Single-Payer Reform and Rural Health in the United States: Lessons from Our Northern Neighbor
Abstract
Single-payer health reform has secured its place in the mainstream American health policy debate, yet its implications for particular subpopulations or sectors of care remain understudied. Amidst many unanswered questions from policymakers and political pundits, rural health has emerged as one such area. This article explores rural Canada’s five-decade-long experience with a national publicly funded health insurance program as a valuable opportunity for cross-national learning. During March 2020, I conducted 13 semi-structured, elite stakeholder interviews with government officials, academic researchers, rural hospital executives, public health association leaders, rural health administrators, and representatives from provincial medical, hospital, and physician associations in Ontario. I found that a single-payer model confers notable advantages over a market-based model, includ
Thursday, March 11, 2021
On March 10, 2021, Congress finalized and passed the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (ARP), the latest COVID-19 relief package that largely tracks President Biden’s initial $1.9 trillion proposal. The ARP extends unemployment insurance benefits and provides direct $1,400 stimulus payments to qualifying Americans, but it also makes several important health-policy-related changes. These include providing funding for vaccine distribution and testing to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, making policy adjustments to the Medicaid program, facilitating health insurance coverage and providing more money for healthcare providers. The final bill also makes two narrowly focused technical Medicare payment changes.
In developing and finalizing the bill, Democrats used the budget reconciliation process to pass the bill with only Democratic support. This process limited what could be included. The version that was signed into law ultimately removed a provision to inc
In those two decades, voters have elected Republicans statewide only twice.
One was Gordon Smith, who won a second term in the U.S. Senate in 2002 but lost six years later. He became president of the National Association of Broadcasters. He maintains a home in Pendleton, but has said he will not seek public office again.
The other was Dennis Richardson, a former state representative who lost to Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber in 2014, but was elected secretary of state two years later. Richardson died of cancer in 2019.
One of Richardson s early endorsers for governor in 2013 was Atiyeh, who knew about second chances. He was elected governor on his second try in 1978 (he lost four years earlier) and was re-elected in 1982.