Brian Albro Professor Leslie Wolcott ENC1102 17 March 2014 An Annotated Bibliography on Healthcare Reforms in America Healthcare is a topic

that the world has come at from many different directions throughout history. In less developed countries, there may not be any healthcare at all and that mosquito bite is lethal, where as in some Northern European countries and Canada, full operations on broken limbs are very cheap, being mostly if not completely covered by the government. In this annotated bibliography, only the recent healthcare reforms in the United States through the Affordable Care Act by President Barrack Obama will be discussed. The articles being annotated are all peer reviewed academic journals written by people who are well versed in the field of politics and the healthcare conversation on both sides of the argument. All of these articles were written recently, sometime between 2010 and now to keep the information relevant. The topic of healthcare is a very important one to the people of the United States that has made two very polarized opinions; people are either for it or against it. In America, people have to pay for and manage their own healthcare for the day they have an accident and need the money to pay for medical bills and for the time off of work. The problem though is that there are thousands of families that cannot afford the health insurance rates, or because of pre-existing conditions, insurers refuse to take them in, and the ones that will take them in dont offer nearly

enough protection for a single person, not to mention a whole family. A single broken limb could rack up a couple thousand dollar hospital bill leaving a family in crippling debt. With the Affordable Care Act in place and allowed to function, people would no longer have to debate with themselves whether or not going to the hospital to treat a serious injury or illness would be worth it.

Andel C, Davidow S, Hollander M, Moreno D. The Economics of Health Care Quality and Medical Errors. Journal Of Health Care Finance [serial online]. Fall2012 2012;39(1):3950. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 5, 2014. This article brings up one of the large fears and opposition to healthcare reform in modern America; medical errors. Americans have this fear that if medical professionals are being paid less, or in the case of the Affordable Care Act being paid exactly the same but now but the government, they will all of the sudden preform with less expertise. It is true that there are thousands of medical errors that happen in America every year, many resulting in the death of a patient. The chances that these numbers would get higher with free healthcare strikes fear in to the hearts of many, but is not exactly a logical fear as medical professionals will still be making a lot of money, and even if there was a pay cut, it wouldnt cause them to instantly forget everything they had previously learned and all of their previous experiences as a medical professional.

Beaussier A. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act: The Victory of Unorthodox Lawmaking. Journal Of Health Politics, Policy & Law [serial online]. October

2012;37(5):741-778. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 27, 2014. This piece talks all about the details of the Affordable Care Act and the difficulties of putting it through congress. The first part of the paper mostly details what exactly the Affordable Care Act is and what is in it along with the history of President Clintons attempt of making a similar bill. Dr. Beaussier, a researcher of health care policy in both Europe and America, was able to interview members of congress as the bill was working its way through the process of becoming an act. One large thing she noticed was that the vast majority of people preferred the idea of a healthcare overhaul more than the bill itself, in both President Clintons and in President Obamas case. The difference between the two attempts though, was when Obama sent his proposal to be picked apart by congress, he gave them a simple frame of bill whereas Clinton had the entire thing drafted. The problem with what was everything that congress wanted to change in the plans would require the whole thing to be rewritten, and as such, a complete plan never made it all the way through (Beaussier 755). Dalton A, Vamos E, Millett C, et al. Impact of Universal Health Insurance Coverage on Hypertension Management: A Cross-National Study in the United States and England. Plos ONE [serial online]. January 2014;9(1):1-9. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 10, 2014. In this article, a study was done to what the effects of the Affordable Care Act would have on the effects of hypertension, a blood pressure disorder, on America by comparing Americans 50 years and older before the Affordable Care Act and people of the same age demographic in England who have had a similar healthcare system to the Affordable

Care Act. This information was gathered from Health and Retirement Survey in the US, and the English Longitudinal Study for Aging from England, both included people of all races. The result of these surveys being compared show that having a universal healthcare would decrease the issues with diseases like hypertension in those between 50 and 65, while those over age 65 had insufficient data to make any accurate comparisons.

Huber J, Shapiro II R, Gillaspy M. TOP DOWN VERSUS BOTTOM UP: THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE HEALTH LITERACY MOVEMENT. Library Quarterly [serial online]. October 2012;82(4):429-451. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 13, 2014. The author of this article puts out the claim that the lower-class is being controlled by the upper-class in the case of health literacy, the knowledge of ones health and how to care for it. The idea is that whichever party is in control at the time allows, or attempts to suppress, people questioning the healthcare system. With the Affordable Care Act, more and more people are becoming health literate and gaining an understanding of health insurance.

