Medicare in the USA: a review of 45 years of health provision.

Medicare, the federal health insurance in the United States of America for senior citizens 65 and older, and for disabled persons under 65, celebrated its 45th anniversary in 2010. 2010 also marked the introduction of major healthcare reform in the USA, the first significant overhaul since the 1960s. As part of the new healthcare reform, Medicare will serve as the laboratory for testing measures of efficiency and effectiveness in healthcare services, administration, and education.

The Bhopal gas disaster: focus on community health and environmental effects.

George Thomas’s editorial , responds to the recent 2010 Indian court verdict on the Bhopal gas disaster of 1984 . The court’s action, finding seven officials of Union Carbide (India) guilty, does not resolve many of the long-standing grievances against international corporations and their officers, nor the multiple medical and legal complications still faced by the victims of the Bhopal gas disaster.

Healthcare reform in the USA, 2010: the rocky road ahead.

Historic legislation for healthcare reform in the United States was enacted in March 2010. Reforms in medical practice, payment for services, and access to care and insurance will be introduced by complex processes over time through 2019. The overriding goals of healthcare reform are cost containment and guaranteeing access to all Americans. The contentious political struggle that preceded the legislation is emblematic of the continuous struggle in American society to define who is worthy of services. Understanding the value framework for social and welfare provisions in American society is crucial to making sense of the piecemeal policymaking characteristic of the development of healthcare over the past 50 years. Here some highlights of the reform and the complex organisation of American healthcare are discussed.