Does Health Care Measure Up? The United States government has been considering health care reform since the 1930's. At that time, Franklin D. Roosevelt didn't press his ideas on Congress because he did not want to risk his other New Deal proposals. But other presidents, including Harry Truman in 1949 and Richard Nixon in 1971, have tried to introduce some type of health care reform, enjoying varying measures of success. Why do we still need reform? Currently, the United States is the only industrialized nation that does not have some type of national health care policy. According to a 2003 L.A. Times poll, "70% [of the respondents] consider the current [health care] system unsound," and the President has made health care one of his main policy issues. Many states, such as Florida and Oregon, have initiated their own plans to increase health care availability to their residents. Yet, whether we all agree on the type of reform needed, or if it is needed at all, we do need to address some issues critical to many inner-city and rural residents. Do we have enough health care providers in rural areas? Is enough emergency care available in inner cities? Is affordable insurance coverage available to offset the cost of health care? Janice Castro says in The American Way of Health that "there are twice as many physicians now as there were about 20 years ago," but today only about 30% of those doctors are General Practitioners. With the number of General Practitioners decreasing, the competition among cities and towns to attract these doctors becomes quite intense. Some hospitals hire recruiting firms to find doctors for them, while others pay between $1500 and $2250 for recruiting booths at annual me... ... middle of paper ... ...for many serious conditions, such as AIDS. These sad facts lead to the conclusion that our health care system is definitely not serving the needs of many rural and inner-city residents. The combination of the shortage of General Practitioners and uncompensated care increases the strain on already overburdened hospitals, forcing many to close or restrict services the their customers, and in turn forcing medical costs up and raising again insurance premiums. All of this leads to a rise in the number in uninsured and underinsured Americans. These are financial and social costs that everyone ends up paying eventually, usually in the form of higher taxes. Perhaps now is the time for the government to initiate some type of health care reform targeted for rural and inner-city areas, instead of just considering it once more and passing it on for another year.
Healthcare has now become one of the top social as well as economic problems facing America today. The rising cost of medical and health insurance impacts the livelihood of all Americans in one way or another. The inability to pay for medical care is no longer a problem just affecting the uninsured but now is becoming an increased problem for those who have insurance as well. Health care can now been seen as a current concern. One issue that we face today is the actual amount of healthcare that is affordable. Each year millions of people go without any source of reliable coverage.
Within the previous four years, the number of uninsured Americans has jumped to forty five million people. Beginning in the 1980’s, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has been trying to fix this problem of health insurance coverage for everyone with a basic reform. The AAFP’s plan imagined every American with insured coverage for necessary improved services that fall between the crucial health benefits and the surprising costs. (Sweeney) They expect by fostering prevention, and early prevention, with early diagnosis with treatment, the program would result in decreased health system costs and increased productivity through healthier lives. The way to achieve health care coverage for all is pretty simple. This country needs the United States congress to act out legislation assuring essential health care coverage for all.
In conclusion, there still needs to be a lot of work done to health care in the United States. Other nations provide universal health care to their citizens, but this would cause dilemmas in balancing two often conflicting policy goals: providing the public with equitable access to needed pharmaceuticals while controlling the costs. Universal health care probably would not work in the U.S. because our nation is so diverse and our economy is so complex. The system we have now obviously has its problems, and there is a lot of rom for improvement. HMO’s will still create problems for people and their medical bills, but they definitely should be monitored to see that their patients are receiving just treatment.
The ability of the Affordable Care Act to mitigate the current pressure of the uninsured on our healthcare system is unknown. Yet, the prediction is that it will greatly reduce the effect on emergency room systems throughout the nation. This reduction will be greater in the south and southwest regions of the United States (The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2013 p. 4). The potential is there, however, the willingness of the population is yet to be seen. What does the future hold? Only the future knows.
In recent years, the number of Americans who are uninsured has reached over 45 million citizens, with millions more who only have the very basic of insurance, effectively under insured. With the growing budget cuts to medicaid and the decreasing amount of employers cutting back on their health insurance options, more and more americans are put into positions with poor health care or no access to it at all. At the heart of the issue stems two roots, one concerning the morality of universal health care and the other concerning the economic effects. Many believe that health care reform at a national level is impossible or impractical, and so for too long now our citizens have stood by as our flawed health-care system has transformed into an unfixable mess. The good that universal healthcare would bring to our nation far outweighs the bad, however, so, sooner rather than later, it is important for us to strive towards a society where all people have access to healthcare.
