Health care for all: a crisis of cost and access. A roundtable discussion: Part 1.
Primary care physicians are feeling the impact of a healthcare system in crisis. Many Americans have no health insurance, paperwork is consuming more and more of physicians' time, and concerns about controlling costs seem to overshadow the value of medical decision-making. Medicare protects the elderly, but low reimbursement fees act as a disincentive to accepting them as patients. Although there is a general consensus that reforms are needed, there are many different opinions on how this should be achieved. In this first part of a three-part roundtable discussion, seven experts in the fields of aging, medicine, and government discuss flaws in our current system and factors that are interfering with reform.
D002170:Canada; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D005251:Fees, Medical; D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health; D006278:Medicare; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States