Jones D. The Fate of Health Care Reform What to Expect in 2012. New England Journal Of Medicine [serial online]. January 26, 2012;366(4):N.PAG. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 16, 2014. In this article written in early 2012, the author makes predictions of that year and how what happens could affect the outcome of the Affordable Care Act. He narrows it down

to four key events that will most impact the outcome of the act and its future on healthcare provision in the United States. The first event is how the official legislation will be drafted as just a few key words could make or break the act. The process of this would be several months, leading in to the second key event, the Supreme Courts ruling on the constitutionality of the act. If they were to find anything that goes against the Constitution, the act would be either scrapped or it would have to be revised. The third event was June 29th, the official date for the act to get a federal grant. Without that startup money, the act would not be able to be put in to motion as there wouldnt be enough money to cover medical costs. The last event was the presidential election of 2012, one in which if Obama had not been reelected, the Affordable Care Act would have been stalled so long in legislation that it would just die. 2012 has passed and the Affordable Care Act is quite alive and now in effect, just as the author had predicted.

Marshall W. NATIONAL HEALTHCARE AND AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL CULTURE. Harvard Journal Of Law & Public Policy[serial online]. Winter2012 2012;35 (1):131-152. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 20, 2014. In this article, the author argues the point that the health care reforms implemented by President Barrack Obama are in no way against the constitutional law, but they are against constitutional culture. Constitutional culture has shaped Americans to have an intense feeling of independence and mistrust of governments (Marshall 140). On the other hand though, the same constitutional culture has brought Americans the desire social mobility (Marshall 146) and the idea of America truly being a land of Equal

Opportunity (Marshall 149). The author, Marshall, is currently a Professor in the School of Law at the University of North Carolina and was once the Deputy White House Counsel and Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States during the Clinton Administration. All of these credentials make him an authority of the American political system and political culture.

METLAY G. Federalizing Medical Campaigns against Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. Milbank Quarterly [serial online]. March 2013;91(1):123-162. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 16, 2014. In this article, the author gives an extensive history of a couple of organizations specifically made to assist people in the recovery process of a drug or alcohol addiction. The author then talks about how the Affordable Care Act would be useful for these organizations and their goals. The belief is that with the incentive of not having to pay as much, more people struggling with alcohol and drug issues that they want fixed would be willing to go to these organizations. The more help these people get, the more their lives will improve and society in a whole will improve.

Monheit A. There We Go Again!. Inquiry (00469580) [serial online]. Summer2012 2012:83, 89. Available from: Business Source Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 13, 2014. In this article, the economics of the Affordable Care Act are discussed, specifically the bankruptcies of various large corporations and how that will affect the success of the act.

The author theorizes that because of the economy taking a downturn, less people will have the means to access the healthcare, such as the website marketplace where one would sign up to be enrolled in the healthcare. If someone has been layed-off from work and can no longer afford a computer, they are unable to get the care they need for themselves and their family. The author makes a suggestion that since the Affordable Care Act mostly relies on the individual states, there should be some way for the states to be able to get insurance to these people.

Olson L. Medicaid, the States and Health Care Reform. New Political Science [serial online]. March 2012;34(1):37-54. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 13, 2014. In this article, the author explains a little how exactly the Affordable Care Act works, more specifically Medicaids role in its function. Most of the Affordable Care Acts insurance connections come from Medicaid simply because it is so cheap. This way, more people can be covered and universal healthcare is getting closer to being realized. The problem with this though is that because of the low costs, questions of quality are often brought up. There is an imbalance in coverage and quality between states as this kind of healthcare relies solely on state funding.

Rabkin J. AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM AND THE HEALTHCARE REFORM

DEBATE. Harvard Journal Of Law & Public Policy[serial online]. Winter2012 2012;35(1):153-170. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 6, 2014. In this article, the author attempts to make a statement that the Affordable Care Act is against the Constitution and the Exceptional American way of life. For the first few pages, the article talks about how America is different from other countries, from the political setup to its aversion to socialism, and even though several other countries did the same thing, America did it better. When we finally get to the healthcare part, the author goes right in to saying that it is completely against everything America stands for, mostly because it limits the choice of people. The first case brought up is that states should have the right to come up with their own health care plans with the power of the 10th Amendment of the Bill of Rights, though it is not at all mentioned that this Amendment can only be used when there is not a national law that supersedes it. Another argument used is a counter to the idea that if the government can force men to war, it can force people in to something that will do them good by stating that the protection of America is in the Constitution. What was excluded though, was that the idea of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness that caused a need for our Constitution to be made, and having health care fits right in there.

