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Health care delivery system in us
Critiques of our healthcare system
How access to unequal health care is social injustice
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The United States being the strongest economy in the world with more than enough resources to aid its citizens shows great social inequity notably in health care. While some people can afford great quality health care, others simply cannot access adequate treatments. America’s fractured health care insurance system is often seen as the medium for providing access to appropriate services for some while being grossly inadequate for others. People who cannot afford health care coverage are often the same people who need health care treatment the most. Another important factor to consider is the financial hardship and personal ruin that people can experience when having an unexpected accident or illness that can be very costly to attend simply
because appropriate insurance was not available. These factors have strong ramifications for the current national debt and deficit as the country continues to experience an aging population as well as increase in poor diets and overall physical inactivity among its citizens further compounding price pressure on the overall health care system. A furious debate has spurred in the United States over how health care treatment should be dealt with. The championing position will have great economic consequences for the country as it will determine how the rapidly increasing health care industry will address health care problems faced by American citizens. For now, the vision of a unified all-embracing future health care system seems bleak. Bibliography
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.
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.
The United States spends vast amounts on its healthcare, while falling short of achieving superiority over other developed nations. One cannot overlook that the deepening recession has left many without jobs and therefore lacking health insurance. According to Fairhall and Steadman, (2009), even though the recession is hard on all, it is worse on the uninsured due to health care and insurance cost rising faster than incomes. Nevertheless, even those with jobs are lacking in health insurance due to employers, who provide insurance, are increasingly dropping their sponsored insurance. Many find that purchasing a health policy or paying for medical care out-of-pocket is cost prohibitive. “Since the recession began in December 2007, the number of unemployed Americans has increased by 3.6 million,” (Fairhall & Steadman, 2009). In 2009 it was stated that approximately 46 million Americans were uninsured, however not all of that number is due to the inability to afford coverage. According to a 2009 story written by Christopher Weaver of Kaiser Health News, 43% of that number should be classified as “voluntarily” uninsured. This subset of uninsured Americans consist of nearly half being young and healthy; therefo...
However, our system is based on money. The more money you have to spend, the better medical services you will receive. ?According to the Bureau of Labor education at the university of main (2003), America spends more money oh health care than any other nation, "$4,178 per capita on health care in 1998?, compared to the average of $1,783. (BLE., 2003, p.23). Still an estimated "42.5 million Americans are living without health insurance", which prevents them from receiving medical treatment. (Climan, Scharff, 2003, p.33). The numbers of un-insured Americans continue to rise. Tim Middleton (2002) states, ?insurance premiums grow at a rate greater than wages,? when you have a low-income job. (¶ 9). With our current economy recession, taxes are rising and small business employers are unable to purchase health plans for their employees. Employees are realizing that they are unable to gain insurance from their jobs and beginning to speak out about the high price of health care.
Health insurance, too many American citizens, is not an option. However, some citizens find it unnecessary. Working in the health care field, I witness the effects of uninsured patients on medical offices. Too often, I see a “self-pay” patient receive care from their doctor and then fail to pay for it. Altogether, their refusal to pay leaves the office at a loss of money and calls for patients to pay extra in covering for the cost of the care the uninsured patient received. One office visit does not seem like too big of an expense, but multiple patients failing to pay for the care they receive adds up. Imagine the hospital bills that patients fail to pay; health services in a hospital are double, sometimes triple, in price at a hospital. It is unfair that paying patients are responsible for covering these unpaid services. Luckily, the Affordable Care Act was passed on March 23, 2010, otherwise known as Obamacare. Obamacare is necessary in America because it calls for all citizens to be health insured, no worrying about pre-existing conditions, and free benefits for men and women’s health.
Even after all the debate conserning ObamaCare, the United States still lacks a health care system that provides insurance for all citizens. With an economy that is weak, and a high rate of unemployment, this represents a serious problem. In other countries, where insurance is mandatory, medical bill are rarely paid by the average citizen. Healthcare in the United States is must be given to everyone, but it’s the matter of affording to pay the medical bills, and being accepted by an insurance company that is the main issue. In the video Sick Around the World, it introduces five countries and how their health care works, while the video Sick Around America emphasizes the problems with our health care system, and shows individual stories of those impacted.
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.
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).
In the video provided “Sick Around the World”, writer for the Washington Post T. R. Reid travels to different countries and compares their health care system to the United States health care system. Reid finds that these countries have a system that lets citizens have health care without going bankrupt. Even though the U.S. is the top economic power in the world, the “U.S. health care system ranked 37th in the world in terms of quality and fairness.” (Reid) Our US health care system costs more than other countries for the same type of care and treatment. Among all the countries visited by Reid, there is a wide range of cost for health coverage.
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.
Elaine Bernard (n.d) observes, “All Canadians, rich and poor, regardless of state of their health, age, or employment status, are covered by the same comprehensive system.” (Paragraph 7). However, if change the health care system in Canada, Poor people cannot go to hospital. Canada health care provide equality healthcare to poor people and rich people. However, if change the health care system, people should have some insurance of health coverage or have a lot of money. For example, when I visited in Philippines for three months, I went to a hospital because of stomach ache. I received a treatment fast, but a woman still waiting a doctor with hold her son. The boy was bleeding head because he got a car accident. However, doctors refuse to cure the boy because a mother did not have money. Doctors and hospitals want to accept rich people and move to rich place. The US physicians are disappeared in low-income areas instead move into high-income areas for the wealthiest and privately funded patients (Cooper, Taylor, 1994). Increase medical services gap between rich and poor. Rich people want to get premium services and high quality doctors and medicines. However, poor people cannot provide primary health care because doctors move to rich place. According to Health Insurance (2016), four-fifths of all Americans have private health insurance, but a sizable people cannot
Health insurance facilitates entry into the health care system. Uninsured people are less likely to receive medical care and more likely to have poor health. Many Americans are foregoing medical care because they cannot afford it, or are struggling to pay their medical bills. “Adults in the US are more likely to go without health care due to cost” (Schoen, Osborn, Squires, Doty, & Pierson, 2010) Many of the currently uninsured or underinsured are forced accept inferior plans with large out-of-pocket costs, or are not be able to afford coverage offered by private health insurers. This lack of adequate coverage makes it difficult for people to get the health care they need and can have a particularly serious impact on a person's health and stability.
American health care, a debate that has been ongoing for at least the last century. Health insurance is provided by private insurance companies through subscription-like plans and provided by government in the form of Medicaid and Medicare. Medicaid is for eligible low-income individuals and Medicare is for senior and disabled citizens. Many questions surface such as “is it a human right?” and “Should it be for free?”
You argue that health care is a right not a privilege and that the United States should have universal health care. The arguments you made for universal health care are: the rising costs of healthcare premiums and the economic burdens that is placing on Americans in choosing whether or not they can seek medical care and price control on prescriptions and health care would be regulated. You mentioned that other countries with universal health care have a much higher tax rate than the United States, but do not believe that the United States would have to follow suit, due to keeping health care costs regulated. I would argue that taxes would certainly rise for Americans. Regardless of regulating costs for health care, it would still need
One political issue that I have always been concerned about the country’s health care situation. When compared to other countries around the world the United States is one of the few well-developed countries that lack universal health care, leaving its citizens to rally on themselves to pay any injuries they receive. The United States would see many new changes if a health plan was placed, life expectancy would raise, and new hospitals would be created which in turn would cause a need for more hospital staff like doctors and janitors to be needed creating more jobs in America. We’ve seen attempts at health care in the past with examples like the Obama Care which gave all Americans access to affordable health care.