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| Help, I've Fallen Into the Doughnut Hole and I Can't Get Up: The Problems with Medicare
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Beverly Goldberg,
The Century Foundation,
10/28/2008
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Ever since the enactment of Medicare Part D, which pays private insurers to offer senior citizens plans to help cover the costs of their prescription drugs, bitter complaints about the program have been the norm. Most of the complaints have focused on the "doughnut hole," the coverage gap that occurs when someone spends more than the year's covered amount—$2,510 in 2008—on his or her medications. When that cap is reached, because an individual is on multiple medications or extremely expensive ones or both, the costs of medications must be paid for out—of—pocket until the person spends up to a level that is significantly higher than the covered amount—an additional $3,216 in 2008. At that point, the plan again begins to cover needed drugs under a catastrophic coverage provision. Continue Reading Here.
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Download the PDF.
View Press Release.
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| Getting More Value from Medicare
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Maggie Mahar,
The Century Foundation,
9/29/2008
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In “Getting More Value from Medicare,” The Century Foundation, fellow and HealthBeat Blog editor Maggie Mahar (www.healthbeatblog.org) points out that past proposals for containing Medicare’s costs, such as putting a cap on physicians’ fees or requiring beneficiaries to pay more for their care, have not worked. She calls for a fundamental set of reforms that would not only save money but also improve the quality of care that beneficiaries receive. Download the Agenda here.
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View The Agenda Series archive.
Download the PDF.
View press release.
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| Reforming Medicare: Options, Tradeoffs, and Opportunities
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Jeanne Lambrew,
Henry J. Aaron,
Brookings Institution Press,
7/28/2008
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Everyone agrees on the need to reform Medicare but not on how to do it. Some argue the program is too comprehensive, others that it is not comprehensive enough. Some suggest it pays too much for health care, others, too little. Meanwhile, the financial stakes continue to mount. Medicare spending exceeded $400 billion in 2007, making it more expensive than the entire health systems of most other nations, as well as the largest national public program other than Social Security and national defense.
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Order the book here.
View related event.
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| Making Choice an Option
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Maggie Mahar,
Dartmouth Medicine,
10/1/2007
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Are patients who sign informed-consent paperwork really informed about the
treatment they’re about to undergo? Of course not. The fine print on such forms
is for lawyers, not sick people. But should patients understand the risks and tradeoffs of different treatment options they face? Of course. Dartmouth has been leading the way, not just asking for informed consent, but giving patients informed choice.
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View the article here (PDF).
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| UnitedHealth vs. Uninsured Kids
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Maggie Mahar,
The Century Foundation,
8/2/2007
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Wednesday night, the House voted 225–209 to pass a bill that would, in the words of a Wall Street Journal editorial, “steal nearly $50 billion from Medicare Advantage, the innovative attempt to bring private competition to senior health care” in order to beef up the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a program that delivers health care to poor children. Continue reading PDF here.
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View more from the Health Beat Series
View the PDF document.
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| Wall Street, Cancer, and the FDA: A Cautionary Tale
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Maggie Mahar,
The Century Foundation,
7/24/2007
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Only in America do physicians who evaluate new drugs need bodyguards.
You may have read about the brouhaha surrounding Provenge, a vaccine designed to extend the lives of men suffering from late-stage prostate cancer. In March, a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel voted 13 to 4 to recommend approval.
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View more from the Health Beat Series
View in PDF Format
View the press release here (PDF).
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| Facing the Problems of Providing Long-Term Care for the Oldest Old
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Beverly Goldberg,
The Century Foundation,
6/11/2007
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As the first members of that huge generation known as the baby boomers begin to reach retirement, they are clearly more active and in better health than were earlier generations reaching that milestone. The boomers are looking forward to some two decades or more of what they believe will be an active, enjoyable third stage of life, given increases in longevity. What few of them have spent time contemplating, however, are the long-term problems that those extra years can bring: Will they be able to afford their new longevity? Will they remain healthy until the day they die? Who will care for them when they no longer can care for themselves? Beverly Goldberg examines these questions in the latest issue brief from The Century Foundation.
