Health Care System Is Experiencing A Vital Crisis

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.

Health System Reform in the United States: Impact of Rising Premiums and Opportunities for System Improvements to Enhance Access to Healthcare Services

The U.S. health care system faces challenges that indicate that the people urgently need to be reform. Attention has rightly focused on the approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured, and on the many insured Americans who face rapid increases in premiums and out-of-pocket costs. As Congress and the Obama administration consider ways to invest new funds to reduce the number of Americans without insurance coverage, we must simultaneously address shortfalls in the quality and efficiency of care that lead to higher costs and to poor health outcomes. To do otherwise casts doubt on the feasibility and sustainability of coverage expansions and also ensures that our current health care system will continue to have large gaps even for those with access to insurance coverage.

Health care spending in the United States of America as a percentage of the economy has reached astonishing heights, equating to 17.7 percent. This number is shocking when compared to other counties; in Australia health care is 8.9 percent, in United Kingdom 9.4 percent, in Canada 11.2 percent. If the American health care system were to hypothetically become its own economy, it would be the fifth-largest in the world. While these statistics sound troubling, they lead us to look for answers about the problems surrounding our system. The first health insurance company was created in the 1930s to give all American families an equal opportunity for hospital care and eventually led to a nationwide economic and social controversy that erupted in the 1990s and continued to be shaped by the government, insurance companies, doctors, and American citizens. In this paper, I will go in to detail about the various opinions regarding the controversy, the history behind health insurance companies, and the main dilemmas brought out by the health care crisis. Greedy insurance companies combined with high costs of doctor visits and pharmaceutical drugs or the inefficient hospitals all over America can only describe the beginning to this in depth crisis. Recently, the United States health care industry has become know for the outrageous costs of insurance models, developments of various social and health services programs, and the frequent changes in medicinal technology.

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

There are many problems with healthcare in America today. One of them including the astronomical cost. According to CDC.ORG in 2007 the average person spends seven thousand four hundred dollars per year on health care alone. This rise in healthcare is extremely detrimental for families, seniors, and people of all ages. With such a high cost of insurance people are forced to make hard choices in

Contrary to what many people believe, America’s health status is not quite “up-to-par,” to say the least. Over forty-seven million people in the United States lack health insurance; that is more than 15% of our nation’s population! At first this disturbing truth seems impossible to believe, being as America is one of the most technologically advanced and economically developed countries in the world. “We spend trillions of dollars per year on medical care. That’s nearly half of all the health dollars spent in the world. But we’ve seen our statistics. We live shorter, often sicker lives than almost every other industrialized nation. “We rank 30th in [global] life expectancy” (Adelman 2008). Knowing this brings rise to the question: why are

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.Health care costs are far higher in the United States than in any other advanced nation, whether measured in total dollars spent, as a percentage of the economy, or on a per capita basis. And health costs here have been rising significantly faster

The rise of the cost of healthcare has been a hotbutton political issue in the United States in recent years, especially with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. In 1995, the United States spent a little over 13 percent of its GDP on healthcare. By 2013, spending on healthcare had increased to around 17 percent of GDP (World Bank). This trend is projected to continue; healthcare spending will reach some 34 percent of GDP by 2040, with state and federal Medicare and Medicaid spending reaching 15 percent of GDP (Council of Economic Advisors). For comparison, the entire US federal government spent only 20.7 percent of GDP in 2015 (Office of Management and Budget 163) What is driving this

The United States spends twice as much per citizen for health insurance as any other country in the entire world, but continues to fall behind other countries when it comes to coverage and quality (Rangel, 2011). There are nearly forty-six million uninsured Americans, and millions more have inadequate coverage. The affordable health care act, was designed to help millions of Americans. But, to Americans it is questionable at best. Obamacare is so fundamentally inconsistent that it is taking Americans in the opposite direction of the necessary reforms needed. The root cause for our health care system include misaligned reimbursement policies and incentives, lack of integrated patient care process, and poorly coordinated patient care treatment (Health Care Delivery System Reform, 2015). America cannot build sustainable health reform on a dysfunctional health care system. The United States needs to get rid of Obamacare and pass a new comprehensive reform that makes health care affordable for families, businesses, and the government.

Consequently the U.S. spends more money than any other country on health care, and the medical care that is being provided may be compromised. Research has shown that the lack of health care insurance compromises a person’s health. However, there continues to be unnecessary death every year in the U.S. due to lack of health care

Health care in America is at the center of controversy. It is a progressive and rapid changing entity. Since the 1970s, America has seen many different types of programs and funds created to help solve the issue of the cost of health care. Many of these programs are on the brink of bankruptcy and have not done far enough to make it more affordable and assessable. Actually America has the most expensive healthcare system in the world and not only is it the most expensive, but in many areas such as quality of care, America is no where near the top among developed countries (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014).

The population trends of the U.S. has grown tremendously since the 1950s (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Since the baby boomer generation, the United States has seen a decrease in women's fertility and increase in the life expectancy age (Morris, Mueller, & Jones, 2010). This growth is challenging to the healthcare system. This growth is the result of two factors, a higher number of births annually as the population has increased and immigration. With the large influx of immigrants, there is also an increase in the cost of healthcare for all citizens, as some states allow for healthcare coverage for illegal immigrants (Gardner, 2007). Domestically, families are leaving rural areas and heading to larger cities where they have access to better resources and healthcare. This is causing rural hospitals to close and leaves millions of Americans without proper health care coverage. Also, psychographically, Americans are changing the way they access and view healthcare. They are utilizing technology such as the internet and other resources instead of going to a physician.

US health care expenditures have been rising quickly over the past few years; it has risen more than the national financial system. Nonetheless a number of citizens in the US still lack appropriate health care. If the truth be told, health care expenditures are going to continue to increase; in addition numerous individuals will possibly have to make difficult choices pertaining to their health care. Our health system has grave problems that require reform, through reforming, there is optimism that there will be an increase in affordable health care and high-quality of care for America. Medicaid, Medicare and private sector insurances are all going through trials and tribulations because of

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated that "The health of the individual is almost inseparable from the health of the larger community and that the health of every community in every state and territory determines the overall health status of the nation." It has now become clear that our economy in terms of healthcare insurance is not healthy; the healthcare system in the United States spends 1 cent of every healthcare dollar in the prevention of diseases and 99 cents on the cure. Our healthcare system is the most expensive and yet arguably among the least cost effective in the developed world. Despite the highest per person health care spending among the Organization for Economic Cooperation