Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. / The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 added an outpatient prescription drug benefit to Medicare. This benefit had been a recurring topic among lawmakers, attempted many times since Medicare was enacted in 1965. The 2003 legislation marked the most significant and expensive overhaul of Medicare since its creation. It occurred at a time of record federal budget deficits and Republican control of Congress and the White House. The major compromise that allowed this legislation to succeed concerned the total funding to be made available, the amount of privatization in the design and administration of the benefit, and the scope of the coverage. This thesis identifies and describes the primary stakeholders involved and their influences on the benefit, including political parties, Congress, the Bush Administration and interest groups, and summarizes previous attempts at similar legislation. Sources include congressional testimony, government cost estimates, legislation, journal articles, and think-tanks. The thesis analyzes the legislative process that produced the Medicare reform and identifies problems and issues resulting from it. / Lieutenant, United States Navy

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-46).

Roughly one third of Medicare expenditures are made on behalf of beneficiaries in their terminal year, though only five percent of the Medicare-covered population dies annually. Per-capita spending on decedents is as much as six times the level of spending on survivors. The demographic, technological and political trends that will determine the future path of spending on terminal-year beneficiaries have important implications for the fiscal well-being of the Medicare program, and by extension, the American taxpayer. Coming to an understanding of the moving parts that will control the path of the cost of dying on Medicare is vital for careful consideration of Medicare??s future, and for any discussions about further reform of the program. Analysis of expenditures in the terminal year must be made while keeping in mind the fact that major expenditures are often made in surviving years. The spike in spending in the terminal period rightly focuses attention to expenditures near death, but also we should proceed in its analysis keeping in mind that it is not the only spell of elevated medical spending for a typical individual. Given those cautions, however, the cost of dying on Medicare stands as an important area of economic inquiry and policy consideration. As total Medicare expenditures top a quarter trillion dollars, the third of that spending which covers treatments in beneficiaries?? terminal years ought to be understood more fully than it is currently.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1977. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 178-182).

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1987. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-89). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (D.P.H.)--University of Michigan.

Thesis (D.P.H.)--University of Michigan.

Thesis (D.Sc.D.)--Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-75).

Thesis (M.B.A. in)--Naval Postgraduate School, Sept. 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Richard B. Doyle. Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-103, 105-109). Also available online.