and beds by geographic location indicated that the skilled nursing home was the predominant type of facility. Extended-care units constituted almost half the State and local facilities, about one-third of nonprofit facilities, but less than 4 percent of proprietary institutions. Data concerning the ratios of extended-care facilities and beds per HI enrollees is provided, and variations due to high-aged populations are noted. jnl-mod.

0717 Board of Trustees, Federal
Hospital Insurance Trust Fund.
1979 Annual Report of the Board of
Trustees of the Federal Hospital
Insurance Trust Fund.

H.R. Rept. No. 96-102, 96th Cong.,

1st Sess. (1979). Washington, DC, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1979. 32 pp.

The 1979 Annual Report on the status of the Federal hospital insurance trust fund is presented. Highlights of the findings of the study conducted by the Board of Trustees include: (1) a 17percent increase in disbursements in 1979 ($17.9 billion total), largely due to a substantial increase in the cost of hospital services; and (2) a 20.6-percent increase in trust fund revenues due to higher average earnings for covered persons and increases in the maximum taxable amount of annual earnings. It is also noted that approximately 23.5 million persons aged 65 and over were protected by the hospital insurance program in July 1978, representing about 95 percent of the aged population.

pro-gen.

charges. The use of the 200-percent declining balance or the sum-of-digits methods is urged. jnl-mod.

0722 Cohen, Wilbur J.

Independent Practitioners under
Medicare: A Report to the Congress.
Washington, DC, U.S. Govt. Print.
Off., 1969. 308 pp.

Department of Health, Education,
and Welfare, Office of the Secretary.

A congressionally mandated report on
inclusion of services by additional in-
dependent practitioners under the sup-
plementary medical insurance portion of
Medicare is presented. The issues re-
lated to expanded coverage and the feas-
ibility of adding nine additional serv-
ices are discussed. It is recommended
that Medicare be expanded to include
coverage for services of occupational
therapists, clinical psychologists,
social workers, and speech pathologists
provided in organized agencies, centers,
or other programs. jnl-mod.

The evolution of the concept of Government health insurance in the United States is traced up to the passage of Medicare. Topics include the early health insurance movement; health insurance legislation, beginning with the first proposed health insurance bill in 1935; legislative processes; and the legislative history of Medicare.

pro-gen.

0725 Davis, Karen.

Hospital Costs and the Medicare Program.
Social Security Bulletin,
36(8):18-36, 1973.
Funded by SSA.

Brookings Institution,
Washington, DC.

The effects of Medicare on hospital cost inflation are investigated. The study

covers the first 2 years of Medicare and examines trends in hospital revenues and expenses, labor and capital components of cost inflation, trends in individual hospital services, and the simultaneous effects of several sources of cost inflation. Generally, results show that the many characteristics of hospital inflation in the pre-Medicare períod continued with greater intensity in Medicare's initial years. pro-gen.

0726 Davis, Karen; Reynolds, Roger. Medicare and the Utilization of Health Care Services by the Elderly. Journal of Human Resources, 10(3):361-377, 1975.

Funded by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Brookings Institution,
Washington, DC.

Physician and hospital utilization patterns of the elderly are analyzed using 1969 data from the Health Interview Survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics in order to determine whether differences in medical care payments reflect differences in health status, educational levels, physical access to health care services, the financial deterrent of Medical costsharing requirments, or other factors. The findings confirm that some inequities, especially by income, race, and geographic location, continue to occur. jnl-mod.

0727 Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Task Force on Medicaid and Related Programs.

Report of the Task Force on Medicaid
and Related Programs.

Washington, DC, U.S. Govt. Print.
Off., 1970. 130 pp.

This DHEW Task Force report addresses
the deficiencies of Medicaid and related
programs, as well as considerations in
long-term financing of the Nation's med-
ical care.
Areas of concern include
coverage, eligibility, health care de-
livery under Medicaid, Medicaid manage-
ment, benefits, and long-term care.
It is recommended that Medicaid be con-
verted to a program with a uniform mini-
mum level of health benefits financed
entirely by Federal funds, with Federal
matching funds provided to States for
supplementary benefits and for persons
not covered under the minimum plan.
jnl-mod.

ing Medicare's establishment and public acceptance. It is contended that reorganization is needed to shift the focus from social insurance to health policy. jnl-mod.

0730 Feingold, Eugene.

Medicare: Policy and Politics. (Chandler Publications in Political Science) San Francisco, CA, Chandler, 1966. 317 PP.

University of Michigan,

Ann Arbor, MI.

Text and selected readings analyze the struggle over Government participation in the financing of Medicare, focusing on the creation and marshaling of public opinion, the political activities of interest groups, and the enactment of legislation. Topics include health care problems of the aged, financial needs and resources of the aged, a legislative history of Medicare, and the use of the social security mechanism in financing health care for the elderly. pro-gen.

0731 Feldstein, Martin S.

An Econometric Model of the Medicare System.

Quarterly Journal of Economics,

85(1):1-20, 1971.

Funded by National Center for Health Services Research and Development, Grant No. HS00284.

Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA.

An econometric model of Medicare utilizes structural equations to explain interstate variations in the proportion of enrollees with supplementary medical insurance, hospital and extended care facility admission rates per thousand enrollees, and the average levels of hospital and medical insurance benefits. Analysis reveals adverse effects on health care of the nonaged. jnl-mod.

0732 Gayer, David.

The Effects of Medicaid on State and
Local Government Finances.
National Tax Journal,
25(4):511-519, 1972.

Social Security Administration,
Office of Research and Statistics.

The author examines the effects of Medicaid on three objectives of intergov