What Seems To Be The Problem? A discussion of the current problems in the U.S. healthcare system. The U.S. healthcare system is very complex in structure hence it can be appraised with diverse perspectives. From one viewpoint it is described as the most unparalleled health care system in the world, what with the cutting-edge medical technology, the high quality human resources, and the constantly-modernized facilities that are symbolic of the system. This is in addition to the proliferation of innovations aimed at increasing life expectancy and enhancing the quality of life as well as diagnostic and treatment options. At the other extreme are the fair criticisms of the system as being fragmented, inefficient and costly. What are the problems with the U.S. healthcare system? These are the questions this opinion paper tries to propound. Introduction The U.S. expends far more on healthcare than any other country in the world, yet we get fewer benefits, less than ideal health outcomes, and a lot of dissatisfaction manifested by unequal access, the significant numbers of uninsured and underinsured Americans, uneven quality, and unconstrained wastes. The financing of healthcare is also complicated, as there is no single payer system and payment schemes vary across payors and providers. National health systems are assessed by the extent to which expenditure and actions in public health and medical care contributes to the crucial social goals of improving health, increasing access to quality healthcare, reducing health disparities, protecting citizens from penury due to medical e... ... middle of paper ... ...nal study. The American Journal of Medicine 122(8): 741-746. Koechlin, F., L. Lorenzoni and P. Schreyer (2010), Comparing price levels of hospital services across countries: Results of a pilot study, OECD Health Working Paper, No. 53, OECD Publishing, Paris. Murray, C.J.L. & Frenk, J. (2010). Ranking 37th – Measuring the performance of the U.S. health care system. Retrieved February 3, 2012 from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp0910064 The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2011). Health care spending in the United States and selected OECD countries. Retrieved February 3, 2012 from http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/OECD042111.cfm The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (2011). Five Facts About the Uninsured. Retrieved February 3, 2012 from http://www.kff.org/uninsured/upload/7806-04.pdf
On a global scale, the United States is a relatively wealthy country of advanced industrialization. Unfortunately, the healthcare system is among the costliest, spending close to 18% of gross domestic product (GDP) towards funding healthcare (2011). No universal healthcare coverage is currently available. United States healthcare is currently funded through private, federal, state, and local sources. Coverage is provided privately and through the government and military. Nearly 85% of the U.S. population is covered to some extent, leaving a population of close to 48 million without any type of health insurance. Cost is the primary reason for lack of insurance and individuals foregoing medical care and use of prescription medications.
Sicko, a film by Michael Moore was released in 2007. The film investigates health care system in the United States. One would definitely get amazed by the facts and figures explained in this documentary. The movie explains failing health care system in the United States. America has advance medical technology, big hospitals, and educated health care professionals, but these facilities are not universal. The film starts by talking about true American stories; what some people have experienced from current health care system, those who had and did not had health insurances. The story starts by Adam, one of 50 million people in America who does not have health insurance. Due to an accident Adam required a medical treatment, but for the reason of not having any insurance he puts stitches on his leg by himself. The second story was about Rick, who accidentally cut the top of his two fingers, middle and the ring while working on the table saw. As a result of not having health insurance, Rick could not put the top of his middle finger back because it was costing 60,000 dollars and he did not had the money. So, he decided to put his ring finger back because it cost 12,000 dollars which he could afford. The movie does not go into the detail of 50 million people who do not have health insurance, but it’s about 250 million Americans who do have health insurance.
Exploring the documentary on frontline Sick Around the World, I was shocked to hear where the United State’s healthcare system stood in comparison to other nations’. I felt highly astonished when finding out that our country shamefully holds thirty seventh place when being categorized for our National healthcare. Our healthcare system has grown a reputation for being highly unjust and corrupt when providing utilities and services for citizens. This upsets me because reflecting over the statistics presented in the documentary, our country should have a remarkably better healthcare system considering how much more money we spend. By comparing our financial investments and structure to other countries, one would think our nation would finally find a solution to
Healthcare has been a topic of discussion with the majority of the country. Issues with insurance coverage, rising costs, limited options to gain coverage, and the quality of healthcare have become concerns for law makers, healthcare providers and the general public. Some of those concerns were alleviated with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, but new concerns have developed with problems that have occurred in the implementation of the new law. The main concerns of the country are if the Affordable Care Act will be able to overcome the issues that plagued the old healthcare system, the cost of the program, and how will the new law affect the quality of the health delivery system.
In order to make ones’ health care coverage more affordable, the nation needs to address the continually increasing medical care costs. Approximately more than one-sixth of the United States economy is devoted to health care spending, such as: soaring prices for medical services, costly prescription drugs, newly advanced medical technology, and even unhealthy lifestyles. Our system is spending approximately $2.7 trillion annually on health care. According to experts, it is estimated that approximately 20%-30% of that spending (approx. $800 billion a year) appears to go towards wasteful, redundant, or even inefficient care.
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 United States health care system is one of the most expensive systems in the world yet it is known as being unorganized and chaotic in comparison to other countries (Barton, 2010). This factor is attributed to numerous characteristics that define what the U.S. system is comprised of. Two of the major indications are imperfect market conditions and the demand for new technology (Barton, 2010). The health care system has been described as a free market in
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.
Niles, N. J. (2011). Basics of the U.S. health care system. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Rising medical costs are a worldwide problem, but nowhere are they higher than in the U.S. Although Americans with good health insurance coverage may get the best medical treatment in the world, the health of the average American, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality, is below the average of other major industrial countries. Inefficiency, fraud and the expense of malpractice suits are often blamed for high U.S. costs, but the major reason is overinvestment in technology and personnel.
To further understand the US healthcare system and put in context how health coverage is provided to its population it is important to compare the US health system to another country like the Netherlands. In the Netherlands healthcare coverage has been achieved through competitive insurance markets similar to the US and the Dutch government does not control prices, productive capacity or funds but instead only acts as a regulator (Daley & Gubb, 2011). In 2006 the Dutch government held healthcare reforms because the country faced an issue that was very similar to the US, in regards to healthcare coverage inequalities, the population was covered through private and public health insurance, with stable private health insurance for the wealthy and unstable public insurance which lacked patient focus and was inefficient in comparison (Daley & Gubb, 2011). Many factors called for healthcare reformation in the Netherlands like a disarranged structure that ineffectively controlled cream skimming, lack of competitive incentives that for insurance companies resulting in bad performance, and the rising premiums
With the United Nations listing health care as natural born right and the escalating cost of health care America has reached a debatable crisis. Even if you do have insurance it's a finical strain on most families.
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
The United State Health system has different components that are vitals to understand the basic concepts of health. The U.S. populations life expectancy to continue to increase which makes having health care even more vitals when being faced with superbug, diseases, and chronic health conditions that develop. The United States does not offer health care coverage as a right of citizenship. "The U.S. health care system is one of the most expensive systems in the world According to 2010 Statistics the United State spent $26 trillion on health care expenditures or 17.6% of its gross domestic product"(Niles 2013). As an Employee in the U.S., employers offer them less health care benefits. Many citizens not being able to afford health care put in
For many people in the United States healthcare is a bit too expensive to attain. Many people are unemployed and some even underemployed and healthcare is just out of their reach. We are a nation that thrives on eating, smoking, and drinking alcohol, which severely affects our health daily. There are many challenges related to healthcare in our society. The rich have no issues with the healthcare laws that are passed because it in no way affects their situation. The price of prescription drugs is another challenge that affects the low and middle class and prevents people from taking medication that is needed. Facilities around the country are underfunded and not capable of providing the services that are needed in many communities. We are one