What Seems To Be The Problem? A discussion of the current problems in the U.S. healthcare system.
No citizen shale ever be ignored no matter their race, state of health, or class. In the US “barriers generally stem from forces within the organizational environment of the health care delivery system or within the broader social system itself” (Barr, 2011, p. 273). This is why health policy scholars need to study health disparities so that equal care can ultimately be reached. Currently some disparities that are obvious in society are unequal dispersion and quality of care between racial groups, genders, and those with low middle class income. The health care system needs to be fixed and in order for that to happen health scholars must study better procedures so that the best possible outcome can be reached for the American
spends about 15% of its gross domestic product on healthcare, thereby making it the largest sector of the economy” (Goldman, D., & McGlynn, E., 2005). “Americans are not healthier than some of the other developed nations, regardless of these extensive costs” (WHO, 2010). “Almost 40 million Americans are uninsured and about 18% of Americans under the age of 65 receive half of the recommended healthcare services” (Goldman, D., & McGlynn, E., 2005). “Though, quality of care was noted not to vary much in cities with respect to lack of insurance, poverty, penetration of managed care and availability of physicians and hospital beds” (Goldman, D., & McGlynn, E., 2005).
There are huge impacts of the rising costs. Many people can not afford health insurance. Of the families that do have health coverage, 50 percent are concerned about having to pay more for that coverage in the future, while 42 percent fear they will not be able to afford coverage at all. (National Coalition on Healthcare, 2005, Facts on heal...
Reforming the health care delivery system to progress the quality and value of care is indispensable to addressing the ever-increasing costs, poor quality, and increasing numbers of Americans without health insurance coverage. What is more, reforms should improve access to the right care at the right time in the right setting. They should keep people healthy and prevent common, preventable impediments of illnesses to the greatest extent possible. Thoughtfully assembled reforms would support greater access to health-improving care, in contrast to the current system, which encourages more tests, procedures, and treatments that are either
Despite the established health care facilities in the United States, most citizens do not have access to proper medical care. We must appreciate from the very onset that a healthy and strong nation must have a proper health care system. Such a health system should be available and affordable to all. The cost of health services is high. In fact, the ...
The US health system has both considerable strengths and notable weaknesses. With a large and well-trained health workforce, access to a wide range of high-quality medical specialists as well as secondary and tertiary institutions, patient outcomes are among the best in the world. But the US also suffers from incomplete coverage of its population, and health expenditure levels per person far exceed all other countries. Poor measures on many objective and subjective indicators of quality and outcomes plague the US health care system. In addition, an unequal distribution of resources across the country and among different population groups results in poor access to care for many citizens. Efforts to provide comprehensive, national health insurance in the United States go back to the Great Depression, and nearly every president since Harry S. Truman has proposed some form of national health insurance.
Justifying the Killing of Animals for Research. Works Cited Missing Can killing animals for medical research, cosmetics, food and sport be? justifiable. What is the difference between a 'justifiable' For what reason can they be killed or should they not be? killed at all. Not killing animals at all would lead to overgrowth in population, which could cause damage to the environment.
The real problem with the health care system in this country is not just the people running it but mainly the massive pit of debt it is continually digging. America spends around 17%, which is about $2.5 trillion of our GDP on health care alone! It is safe to say we spend nearly more than any other country out there. Where is all of this money going though, are they just giving it away to those in need of free medicine or people who cant pay there doctors bills? Most of the money spent is on regulations, research on medicines and failures of medicines that may have not made the “cut” to be on the market.
It is interesting with how different America’s health care is from everyone else in the world. Most are universal, required to have health care. We are trying to accomplish that in America, but many don’t like being taxed if they don’t have it. There definitely is a lot we can learn from other countries. Overall Switzerland has a great system set up, with the United Kingdom behind them. Japan is also on track. America is definitely trying to make head way, and eventually will. It all comes down to weighing what is most important, cost, quality, or access to health care.