Analysis: The Delivery Of Healthcare In America

The United States has a unique system of healthcare delivery, it is complex and massive. Twenty-five years ago; American citizens had guaranteed insurance, meaning the patient could see any physician and the insurance companies and patients would share the cost. But today, 187.4 million Americans have private health insurance coverage (Medicaid, 2014). The subsystems of American health care delivery are Managed care, military, vulnerable populations and integrated delivery

The article being summarized is out of the book Health Care Delivery in the United States by Jonas and Kovner. The chapter is called Access to Care written by Billings, Cantor, and Clinton in 2011. The article is a review of literature because it is a chapter from a book and did not test any new information. The chapter looked at studies that have been done and comparing and showing the different findings. The point of this chapter is to, “understand the nature of the access problem, understand the distinction between economic and noneconomic barriers to health care, understand the characteristics of the uninsured and the policy implications of those characteristics, understand how access barriers impinge on health, understand how access barriers affect the health care delivery system, and understand the challenges for recently enacted national health care reform, particularly around reducing noneconomic and quasi-economic barriers to care” (Billings, 2011, p. 151). The main point of this chapter and researching findings was to look at the barriers that still exist in the health care system that are causing people to remain uninsured in this time of health care reform.

The United States is an incredibly diverse country. This diversity possesses significant strain particularly on the healthcare system. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality access to healthcare is defined as “the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best health outcomes” (Chapter 9 Access). Therefore, access of healthcare begins once an individual enters the system. Entry can be compromised if there are not enough necessary facilities, employees, or an individual is unable to afford care. Secondly, there needs to be sufficient facilities that offer services that are a necessity of the community.

Many factors can influence a person’s access to health care. Age can influence access to health care because some physicians will treat only children or only the elderly. Income can influence access to health care because specialty driven health care usually involves significant out-of-pocket expense to the patient because some procedures are not covered by health insurance. Location also can be an influence on access to health care. Many patients do not have transportation because of age, dependency on family members, health reasons, or financial reasons. According to the Journal of the National Medical Association, Access to health care can influence the prevalence of chronic disease risks and cancer screening utilization in many ways (Shavers, Shanker, Alberg, 2002, p. 955). If patients are not given

Physical accessibility is a multifaceted problem facing individuals that reside in rural communities as well as urban areas. Closely related to deficiencies in supply and demand, physical accessibility is dependent on a sufficient number of providers to provide sufficient geographic distribution in addition to the ability of individuals to travel to a provider. If a patient is required to travel long distances to seek care then it is less likely that these individuals will readily seek care.

The United States health-care system grapples with myriad challenges ranging from stress of an aging population, tremendous inefficiencies and rising costs. These challenges have significantly impacted access to health care services by the citizens.

The dysfunction of the American health care system implies that not everyone has access to the right medication and medical treatment. Middle-class families and chronically ill patients do not always have access to health care, and when they do they do not receive adequate treatment with regards to hospitalization and medical services or quality of service. The lack of payment reform results in

People living with HIV and AIDS have always had a difficult time obtaining access to health coverage (Sorian, 2010). Medicaid, Medicare, and the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program have provided a critical safety net (Sorian, 2010). But today, nearly 30% of people living with HIV do not have any health insurance coverage, and many others have limited coverage (Sorian, 2010). In addition, people living with HIV and AIDS have faced hurdles to getting quality care from qualified providers (Sorian, 2010).

As populations around the world continue to grow, it becomes more evident that health services provided worldwide are not growing at the same rate and instead will continue to put further strain on existing health disparities, and create new ones. In the United States alone, access to healthcare is a crucial topic of discussion principally as the American government continues to create initiatives and legislation such as the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Although, the United States has come a long way to legally create access to care to all its citizens, there is a disparity in the number of individuals that in actuality receive healthcare due to the geography of cities and the nation.

“There are three basic goals for a National Health Care System; 1) keeping people healthy, 2) treating the sick and 30 protecting families against financial ruin from medical bills”, (Physicians for a National Health Program, 2016). No truer statement could there possibly be written or proclaimed as there is a crisis in healthcare costs across the United States. United States, one of the most developed western country, yet we suffer from – higher infant mortality rates, have shorter life spans and are affected by more chronic disease and or illness – than our contemporaries all while spending the most for insurance per capita and less annual doctor visits with less physicians, (OECD Health Data 2015). There is a question to be answered, “why”, why are we trailing our contemporaries and more important than that is, is our National Health Care system really working for us? The year 2010 was the beginning of change in the United States where we transitioned from primarily private insurance and welfare to a universal healthcare model, under President Obama with the signing into Law of the Affordable Health Care Act March of 2010. The purpose of the Affordable health care act is to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable healthcare, however in 2016 we are still questioning we’ve been successful based on funding, government sponsored healthcare programs, effects on the current HCO, elderly, military and accessibility.

The United States health care system has its own unique way of delivery, unlike many other developed countries where health care is a right for all and almost all the citizens have access to basic health care services. In the United States, health care is market based. If you cannot afford it, then you shouldn’t expect to receive coverage. This causes a human right crisis and deprives millions of Americans from receiving the care they need. The privatization of the U.S. health care system results in a substantial number of Americans who are without health insurance. The health care system is constantly undergoing changes, in response to fears of access, quality and cost. Despite all of these changes, there are still significant disparities

Health care in the United States is driven by a patchwork of services and financing. Americans access health care services in a variety of ways — from private physicians’ offices, to public hospitals, to safety-net providers. This diverse network of health care providers is supported by an equally diverse set of funding streams. The United States spends almost twice as much on health care as any other country, topping $2 trillion each year. (WHO.INT 2000) However, even with overall spending amounting to more than $7,400 per person, millions of individuals cannot access the health care services they need.(Foundation 2009) So when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a the Affordable Care Act or ACA) was passed in the summer

The United States healthcare delivery system is a uniquely developed system that involves various features, components, and services. The US delivery system is massive, with total employment in various healthcare settings of qualified medical professionals that provide key functions to delivering quality healthcare. This essay will discuss the characteristics if the United States healthcare delivery system and how it could be developed from a free market perspective.

Access to health care refers to the individual’s ability to obtain and use needed services (Ellis & Hartley, 2008). Access to health care affects a multitude of people. Uninsured, underinsured, elderly, lower socioeconomic class, minorities, and people that live in remote areas are at the highest risk for lack of access to health care. There are also economical and political roles that complicate access to health care. Access to health care is a multi-faceted concept involving geographic, economics, or sociocultural issues. With my extensive research on access to health care, I hope to provide influences regarding; who is affected by lack of access, geographic, economic, sociocultural access, and

Despite the countless advanced in technology and the abundance of health care organization popping up all over the place, whether they are free standing clinics, hospitals, urgent cares or etc, many people still lack the ability to receive quality health care. This has become a concern throughout the world, but especially a more vocal concern for residents of the United States in the past few years. In this paper we will discuss the reasons preventing access to quality health care and how we can overcome the many obstacles that stand in our way to provide quality health care to many who lack it today.