ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN HEALTH CARE AND POVERTY
This research paper discusses the involvement of different levels of government in addressing health care needs and the problem of poverty in the United States, the economic implications of that involvement and differing rationale for that involvement and the proper degree and nature thereof.
Role of Government in Addressing Health Care Needs
According to Cochran et al. (1996), "the traditional American health care system is a mix of public and private institutions with little central planning or coordination" (p. 250). Prior to the 1960s, health care was largely left to private health care providers. Many hospitals were owned by private charities. Local governments were responsible for providing garbage and sewage services, safe drinking water, insect and epidemic control and some free clinics. The federal government through the Food and Drug Administration regulated the purity and safety of food products and pharmaceuticals. According to Cochran et al., total R & D for public health (conducted mainly through the National Institute of Health and the National Science Foundation and the Public Health) rose from $160 million in 1950 to $11 billion in 1963 (p. 264). The Public Health Service established minimum standards for the control of certain communicable diseases. The federal government also financed 15 percent of postwar new hospital construction.
The role of the federal government increased dramatically with the enactment of Medicare, compulsory medical and hospitalization insurance for retirees age 65 and over, which is financed by a supplement to the federal social security tax and is administered by the federal government; and Medicaid, a public assistance program financed out of general revenues to help defray the health costs of the elderly poor, and certain other beneficiaries, including welfare recipients and poor children and pregnant women, which is administer...