Continuous Debate: The Rise Of Healthcare

Having access to quality healthcare is major part of one’s life however the cost of care has been on the rise over the past decades and continue to rise every day due to many situation such

For the last five years of my life I have worked in the healthcare industry. One of the biggest issues plaguing our nation today has been the ever rising cost of health care. If we don't get costs under control, we risk losing the entire system, as well as potentially crippling our economy. For the sake of our future, we must find a way to lower the cost of health care in this nation.

The United States health care system is lacking the needs to create a reliable system to achieve quality, access, cost, and educate for the consumers. Despite the efforts of the government to find a common ground to meet the standard for the societies, the system has yet to have a major improvement. These issues must be reexamined to fix the broken system. The United States health care expenditure is another issue that needs to be addressed to achieve the future goals of the healthcare system in the United States. Healthcare societies will need to interact differently by incorporating consumer’s empowerment, technology, and education to meet the future goals of the health care system. Also, the consumer must be highly educated on the purpose of preventive care to lower the risk of chronic diseases which account for a lot health care spending. The process of correcting the United States health care system will take time and effort from all individual to achieve greatness.

There have been many studies performed focusing on the rising costs of health care and some of the findings state that the rising cost of healthcare premiums is a worldwide problem. However, I believe they are higher in the U.S. In 2015, U.S. health care costs were $3.2 trillion. That makes healthcare one of the largest U.S. industries, equaling 17.8 % of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in comparison to the late 1960s; where healthcare costs were only $27 billion, or 5% of the GDP, which averaged $9,990 per person each year. The main reason for the rising cost of healthcare is a combination of government policies and lifestyles changes. Examples included lack of coverage or costly coverage, lack of available coverage for

The lucrative healthcare companies in America have created an immeasurable gap between good healthcare only being for the privileged upper class Americans which has left a horrible effect on the middle and lower class Americans. As modern medicine achieves new heights, the prices of healthcare seem to tread right behind maintaining an unbroken pattern that American classes have grown accustomed to over the past few decades of paying more for less. Leaving many Americans uninsured, underinsured, or even in debt. In a speech Bernie Sanders a U.S. Senator from Vermont spoke at a presidential campaign October of 2015 which he discussed the unruly problematic healthcare trend of price gouging, that is the medical industry getting the most it can from American citizens. In a blog Bernie Sanders states that “46 million Americans today have no health insurance and even more are underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments” (Sanders). 18,000 Americans die every year from preventable illnesses because they cannot cover the cost and don’t go to the doctor when they should. Sanders summed this situation up with this “Health Care is a Right, Not a Privilege” (Sanders). After researching the issue of healthcare, I have come to the conclusion that the American healthcare system is disintegrating due to the ravenousness of modern medical industries, first I will discuss a few reasons to why the healthcare system is failing the modern American

Another reason for the rising cost of healthcare is the cost of physician care, according to the American Hospital Association “the cost of physician care, both to insurance and patients, has risen 1.3% during the past year.” Because of this increase doctors are put in a corner, they are already locked into an agreement with the insurance companies and do not have much ‘wiggle’ room to negotiate fees and rates. So because of this the patients and consumers are forced to pay a much larger sum. Since there are higher costs and the insurers will not cover them, they are distributes to the customers through higher deductibles, co-insurance, and

The current issue with health insurance in America is rising prices. If they continue to rise millions of middle class Americans will no longer be able to afford health insurance. There are two main reasons that health insurance premiums are on the rise. The main reason health insurance premiums are rising is the cost of health care is skyrocketing and has every year. Under the

A major contributor to the rise of healthcare cost is that heath spending for individuals is primarily funded by third-parties. Because consumers of healthcare share little of the financial burden of the cost of the care they receive, patients and physicians are incentivized to utilize healthcare at a higher rate than they would if cost was a larger factor. The United States healthcare systems is based on a capitalist system but it operates in an imperfect marketplace that is no competitive. The current marketplace is not highly regulated as there is not a national health care program for all Americans which allow prices to be regulated and controlled effectively by a single regulating body. In this imperfect

The health care system is one of the largest industries in the nation. It employs nearly twelve and a half million people. Even though this many people are employed by health care systems, there is little to no competition between the many different systems. This results in the cost being whatever the system wants. People who are ill or

Regulations that prevent insurance companies from participating in interstate commerce have caused competition to grow stagnant in the United States. This lack of competition has allowed the adoption of wasteful procedures by healthcare providers, which in turn passes the increased expenses back to the insurance companies. Therein, insurance costs increase, crippling consumer’s cash flow and quality of life. While healthcare costs continue to rise, people must scrutinize the current healthcare system.

Stakeholders have strengths that will help them prevail in enacting health care reform however they are not with out some weaknesses. Medical industry leaders, providers, and academics, while supportive of reform, may also cause weaknesses. Having health care knowledge and experience is beneficial but can also

Healthcare sits at the center of a major debate in America today. There are a number of questions that surround this debate. Some argue that healthcare should be a right that people are entitled to, while others argue for a system where healthcare is more of a luxury. Overall, the political environment surrounding healthcare in America has been shifting and also the topic of much consternation over the last three to four years. In order to understand this particular situation, one must approach it from a number of different sociological perspectives. Specifically, functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionism can help to provide a framework in which one can analyze the actions, thoughts, and perspectives of actors on all sides of the healthcare situation. Functionalism theory can explain why many believe that healthcare is such an important element for society to strive toward, conflict theory can help to explain why there is opposition to this concept, and interactionist theory can explain why Americans have attached so strongly to both sides of this debate, as certain symbols have become important to those people, and in some cases, has become more important than the principles that tend to underlie this particular debate.

This is a very important question as we grapple with the rising costs of health care. There are many possible sources for this rising cost, including: increased availability of expensive technology, the aging population, defensive medicine and tort costs, public health problems such as obesity, overuse of medical procedures, poor access to care leading to delayed treatment or

In a society that’s economic system is based and rooted in competition (capitalism), you find benign industries such as the healthcare profession, who are responsible for providing services that can determine life or death, who’s professionals are trusted to be altruistic in their positions, are now in competition for market share and power over the healthcare industry. There has been concern around the influx of money into the healthcare field and how or if this will affect physician’s ability take care of their patients. The competition between stakeholders in the healthcare market has been on the rise; different groups are vying for market share and power. As we shall see, there is a sense of tension underlying actions in the healthcare industry today.

The definition of health care is a field concerned with the maintenance or restoration of the health of the body and the mind, and any procedures or methods employed in this particular field (‘what is health care industry? Definition and meaning’, n.d.). We see that Health in the United States is currently undergoing changes (‘Forbes Welcome’, 2014). The changes that we see are some from the Affordable Care Act, New Technology, and greater consumer choice (‘Forbes Welcome’, 2014). These changes are based on what people want, especially how they want their qualities to be and their outcomes (‘Forbes Welcome’, 2014). Within this industry is a tremendous amount of new advances (Brown, 2014). Brown states what is significant in the Health Care Industry, “There is significant change in the healthcare industry’s approach to providing care, which is by putting the patient at the center of care. The goal is to improve patient satisfaction scores and engagement” (2015).