Who ’ s Paying for What ?
Miss-representation
Does Health Insurance Save Lives ?
Source : Woolhandler S , Himmelstein DU . The relationship of health insurance and mortality : is lack of insurance deadly ? Ann Intern Med . 2017 June 27 . [ Epub ahead of print ] only
28.3 % of speakers
CLINICAL NEWS
Who ’ s Paying for What ?
In its 40th annual report on the nation ’ s health , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) revealed long-term changes in the share of personal health-care expenditures between 1975 and 2015 , with patients paying less for hospital care , but more for prescription drugs and other services :
100 80 60 40
Hospital care costs decreased from 45.3 % to 38.1 %
Miss-representation
Women now make up nearly half of the medical workforce , but that balance isn ’ t reflected in the lineup of grand rounds speakers , according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine .
Looking at the national academic medical workforce and grand rounds speaker series across nine medical specialties ,
the authors found that women represented :
20 |
|
|
|
|
0
5.00 5.00
3.75
2.50
|
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
Home health care costs increased from 0.5 % to 3.3 %
2000
2005
2010
2015
|
46.7 % |
of medical students |
1.25 |
|
|
|
0.00 |
1975 |
1980 |
1985 |
1990 |
1995 |
2000 |
2005 |
2010 |
2015 |
|
20
15
10
|
Prescription drug costs increased from 7.1 % to 11.9 % |
46 % |
of residents |
5 |
|
|
|
0 |
1975 |
1980 |
1985 |
1990 |
1995 |
2000 |
2005 |
2010 |
2015 |
|
20
15
10
|
Other types of care costs increased from 10.6 % to 13.2 % |
36 % |
of faculty |
5 |
|
|
|
0 |
1975 |
1980 |
1985 |
1990 |
1995 |
2000 |
2005 |
2010 |
2015 |
Source : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , “ Health , United States , 2016 ,” June 28 , 2017 .
Does Health Insurance Save Lives ?
Amid the politically charged debate over the repeal of the Affordable Care Act , the future of American health care coverage remains uncertain , but an update from a 2002 Institute of Medicine report offers one clear fact : Having health insurance reduces one ’ s risk of death .
A review of randomized clinical trials and large population-based surveys revealed that the odds of dying among the insured relative to the uninsured
is 0.71 to 0.97 , translating to a 26 % lower risk of death with health insurance .
However , the authors noted the challenges to studying the causal relationship of health insurance and mortality , including that many people cycle in and out of insurance coverage , and that not all insurance is created equal .
Source : Woolhandler S , Himmelstein DU . The relationship of health insurance and mortality : is lack of insurance deadly ? Ann Intern Med . 2017 June 27 . [ Epub ahead of print ] only
28.3 % of speakers
Despite encouraging rates in female medical student enrollment and “ increasing numbers of women entering junior faculty positions ,” the authors wrote , “ even inadvertently disproportionate showcasing of male speakers in grand rounds may limit … retention of women in academic medicine .”
Source : Boiko JR , Anderson AJM , Gordon RA . Representation of women among academic Grand Rounds speakers . JAMA Intern Med . 2017 ; 177:722-4 .
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