Deck 8: Health Care in the United States

Question 1

Compared to persons who have health insurance, uninsured persons

A) are more likely to die in any given year.
B) are more likely to postpone needed health care.
C) are more likely to rely on medical experiments as a means of obtaining treatment.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Blue Cross and Blue Shield were founded to protect the financial security of

A) hospitals.
B) doctors.
C) American citizens.
D) a and b only
E) all of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Commercial insurers were able to offer lower premiums to individuals than did Blue Cross or Blue Shield because the commercial insurers

A) avoided government regulation.
B) used actuarial rather than community risk rating.
C) did not cover cancer and other deadly illnesses.
D) used managed care.
E) used salaried doctors.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following statements is true?

A) Medicare pays the cost of all medical bills for eligible Americans.
B) Almost all Americans over age 65 are eligible for Medicare.
C) Medicare provides free health care for poor children.
D) All persons with incomes below the poverty line are eligible for Medicaid.
E) Medicaid is now run by Blue Cross.

Question 5

The law of supply and demand plays little role in controlling health care costs in the United States because

A) doctors, not consumers, largely control what health care services consumers purchase.
B) the United States needs more doctors.
C) of the DRG system.
D) of the high proportion of doctors who are primary care providers.
E) none of the above

Question 6

Which of the following is true?

A) Medical journals will not publish articles on drug research funded by the pharmaceutical industry.
B) Doctors cannot legally prescribe a drug as treatment for a given condition unless it has been scientifically tested for that specific condition.
C) Pharmaceutical companies cannot legally market a new and expensive drug unless it differs substantially from older, less expensive drugs.
D) University-based medical researchers do not accept research funding from the pharmaceutical industry.
E) none of the above

Question 7

Research suggests that managed care strongly affects patients'

A) access to care.
B) quality of care.
C) satisfaction.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 8

Because of the success of commercial insurers, non-profit insurers have

A) been forced out of business in many markets.
B) begun to shift to actuarial risk rating.
C) reemphasized their commitment to service.
D) reemphasized their not-for-profit standing.
E) sought out high-risk clients who are willing to pay high premiums.

Question 9

Any system that controls costs through closely monitoring the decisions of health care providers is known as

A) institutional isomorphism.
B) a preferred provider organization.
C) a point of service system.
D) managed care.
E) accounting residuals.

Question 10

Prices for prescription drugs have soared because of

A) increased use of direct to consumer marketing.
B) increased marketing of "me too" drugs.
C) changes in US patent laws.
D) all of the above
E) a and b only

Question 11

The original health maintenance organizations

A) used retrospective reimbursement.
B) considered it less expensive to treat illness than to prevent it.
C) paid doctors on salary rather than on a fee-for-service basis.
D) were less cost-efficient than traditional fee-for-service insurers.
E) allowed patients to choose their own doctors.

Question 12

Individuals who have fee-for-service insurance

A) must first pay their medical bills and then request reimbursement from their insurance company.
B) pay a flat fee per year to cover all their medical expenses.
C) pay lower premiums than those who have actuarial insurance.
D) always pay premiums based on community risk ratings.
E) must receive care from doctors affiliated with their insurance company.

Question 13

Under community rating,

A) individual premiums are based on estimates of that individual's chances of becoming ill.
B) individual premiums are based on the average risk level of the community as a whole.
C) doctors receive higher average incomes.
D) nurses receive higher average incomes.
E) Blue Shield is a better economic investment than Blue Cross.

Question 14

President Clinton's proposed 1993 Health Care Security Act

A) would have established a single-payer system.
B) aimed to reduce the complexity of the health care system.
C) would have made the same health care options available to everyone.
D) would have broadened access to care while retaining the entrepreneurial features of the health care system.
E) a and b only

Question 15

Which of the following has played the greatest role in contributing to rising health care costs in the United States?

A) US citizens expect more care than citizens of other countries.
B) US citizens have a unique propensity for filing malpractice suits.
C) the increasingly elderly population of the United States
D) the unusually high administrative costs of its health care system
E) doctors' high incomes

Question 16

If the United States adopted the Canadian health care system, it is likely that

A) the total cost of health care in the US would rise dramatically.
B) the percentage of uninsured Americans would not change significantly.
C) most US doctors would try to move to Europe.
D) drug prices would rise dramatically.
E) the total cost of health care in the US would fall dramatically.

Question 17

Which of the following is true?

A) In the past, US labor unions opposed proposals for universal health coverage.
B) The majority of Americans believe that the government should not provide health care to citizens.
C) Anti-tax sentiment has led politicians to support extending health care coverage to more Americans.
D) Throughout most of the last century, the American Medical Association has supported proposals for universal health coverage.
E) none of the above

Question 18

When hospitals purchase more advanced technological equipment than they can readily use, the prices charged to consumers for using that technology typically

A) increase.
B) decrease.
C) remain unchanged.
D) are linked to the inflation rate.
E) are linked to the recession rate.

Question 19

To control costs, managed care organizations (MCOs) typically

A) encourage doctors to prescribe only drugs the MCO has approved.
B) require doctors to obtain approval before admitting patients to hospitals.
C) require doctors to work on salary, rather than fee-for service.
D) all of the above
E) a and b only

Question 20

Which of the following countries spends the most per capita on health care?

A) Canada
B) United Kingdom
C) Mexico
D) United States
E) Japan

Question 21

How has Canada's single payer system kept health care costs down more effectively than the US system?

Question 22

Hawaii's experiences with health care reform suggest the advantages of

A) a single payer health care system.
B) a for-profit health care system.
C) a convergent hypothesis health care system.
D) having multiple payers in a health care system.
E) allowing hospitals to make their own decisions about what technologies to purchase.

Question 23

The backlash against health care reform in the United States in part reflects

A) widespread American belief in Christianity.
B) the influence of Communism.
C) the widespread belief that more health care is always a good thing.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above

Question 24

Why have health care costs risen in the United States?

Question 25

The Affordable Care Act

A) offers no benefits to health care consumers.
B) simplifies health care administration.
C) will leave some US citizens without insurance coverage.
D) will reduce the number of insurers in the US health care system.
E) will likely reduce government costs for health care over the long run.

Question 26

Health care in the United States is more expensive than in other developed nations because

A) Americans receive more care than do citizens of those other nations.
B) the United States has unusually high rates of malpractice lawsuits.
C) the US population is aging more quickly than that of those other nations.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above

Question 27

The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

A) fundamentally changes the structure of the health care system.
B) implements a Canadian-style single-payer system.
C) requires insurers to offer coverage to individuals with pre-existing health problems.
D) both a and b
E) all of the above

Question 28

What factors account for the rise of managed care? What are the potential pitfalls and benefits of managed care?

Question 29

What kinds of health care reforms do you think are necessary? What stakeholders would be likely to oppose those reforms?

Question 30

How has the public's health benefited from access to high technology medical interventions? Would the health of the public be better or worse if we spent less on high technology and more on primary care-lessening access to high technology while increasing access to primary care?