2000 Annual Report Of The Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund

For some, Medicare is a model of what national health insurance could be in the United States. Despite its low administrative costs and significant contributions to the well-being of America's oldest and most disabled citizens, some critics assail the program as being out of sync with the needs of many senior citizens, while others often refer to it as "unsustainable" because of its high costs. Physicians and hospital administrators endlessly criticize and debate Medicare but rely upon it for a substantial share of their revenues. In Medicare: A Policy Primer, Marilyn Moon explains what Medicare is, how it works, and where it's headed. She examines the problems facing the program and which reform options hold the most promise. She also examines the history of Medicare and how the program works in the broader context of health care, the federal government, and the economy. It is a clear introduction to one of the most critical debates in health policy and an important volume for anyone interested in the future of Medicare.

The consolidation of public finance has become the most prevalent topic in recent policy discourse in the US. However, the political debate about fiscal "belt-tightening" stretches back to the last decades of the past millennium, induced by deteriorating economic conditions which followed the first oil price shock in the early 1970s. Retrenchment in the American Welfare State investigates to what extent different welfare state programs in the US were affected by cutbacks during the Republican Reagan era, on the one hand, and during the Democratic Clinton era on the other, and to what extent these cutbacks reveal certain "patterns" of retrenchment, and how the measured discrepancies can best be explained. (Series: Studies in North American History, Politics and Society/ Studien zu Geschichte, Politik und Gesellschaft Nordamerikas - Vol. 30)