NPR's 'Fresh Air' Features Interview with Author of Medicare Book

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 30 May 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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NPR's... "Fresh Air" on Thursday included an interview with Jonathan Oberlander, associate professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina and author of the book "The Political Life of Medicare." In the interview, Oberlander discussed the support and opposition for the creation of Medicare during the Truman administration; the evolution of the program over the decades; the impact of supplemental health benefits on the Medicare system; the 2003 Medicare law and provisions of the prescription drug benefit that will take effect in 2006; the relationships between Medicare, physicians and the health insurance industry; how recent tax cuts have influenced funding for the program; why Medicare is "harder to fix" than Social Security; the ethical issues involved in administering the program, determining beneficiary eligibility, and deciding which medications and treatments to cover; and the historical connections between Medicare and Medicaid (Gross, "Fresh Air," NPR, 5/26).

The complete segment is available online in RealPlayer.

"Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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