Even though the United States is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and it spends far more per person on health care than any other nation, its people are not the healthiest. The U.S. spends over $2.5 trillion per year on health care (Cummings, 2015). Currently, the US government funds two types of health plans: Medicare and Medicaid. These are intended to help the elderly, disabled, poor, and young. These programs help those who are unable to pay for health insurance and cover expenses that may not be covered by their own insurance. The disadvantage of having Medicare or Medicaid is that not all doctors accept this insurance and it has been linked with receiving substandard care by those caregivers who do accept them. The basic Medicare policy is often not enough coverage as it only covers about 64% of a person’s health care costs (“What is the Difference Between Medicare and Medicaid?,”2016) . It does not cover deductibles, co-pays, and additional insurance (“What is the Difference Between Medicare and Medicaid?,” 2016). In 2014, the ACA was implemented. This lowered the number of people who did not have health insurance. Under the ACA, individuals can shop for new health insurance plans on exchanges, or health insurance marketplaces, so as to find the best plan for them both financially and one that meets their overall health needs (Cummings, 2015).
Similarly to the U.S.’s Affordable Care Act, Chile recently implemented the AUGE reform with the objective of
In 2010, the United States created The Affordable Care Act (ACA). The objective was to share the responsibility of costs between the government, individuals, and employers to provide affordable access to quality health insurance. “However, health coverage remains fragmented, with numerous private and public sources, as well as wide gaps in insured rates across the U.S. population.” (“United States: International Health Care System Profiles,” n.d.). Each individual state within the US, generally has control over private insurance.
The U.S. healthcare system is remarkably complex, and even healthcare workers struggle to understand it. The U.S. population gets health coverage by government programs, employers, and private insurance. Notably, because of the complexity and fragmentation of the health care system, there is a percentage of the population that remains uninsured. According to CNN Money, the uninsured rate in the U.S. dropped from 18.2% in 2010 to 10.3% in 2016, this drop was under Affordable Care Act(ACA) (). The goal of the ACA was not to give health coverage to all the uninsured population, rather it was to try to decrease the percentage of the population that remained uninsured(). There is a lot of inequality in the distribution of health among the U.S. population
Americans have been faced with a new health care reform act known as Affordable Care Act initiated in 2010. Why was it so important for this nation to reform is health care system? How are we sure the ACA is improving our system for the American people? For many years, the health care industry has left many Americans uninsured. With health care costs on the rise and very few able to afford costs, and the quality of care in underserved areas not what it should be has left this nation largely unhealthy. Several landmark reports, including the Center for Disease Control factsheets and the Healthy People 2020 have astounding statistics confirming these alarming rates and clearly identifying the need for reform. The Affordable Care Act is the starting foundation for Americans to start investing in their own promotion of wellness and disease prevention. By choosing healthier lifestyle changes, individuals can make a difference which in turn will improve our nation’s overall health for the better.