Roberts C. Dynamics of Healthcare Reform: Bitter Pills Old and New. Vanderbilt Journal Of Transnational Law [serial online]. November 2012;45(5):1341-1380. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 7, 2014.

This article talks about how having an easily accessible healthcare system in the United States is not just a domestic matter, but an international one. The article goes on to give the history of American healthcare debates dating back to 1948 and all the arguments for and against free healthcare. He then hits a very important point; American healthcare is not just Americas problem. The author brings up two important treaties, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Roberts 1342) that were made by America to ensure human rights to everyone across the world, including accessible healthcare. Though all of this is information from around the 1950s, it is still relevant today as the battle for American healthcare is still happening with rough opposition in fear of it being too communist.

Tilburt J, James K, Jenkins S, Antiel R, Curlin F, Rasinski K. Righteous Minds in Health Care: Measurement and Explanatory Value of Social Intuitionism in Accounting for the Moral Judgments in a Sample of U.S. Physicians. Plos ONE [serial online]. September 2013;8(9):1-7. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed February 20, 2014. This article focused on the acceptance of the new health care reforms implemented by President Barack Obama on the medical community. Eight page surveys were sent out to 1895 practicing physicians of various practices in the United States (Tilburt et al. 2). This survey was to find out whether the physicians approved of the new healthcare reforms and whether their religious or political background had anything to do with their opinion. Out of the 1895 surveys sent, only 1032 returned. Of those, the results showed those

against the health care bill were mostly conservative and more religious than those who were for it, but they were also those who held the highest medical sanctity out of the others (Tilburt et al. 5). This article was written in 2013, though this project began in 2009. The survey was designed so that the physicians are unable to omit an answer or answer uncertain, forcing them to make a choice, instead of hiding behind uncertainty to protect their image (Tilburt et al. 6). Tilburt, one of the authors of the article, does many researches like this one for the Biomedical Ethics Program and the Program in Professionalism and Ethics, making him something of an authority on this topic.

Wright B. Who Governs Federally Qualified Health Centers?. Journal Of Health Politics, Policy & Law [serial online]. February 2013;38(1):27-55. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 9, 2014. In this article, the author works to inform readers about another fear that pushes against the Affordable Care Act, the fear that the institutions that are now government run will be beyond citizen control. The author goes on to explain that all federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) are required to have their committee consist of 51% or more consumers instead of medical professionals (Wright 28). This is important in quelling the fear that the government or doctors might attempt to trick people out of their money. The article was done through several surveys sent out to these FQHCs across the country to see just what percentage of the centers are up to code. An important thing found was that some people labeled as consumers were also workers at the FQHCs, but this was allowed in the context of the law because they were low ranking members at the centers (Wright 32).

Zlotnick C, Zerger S, Wolfe P. Health Care for the Homeless: What We Have Learned in the Past 30 Years and What's Next. American Journal Of Public Health [serial online]. December 2, 2013;103(S2):S199-S205. Available from: Academic Search Premier, Ipswich, MA. Accessed March 6, 2014. In this article, the topic of health care for homeless people is discussed. The authors start out with the history of homeless culture in America and the real big change that happened to it in the mid 1980s when funding for asylums dropped and a recession hit. Previously, most homeless people were generally male alcoholics but during the 80s, a much broader demographic of homeless people emerged. To try to help these homeless people, both public and privately owned services have opened to assess who among them had health issues, physical or mental, and then get them the treatment that they need. The sites that run these tests are unable to keep up with the sheer amount of people that are homeless. In a graph in the article, it is shown that when these movements began in 1987, there were roughly 50,000 clients with only 25 sites to take them all in, whereas in 2012, the number of clients jumped to 800,000, but only 200 sites operating. The authors hope that with the Affordable Care Act getting more motion, care for homeless people should be able to be provided more extensively and to more people.