[TCM/aciipuncture therapy and medical insurance support in Switzerland].

Based on the expeienes in th acdemic exchanges in Switzerland and relevant data, the development of TCM/acupuncture in Switzerland, Swiss medical insurance system and the acceptance to TCM/acupuncture were introduced in the paper. The case analysis was applied to explain the reimbursement, proportion and additional conditions of Obligatory Basic Insurance and Supplementary Alternative Insurance on TCM/acupuncture; Additionally, in the paper, the certification and registration from EMR, ASCA and NVS for the TCM physician were introduced, which is required to the recognition by insurance companies. All of these provide the guarantee for the positive development of TCM/acupuncture in Switzerland.

The redistributional impact of Canada's Employment Insurance Program, 1992­2002.

For a decade or so starting in the early 1990s, Canada's major income support programs underwent substantial reform. Meanwhile, the economy first lingered in a deep recession and then recovered with a period of strong growth. This paper focuses on how the distributional impact of Employment Insurance (EI) evolved during this period. We find that EI was strongly redistributive throughout the whole period with respect to the earnings of individuals, and somewhat less so for family income. But we also show that the distribution of benefits and contributions changed substantially over time, becoming less redistributive. Somewhat counter-intuitively, both the benefit and contribution sides of the program are shown to be redistributive, even though the contribution structure is regressive. These findings are relevant in the current context, as the economy struggles with a combination of high unemployment and fiscal pressures on government spending.

Conditional rights, benefit reform, and drug users: reducing dependency?

United Kingdom government policy to increase social security claimants' entry to the labour market through conditions attached to unemployed, sickness and incapacity benefits now includes additional measures to activate particular groups such as lone parents and drug users. The latter are a prime target because of their high level of dependency on benefits and because social security rules are seen as having the potential to modify the behaviour of individuals with a lifestyle regarded as being at odds with the moral obligations of citizenship and incompatible with the government's realization of its wider economic and social goals. There are strict procedures for the identification of drug-user claimants, enabling additional conditions to be attached to their benefit rights. This article discusses the general trend in benefit reform towards increased conditionality and evaluates the reforms affecting drug users, considering human rights and other implications. It concludes by reflecting on the status of conditional rights to social security as social rights.

A comparative analysis of mandated benefit laws, 1949-2002.

OBJECTIVE: To understand and compare the trends in mandated benefits laws in the United States. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Mandated benefit laws enacted in 50 states and the District of Columbia for the period 1949-2002 were compiled from multiple published compendia. STUDY DESIGN: Laws that require private insurers and health plans to cover particular services, types of diseases, or care by specific providers in 50 states and the District of Columbia are compared for the period 1949-2002. Legislation is compared by year, by average and total frequency, by state, by type (provider, health care service, or preventive), and according to whether it requires coverage or an offer of coverage. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHOD: Data from published tables were entered into a spreadsheet and analyzed using statistical software. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A total of 1,471 laws mandated coverage for 76 types of providers and services. The most common type of mandated coverage is for specific health care services (670 laws for 34 different services), followed by laws for services offered by specific professionals and other providers (507 mandated benefits laws for 25 types of providers), and coverage for specific preventive services (295 laws for 17 benefits). On average, a mandated benefit law has been adopted or significantly revised by 19 states, and each state has approximately 29 mandates. Only two benefits (minimum maternity stay and breast reconstruction) are mandated in all 51 jurisdictions and these were also federally mandated benefits. The mean number of total mandated benefit laws adopted or significantly revised per year was 17 per year in the 1970s, 36 per year in the 1980s, 59 per year in the 1990s, and 76 per year between 2000 and 2002. Since 1990, mandate adoption increased substantially, with around 55 percent of all mandated benefit laws enacted between 1990 and 2002. CONCLUSIONS: There was a large increase in the number of mandated benefits laws during the managed care "backlash" of the 1990s. Many states now use mandated benefits to prescribe not only what services and benefits would be provided but how, where, and when services will be provided.

Three decades of Medicare: what the numbers tell us.

The Medicare program was first implemented to meet a critical need in American society, and over its thirty-year history it has evolved into an integral part of the U.S. health care system. This DataWatch provides a broad overview of the program, outlining both historical and current trends in coverage, financing, payment mechanisms, beneficiary status, benefits, and spending.

[Development of loss-of-limb coverage in private accident insurance]. / Entwicklung der Gliedertaxe in der privaten Unfallversicherung.

The oldest known private accident insurance is recorded in the maritime law of Wisby of 1541. Defoe is the first to propose a compensation scale for loss of limbs in the 17th century. It is taken over in a modified character by all insurance companies being founded in Europe and North America since 1850. The structure of the present insurance conditions originates in the conditions of 1920. Since then the loss of the right and left upper limb is rated equally. The compensation scale is changed again in 1961, the loss of extremities is valued higher and the loss of sense of smelling and tasting is considered.