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Download the PDF document here.
View the press release (PDF).
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| The State of the Nation's Health
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Maggie Mahar,
Dartmouth Medicine,
5/1/2007
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The U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation. Does that money buy what it should?
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View the entire article here (PDF).
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| A Second Opinion
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Dr. Arnold Relman,
PublicAffairs,
The Century Foundation,
4/23/2007
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A world-renowned physician traces the rise of the medical-industrial complex that has made a disaster of our healthcare system—and tells us incisively what we need to do to change it.
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Table of Contents (PDF)
To order, visit PublicAffairs Books
Read an excerpt from A Second Opinion
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| The Century Forum: Universal Health Insurance and the States
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Leif Wellington Haase,
The Century Foundation,
2/7/2007
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Driven by state proposals for universal insurance coverage and rising health care costs, comprehensive health reform is back in the news. At least twenty states have taken significant steps toward covering the uninsured or are seriously considering proposals to do so. California’s governor Arnold Schwarzenegger put forward a major plan last month. Massachusetts continues to implement its universal coverage plan passed by the legislature this past April. In Congress, Edward Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, has called for covering all Americans, while Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced a major universal coverage plan in December.
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Download the PDF file here.
View The Century Forum series here.
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| What the Public Really Wants on Health Care
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Ruy Teixeira,
The Century Foundation,
Center for American Progress,
12/4/2006
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In this brief from the "What the Public Really Wants..." series, Ruy Teixeira makes sense of the wealth of polling data available on Americans' views about health care.
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What the Public Really Wants Archive
Download the PDF document here.
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| How to Slow Runaway Health Care Costs & Get More Bang for the Buck
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Leif Wellington Haase,
The Century Foundation,
10/4/2006
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In a power point presentation The Century Foundation's Leif Wellington Haase illustrates how rising health care costs are affecting United States citizens. He compares these costs to those in other developing countries and describes what steps can be taken to control health care costs in the United States.
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Download the presentation as a PDF (572 kB).
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| Getting More Bang for Each Health Care Dollar
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Leif Wellington Haase,
Jonah Liebert,
The Century Foundation,
9/25/2006
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The United States health care system needs fundamental change. It suffers
from unacceptably high costs, unequal insurance coverage and access to care, and poor
and uneven quality of care.
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Download in PDF Format
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| The Basics: Stem Cells and Public Policy
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Richard Hayes,
The Century Foundation,
6/16/2006
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A concise, comprehensive overview of the implications of stem cell research for the development for public policy.
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Download in PDF format
Press Release
April 2007 Press Release
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| Taking Stock of the Medicare Drug Benefit
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Leif Wellington Haase,
The Century Foundation,
5/19/2006
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The initial enrollment period for the new Medicare prescription drug benefit recently ended in controversy over whether older Americans—who won’t be able to sign up again for drug coverage until November—should have to pay a penalty when they do.
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Download in PDF format
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| Apart at the Seams: The Collapse of Private Pension and Health Care Protections
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Charles R. Morris,
Century Foundation Press,
2/9/2006
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An exploration of how the collapse of private sector retirement and health benefits came about and how it has affected the landscape of American social insurance.
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Order Online
Table of Contents (pdf)
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| Launching the Medicare Drug Benefit: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
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Leif Wellington Haase,
The Century Foundation,
10/28/2005
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With full implementation of the Medicare drug benefit drawing near, which features look promising and which don't?
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Download in PDF format
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| The Medicare Drug Benefit: Straight Answers to the Toughest Questions
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Leif Wellington Haase,
Kristin Wikelius,
The Century Foundation,
10/3/2005
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Common questions about the new drug benefit's financing, interactions with private plans, and likely impact.
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Download in PDF format
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| A New Deal for Health: How to Cover Everyone and Get Medical Costs under Control
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Leif Wellington Haase,
Century Foundation Press,
6/1/2005
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A comprehensive plan for reforming the broken U.S. health care system from Health Care Fellow Leif Wellington Haase.
