Hcs/235 Health Insurance Matrix
Antionette Collier
November 29 2014
Health Care Museum
My five choices for the Health Museum are
1. The great depression and birth of blue cross
2. The dominant influence of Government
3. Efforts at planning and quality control
4. Managed care organizations
5. The Reagan communication
#1 (The great depression and birth of blue cross)
The Depression of 1929 shook the financial security of both physicians and hospitals. Physician incomes and hospital receipts and admission rates dropped precipitously. As the situation grew worse, hospitals began experimenting with insurance plans. The Baylor University Hospital plan was not the first, but it became the most influential of those insurance experiments. By enrolling 1,250 public school teachers at
50 cents a month for a guaranteed 21 days of hospital care, Baylor created the model for, and is credited with, the genesis of Blue Cross
Hospital Insurance. Baylor started a trend that developed into multihospital plans that included all the hospitals in a given area. By 1937, there were 26 plans with more than 600,000 members, and the American
Hospital Association (AHA) started approving the plans. Physicians were pleased with the increased availability of hospital care and the cooperative manner in which their bills were paid. The AMA, however, was characteristically hostile and called the plans “economically
Unsound, unethical, and inimical to the public interest.”
#2 (The dominant influenced government)
Although the health insurance industry contributed significantly to the spiraling costs of health care in the decades after World War II, it was only one of several influences. The federal government’s coverage of health care for special populations played a prominent role. Over the years, the U.S. government developed, revised, and otherwise adjusted a host of categorical or disease-specific programs designed to address needs not otherwise met by state or local administrations or the private sector. Federally
November 29 2014
Health Care Museum
My five choices for the Health Museum are
1. The great depression and birth of blue cross
2. The dominant influence of Government
3. Efforts at planning and quality control
4. Managed care organizations
5. The Reagan communication
#1 (The great depression and birth of blue cross)
The Depression of 1929 shook the financial security of both physicians and hospitals. Physician incomes and hospital receipts and admission rates dropped precipitously. As the situation grew worse, hospitals began experimenting with insurance plans. The Baylor University Hospital plan was not the first, but it became the most influential of those insurance experiments. By enrolling 1,250 public school teachers at
50 cents a month for a guaranteed 21 days of hospital care, Baylor created the model for, and is credited with, the genesis of Blue Cross
Hospital Insurance. Baylor started a trend that developed into multihospital plans that included all the hospitals in a given area. By 1937, there were 26 plans with more than 600,000 members, and the American
Hospital Association (AHA) started approving the plans. Physicians were pleased with the increased availability of hospital care and the cooperative manner in which their bills were paid. The AMA, however, was characteristically hostile and called the plans “economically
Unsound, unethical, and inimical to the public interest.”
#2 (The dominant influenced government)
Although the health insurance industry contributed significantly to the spiraling costs of health care in the decades after World War II, it was only one of several influences. The federal government’s coverage of health care for special populations played a prominent role. Over the years, the U.S. government developed, revised, and otherwise adjusted a host of categorical or disease-specific programs designed to address needs not otherwise met by state or local administrations or the private sector. Federally