HEALTH INTRODUCTION

Nearly 57% of all Americans obtain health coverage through some form of managed care.  Compared to a traditional care system, where a patient can choose whatever doctor they want to see, a managed care system requires that a patient's care get reviewed much more carefully before decisions are made about further treatment.  This system has enabled employers, insurance companies, and taxpayers to save money while delivering health care services.  At the same time,  polls show that many have become increasingly frustrated with this form of health care system.  There is growing anxiety among many Americans that accountants, not doctors, are determining what services and treatments patients receive.  Many believe that we must change a system that is perceived to care more about profits than patients.

However, others have expressed concern that patient protections would lead to higher costs and result in significantly fewer people with health insurance.  They believe that insurance premiums would increase 8.6% and force nearly two million more people to lose their health coverage.  Opponents see the patient protection provisions as attempts to micro-manage the content and operations of health plans.  Additionally, they believe that "patients' rights" legislation would impose unlimited liability on the administrators of  health plans and would establish a large number of new federal regulatory requirements on managed care companies.

Following a brief discussion of the major patient protection issues, participants will create a list of criteria for providing health care to New Mexicans.  Using this criteria, participants will assume the roles of doctors, insurance providers and patients to decide on the health care for a specific group of case examples.  You will decide what, if any, health care these patients should receive.  At the conclusion of the seminar, students will discuss the major patients' rights proposals being considered by the Congress.

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