Recently the Untied States top priority has been to provide accessible and affordable health care to every American. Those that lack access to coverage find it much more difficult to seek proper treatment and when they do they maybe left with astronomical medical bills. The CommanWealth Fund found that one-third or thirty three percent of Americans forgo health care because of costs and one-fifth or twenty percent are thus left with medical bills that have problems being able to pay. The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act (2010), has mandated that every person have health coverage in order
The United States spends far more money on healthcare than any other developed country and despite the large amounts spent the United States has the poorest health outcomes and highest risk factors (Stone, 2017). When compared to other countries the United States has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the largest population of obese, and the highest number of people over the age of 65 with chronic health conditions. Many health disparities exist in the country due to socioeconomic status. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) law was passed in 2009 and implemented in 2010 in an effort to decrease the number of people uninsured (Parekh, 2017). Since, 2010 the rate of uninsured people in the United States has
After the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted in 2010, much of the uninsured population in the United States were finally given the access to health insurance (Shi & Singh, 2015). Prior to the passing of the Act, those who did not have insurance still managed to seek medical attention, whether paying for medical care out of their own pockets or seeking the assistance of government programs. As reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2013, 13.4% of the population in the U.S. were uninsured during the entire year (Smith & Medalia, 2014). Still, a great number of uninsured who sought medical care were unable to pay for those services, this is referred as uncompensated care. In 2013 the cost incurred from
I will compare the current health care system with the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that became law on March 23, 2010. The current system, which is being phased out between 2011 and 2018 is increasingly inaccessible to many poor and lower-middle-class people. About 47 million Americans lack health insurance, an increase of more than two million people from 2005 (Rover, 2011) the increasingly complex warfare between insurers and hospitals over who pays the bills is gobbling up a great deal of money and the end result is that the United States pays roughly twice as much per
It has been six years since the Affordable Care Act has been implemented into the United States healthcare system. As the pieces and provisions of this monumental federal statute become understood and executed, it is transforming the demand for care. Prior to the ACA, a significant number of Americans were marginalized and unable to obtain coverage. This system was faced increasing healthcare costs, placing greater financial strain to everyday Americans, businesses, and public health insurance systems. The ACA did not only help ensure health coverage for all (almost
On March 23, 2010, the President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) which represents the most significant regulatory that impacts the U.S. healthcare systems. With PPACA, 32 millions of Americans are expected the coverage and expanded access to health care and medical care. Due to the baby boomers and the downfall of the economics, there will be millions of people are seeking for low rates medical care which will create great impact on U.S. healthcare. According to Commonwealth Fund analysis, the U.S. healthcare ranks last on every cost-related. Therefore, healthcare becomes the top social and economic problem that American is dealing with. Like all other well-developed countries, there are both private and public insurers in the U.S. health care system. ‘What is unique about the U.S. healthcare system in the world is the dominance of the private element over the public element’ (Chua, 2006). Healthcare system in the Unites States can be divided into three different groups: Medicare, Medicaid, and Managed Care. Each plan provides different coverages for different groups of people.
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or ‘Obamacare’ in 2010 and its implementation in 2014,there has been a steady decline in the uninsured population of the United States of America. The number of Americans with health insurance, has reached a historic peak. According to recent data from the Census Bureau about health insurance coverage, the number of uninsured Americans fell from 33 million the year prior to ACA implementation to 29 million in 2014.The total uninsured rate dropped by more than 4 percent since the health care law took effect. The ACA has significantly reduced the number of Americans who were not able to acquire health insurance due to poverty, unemployment, or having a pre-existing condition.
Medicaid and Medicare are two programs that are very different but share the same instance of being federally run programs. Both Medicaid and Medicare were created in 1965 in response to the fact that older and lower income people could not buy private insurance. Medicaid is dispersed individually by each state in which is primary role is to cover low income people who do not have the financial means to purchase healthcare on their own. On the other hand Medicare is paid into by everyone that works a legal job where taxes are deducted. Medicare was created to address the issues of elderly; typically people 65 years or older; having extremely high healthcare bills but limited personal funding. These people will typically pay part of the cost
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
In 2010, under the Obama administration, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or what is known as Obamacare was implemented. This act was intended to provide citizens in the United States with insurance if they could not afford it beforehand. Also under ACA, a standard of coverage and the management of insurers was put into place (“Obamacare Summary” 2016). But as with everything else in life, Obamacare had its downsides. One of them being, healthy people ended up paying more for their health insurance than those
Answer: Medicare and Medicaid both represent federal healthcare initiatives, still some major differences exist between those programs. The existing differences largely pertain to a number of factors such as overall mission & goals; authorities administering & implementing the programs; sources of program funding; eligible populations; range of services covered by the programs; and costs on the part of the program user (patient).
The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as “Obamacare”, has drastically altered healthcare in America. The goal of this act was to give Americans access to affordable, high quality insurance while simultaneously decreasing overall healthcare spending. The ACA had intended to maximize health care coverage throughout the United States, but this lofty ambition resulted in staggeringly huge financial and human costs.