The Economics of an Aging Society

Written by leading thinkers in the field, this text provides an in-depth analysis of the economic and policy issues associated with individual and population aging. The text has a strong policy focus based on demographic and economic analysis, making this book both accessible and challenging to readers with limited mathematical background. 
<ul> <li>Written by leading thinkers in the field of the economics of aging. 
</li> <li>Employs a strong policy focus based on demographic and economic analysis. 
</li> <li>Provides a comprehensive international picture of the consequences of aging. 
</li> <li>Engages the reader through side boxes, relevant website addresses, and practice questions.</li> </ul>

Business & Money

Clark, Robert L.

Burkhauser, Richard V.

Moon, Marilyn

Quinn, Joseph F.

Smeeding, Timothy M.

Economics

Wiley/Blackwell

Medicare is the federal health insurance program that offers coverage on equal terms to seniors and those with disabilities. The benefit package is uniform and premiums do not rise with age.  As Marilyn Moon shows in this important work, however, the characteristics of older women make them extremely vulnerable to gaps in Medicare coverage and other features of the program. Because older women are more likely to suffer from multiple chronic illnesses than men, Medicare's failure to cover most outpatient prescription drugs affects them the most. Because women live longer on average than men and have lower incomes from pensions and other sources, they are less able to meet the out-of-pocket costs associated with Medicare or supplemental insurance.   Moon evaluates Medicare reform proposals with an eye to whether they would alleviate or worsen the existing position of women in Medicare. She argues that making Medicare benefits more comprehensive and simplifying the program's rules would improve the health of older women and reduce their financial burdens.

A Place at the Table: Women's Needs and Medicare Reform

Herd, Pamela

Insurance

Brookings Inst Pr

Traces the historical reasons for the access and cost problems plaguing the U.S. health care system. Explains why both problems are likely to get worse. Analyzes in clear nontechnical terms the advantages and disadvantages of different reform alternatives. Presents a proposal for health care system reform that recognizes the cultural and political realities that any realistic U.S. health care reform must tackle: a strong cultural aversion to centralized administration and high public sector costs, an entrenched private health insurance industry, and an established tradition of employer-based health insurance.

Balancing Access, Costs, and Politics: The American Context for Health System Reform (Urban Institute Reports)

Politics & Social Sciences

Holahan, John

Welch, W. Pete

Zuckerman, Stephen

Social Sciences

Urban Inst Pr

Examines how Medicare, the federal health care programme for the aged and disabled, has changed over time and how it works today. The text analyses the impact of Medicare on beneficiaries, how the programme works in practice, and ends with a discussion of options for change in the future.

Medicare Now and in the Future

Medicare, the health care program for the aged and disabled, is one of our most popular federal programs. Nonetheless, critics worry about its enormous size and rapid growth and often suggest radical reforms. The author examines how Medicare has changed over time and how it works today. The first half of the volume analyzes the impact of Medicare on beneficiaries, on providers of health care, and on the federal budget. She explains how this complex program works in practice: how it attempts to control costs, what services are offered, and what problems plague the program. This section ends with an analysis of the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act, which passed with considerable fanfare in 1988 but was repealed just 16 months later. The last half of the book focuses on options for changing Medicare-including both possible expansions and contractions in the program. The author concludes with her views on how Medicare should change over time. Although the book focuses on Medicare, much of the analysis is relevant to the wider health care reform debate. It raises a broad range of policy options and will contribute to the policy debate over the future of health care.

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 is it 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.

Medicare: A Policy Primer

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Urban Institute Press

Medicare Now and in the Future (Routledge Revivals)

First published in 1997, this volume approaches the controversial issue of Medicare and its future. First passed in 1965 to aid payments for elderly and disabled medical care, the costs had ballooned in the 1990s, asking questions about how to improve its efficiency. An original goal of this book was to contextualise Medicare within the anticipated comprehensive restructuring of American healthcare. With Medicare 10% of the federal budget at the original time of publication, Marilyn Moon now takes another look at Medicare and discusses how the budget could be tightened without threatening the function of Medicare, with an emphasis on better targeting. In particular, the novel issue of means testing is explored. Having researched Medicare since 1981, Moon recasts her book by discussing issues including Medicare’s context, ensuring access, containing costs, the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act, the potential for marginal changes, reducing costs, expanding Medicare and ultimately how Medicare should look to change.

Routledge

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Books by Moon, Marilyn