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Download in PDF format
Table of Contents (pdf)
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| Breathing Easier? The Report of The Century Foundation Working Group on Bioterrorism Preparedness
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Leif Wellington Haase,
The Century Foundation,
1/13/2005
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After spending almost $3 billion to date on public health preparedness, how much better prepared are we for a terrorist attack?
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Download in PDF format
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| The Debate Over Medicare Costs: A Primer
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Leif Wellington Haase,
The Century Foundation,
9/24/2004
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Straight answers on recent Medicare news: rising costs, the prescription drug bill, and the program's long term financial health.
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Download in PDF format
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| America's Achilles Heel: Job-Based Health Coverage and the Uninsured
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Leif Wellington Haase,
Cari Reiner,
The Century Foundation,
6/21/2004
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America’s system of employment-based health insurance has many disadvantages.
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Download in PDF format
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| The Medical Malpractice Controversy
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Libby Perl,
The Century Foundation,
5/27/2004
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Limits on awards for “pain and suffering” would have the greatest adverse affect on the poor, underemployed, and children, but would do little to affect health care premiums.
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Download in PDF format
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| Public Health Preparedness at a Price
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Bernard J. Turnock,
The Century Foundation,
1/29/2004
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Are increased bioterrorism preparedness dollars from the federal government making us safer or improving public health? Bernard Turnock tracks the impact of federal funding in Illinois since the anthrax attacks of 2001.
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Download in PDF format
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| The State of the Bush Health Care Proposals
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Leif Wellington Haase,
The Century Foundation,
1/21/2004
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President George W. Bush’s 2004 State of the Union health care proposals resemble those he rolled out in 2003.
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Download in PDF format
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| Universal Health Coverage: The Problem with Individual Mandates
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Leif Wellington Haase,
The Century Foundation,
2/14/2003
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The pros and cons of mandating individuals to obtain health insurance to solve the problem of universal health coverage.
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| Paying for Medical Value
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Leif Wellington Haase,
The Century Foundation,
7/11/2002
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This issue brief proposes a different standard for the design of a Medicare benefit: the medical and therapeutic value of the medications covered.
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Download in PDF format
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| Medicare Tomorrow
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Century Foundation Task Force on Medicare Reform,
Century Foundation Press,
6/1/2002
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This report examines recent changes to Medicare and proposed reforms to the program, with an emphasis on how they may affect Medicare beneficiaries and their families.
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| A Place at the Table: Women's Needs and Medicare Reform
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Marilyn Moon,
Century Foundation Press,
3/15/2002
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Examining the special needs of women in the context of Medicare and the effects of possible reforms on the quality and availability of health care for women.
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Order Online
Table of Contents (pdf)
Download Chapter 3 (PDF)
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| Expanding Home and Community-Based Services for the Elderly
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Leif Wellington Haase,
Andrea Magyera,
Eelco Slagter,
The Century Foundation,
1/15/2002
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As seniors prefer to receive long-term care in their homes and where they live, states should consider expanding their home and community-based long-term care services as an alternative to nursing homes.
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Read the Issue Brief
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| Life in an Older America
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Lawrence K. Grossman,
Mia Oberlink,
Robert N. Butler,
Century Foundation Press,
7/1/2001
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Leading experts from the worlds of public policy, health care policy, economics, media, and advertising debunk the myths surrounding aging and correct the flawed predictions for the nation's future.
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Order Online
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| Life in an Older America (paperback)
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Lawrence K. Grossman,
Mia Oberlink,
Robert N. Butler,
Century Foundation Press,
6/15/2001
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Leading experts from the worlds of public policy, health care policy, economics, media, and advertising debunk the myths surrounding aging and correct the flawed predictions for the nation's future.
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Order Online
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| The Basics: Medicare Reform (Revised for 2001)
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The Century Foundation,
6/1/2001
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A guide to Medicare's strengths and weaknesses, as well as the costs of the various reform proposals.
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Download in PDF format
View more from The Basics series here.
