problems that the U.S. health-care system faces overall right now are ______.

A) inadequate funding for prescription drugs and cost of Children's Health Care (SCHIP)
B) poor access to health care and insufficient funding for medical research
C) growing costs and poor access to health-care services
D) Medicare and Medicaid program inefficiencies and cost

Question 36

What are some examples of preventative health care?

A) aggressive, long-term treatment of diseases and frequent doctor visits
B) environmental protection, diet and exercise, and health education
C) genetic modification and decentralizing health care to the states
D) centralizing medical knowledge to encourage more doctor visits and shifting a focus to treating symptoms of diseases rather than causes

Question 37

What has the transition in the United States from fee-for-service approaches to health care to managed care accomplished?

A) It has held down medical costs and increased preventative care.
B) It has reduced demand.
C) It has insured most Americans.
D) It has increased the quality of medical services and expanded access.

Question 38

Which statement best describes the main reasons for increasing costs of the U.S. health-care system?

A) cost of physician services and the SCHIP program
B) major investments in medical research, fee hikes by hospitals, and government regulation
C) growth in malpractice insurance, expansion of Medicaid, and excessive government involvement
D) growing demand for services, high-administrative costs, and unregulated technology

Question 39

In a national health insurance system, ______ is/are generally responsible for paying the cost of health care.

A) the national government
B) employers
C) private insurance companies
D) the individual patient

Question 40

What feature makes the U.S. health-care system distinct from those of most other countries?

A) universal coverage that our citizens enjoy
B) the significant involvement of many for-profit companies and providers of care
C) the greater focus on preventive care
D) the more extensive government involvement

Question 41

______ means that individuals can take guaranteed coverage with them if they change jobs, and they do not have to endure the waiting period that policies often impose to limit coverage of preexisting conditions.

Question 42

In theory, how does the use of health maintenance organizations (HMOs) help to control health-care costs?

Question 43

Uninsured women with breast cancer have a ______% higher risk of dying than women with private health insurance.

A) 10-20
B) 20-30
C) 30-50
D) 70-80

Question 44

Medicare expenditures alone totaled about ______ billion in 2016.

A) 500
B) 600
C) 620
D) 700

Question 45

The military's health care plan is known as ______.

Question 46

Explore one reason the United States does not rank higher in health outcomes in comparison to other nations than it currently does.

Question 47

The federal Medicare program began in ______.

Question 48

National health insurance is also known as ______.

Question 49

Explain how the United States has pursued a strategy of incremental reform to health-care policy between the mid-1960s until recently.

Question 50

In the United States, health care is viewed as something one has to earn, or a ______, rather than as a right to which all citizens are entitled.

Question 51

Expansion of a type of health care called ______ can help reduce the costs of health care.

Question 52

Medicare ______ equates to up 10% of Medicare billings.

Question 53

______ are tasked with countering the threat of infectious diseases or unsafe food and to support medical research.

Question 54

The percentage of nonelderly Americans without health-care insurance dropped to ______.

A) 19.8 million
B) 23.1 million
C) 26.3 million
D) 28.5 million

Question 55

Total spending on health care has been ______ in the past decade.

Question 56

Briefly explain why the United States has a health-care system that is considered pluralistic.

Question 57

The ______ is designed to serve the needs of U.S. veterans by providing primary medical care, specialized care, and other medical and social services, such as rehabilitation.

Question 58

The Veterans' Health Care Eligibility Reform Act passed in ______.

A) 1996
B) 1998
C) 2000
D) 2002

Question 59

About 84 million Americans were ______ when the Affordable Care Act was passed into law.

Question 60

The ______ helps to ensure that children living in poverty have medical coverage.

Question 61

Should the government require a greater emphasis on preventative health care? Provide an argument for such a plan. Then provide an argument opponents of the plan might use. Examine the economic, political, and ethical/equity issues associated with the issue.

Question 62

Describe two examples of state policy innovations in health care. What were the policies and what did they set out to achieve? Were they successful? What approach to health care did these policies take? Did they serve as examples for later federal policy?

Question 63

How can the increasing cost of health care be contained? Discuss the strategies discussed in Chapter 8 and weigh them against the criteria of effectiveness, cost, and equity.