Reference no: EM133494624

1. What is a Medicare Accountable Care Organization (ACO) and its keys features?
2. What does it mean that Medicare focuses too much on care at the end-of-life? Do you agree or disagree?
3. Under Medicare pay-for-performance, how might a focus on quality actually result in poor care or poor outcomes?
4. Medicare has seen a steady increase and reliance on non-physician practitioners (such as Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants) to treat patients. Explain how Medicare reimburses for their services.
5. Explain why Medicare's fee-for-service model might be susceptible to higher costs and poor quality.
6. Explain the problem of "pay-and-chase" under the Medicare and Tricare programs and how it fosters fraud, waste, and abuse.
7. Describe three factors that drive the costs of care under the public health care programs and explain in detail why you think they increase costs.
8. In your own words, explain how the Affordable Care Act reformed and expanded the Medicaid program. What are the prospects for future Medicaid expansion under the ACA?
9. Discuss the pros and cons of increasing the Medicare eligibility age. What age would you use?
10. Scholars of health reform often say that costs and coverage issues relating to public health insurance must start with revisions and tinkering of the U.S. Tax Code. How does the legislative history and background of the ACA support this theory?
11. Explain how the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) creates a right to healthcare?
12. What are the range of sanctions, penalties, and claims that can be pursued against a hospital for EMTALA violations?
13. Discuss the shortcomings of EMTALA that contribute to the problem of overcrowding in the emergency rooms. How might you change the law to address this problem?
14. Describe three factors that drive the costs of care under the public health care programs and explain in detail why you think they increase costs.