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| Playing Fast and Loose with the Nation's Fiscal Health: The 2001 Tax Cut
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The Century Foundation,
1/1/2001
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President George W. Bush’s 2001 tax cut was fiscally reckless to the point of endangering the future economic well-being of the nation and directly contradicted many of the lessons of the 1990s about the virtues of fiscal discipline.
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Download in PDF format
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| An Outpatient Prescription Drug Benefit For Medicare
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Leif Wellington Haase,
Benjamin Aldrich-Moodie,
The Century Foundation,
6/7/2000
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To reduce the heavy financial burden that many seniors currently face, a new outpatient prescription drug benefit should be added to Medicare, the federal health insurance program for older persons and those with disabilities.
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Download in PDF format
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| Too Much of a Good Thing
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Charles R. Morris,
Century Foundation Press,
5/1/2000
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Morris argues that, if higher health care spending coincides with an improved quality of life for more Americans, along with increasing numbers of highly compensated jobs in the medical sector, the nation may be better off.
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Table of Contents (PDF)
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| Children's Health Insurance
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Benjamin Aldrich-Moodie,
The Century Foundation,
4/15/2000
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To improve child and maternal health across the nation, the federal government should guarantee universal health care coverage to all children and pregnant women. A Century Foundation Idea Brief.
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Download in PDF format
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| Vulnerable Populations and Medicare Services
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Marian E. Gornick,
Century Foundation Press,
2/1/2000
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In this book, Marian E. Gornick demonstrates that when the health care needs of racial minorities and the disadvantaged are taken into account, disparities continue to exist for those covered by Medicare.
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Table of Contents (PDF)
Order Online
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| Medicaid and the States
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Paul Offner,
Century Foundation Press,
12/15/1999
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Paul Offner explores the impact of decreased federal oversight of Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income Americans.
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| Hazardous Crosscurrents
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John D. Donahue,
Century Foundation Press,
8/15/1999
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Exploring possible connections between the trends toward greater economic inequality and toward more state-centered government.
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| Understanding Long-Term Medicare Cost Estimates
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Joseph White,
The Century Foundation,
1/1/1999
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Concern about long-term costs dominates the political and policy debate over Medicare. In typical comments, Cokie Roberts and Steven Roberts reported that Democrats “don’t want to solve the long-term problems of Medicare because they want to keep the issue alive.”
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| Everything for Sale
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Robert Kuttner,
Alfred A. Knopf,
1/15/1997
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Robert Kuttner’s commonsense approach to the debate over laissez-faire economics and its applications highlights the pressing need for recognition that it is possible to embrace the many virtues of the marketplace without insisting that it will fulfill every human need.
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Table of Contents (pdf)
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| Beginnings Count
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David J. Rothman,
Oxford University Press,
1/15/1997
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The conflict between America’s need for a more inclusive health care policy and the need to control spending in that area is fueled by a long-standing desire of the American middle class for unencumbered access to care and technology.
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Read the Foreword
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| The Basics: Medicaid Reform
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The Century Foundation,
The Century Foundation,
6/1/1996
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Outlines congressional proposals that would dramatically reduce federal payments to fund Medicaid, the joint federal-state program that provides health care insurance to low-income Americans.
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View Basics
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| The Basics: Medicare Reform
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The Century Foundation,
10/1/1995
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Presents the essential facts about how Medicare works and describes where the program succeeds and where it fails.
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| Privatization and Public Hospitals
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Charles Brecher,
Sheila Spiezio,
Century Foundation Press,
6/15/1995
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One of a series on the privatization of services in the New York metropolitan area, this report insists that any plans to privatize hospitals and health care services must assure that the basic health care needs of the indigent are met and must make sense for taxpayers.
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Read the Foreword
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| Treating Malpractice
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Century Foundation Press,
12/15/1986
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This book evaluates whether the U.S. medical malpractice liability system deals adequately with negligence by health-care providers.
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The Century Foundation fellow, Maggie Mahar discusses today's most pressing health care policy issues in The Health Beat by Maggie Mahar blog. Click 
View, Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much (Harper/Collins 2006), a book by The Century Foundation's Health Fellow, Maggie Mahar.
