Health Care Utilization Paper

The country I chose to compare with the United States healthcare system is Japan. Access to healthcare in Japan is fairly easy. Every individual, including the unemployed, children and retirees, is covered by signing up for a health insurance policy. They can obtain insurance either through their work or through a community based insurance. For those Japanese citizens that are too poor to afford health insurance, the government supplies their insurance through a social insurance. If a Japanese citizen loses his/her job and becomes unemployed, the individual will just switch to a community

Providing healthcare coverage to all citizens can be challenging to many countries and only the most developed countries have adequate resources to truly provide universal coverage to their citizens. Still, when coverage and resources are not sufficient, care is rationed through limited supply or limited access. Most countries have mechanisms in place, however, to insure that affordability does not limit access to necessary services.

It is estimated that the ACA will provide new services to 64 million Americans, providing health care coverage to 32 million previously uninsured. In addition to providing new health insurance coverage, the ACA implemented several components that can expand access to health care. One policy

Health care reform in the United States is a hot topic and the source of legislation meant to make health care obtainable to Americans. Recent presidential elections have been platforms used to promote health care reform yet no one can agree on what the resolution will be. This paper will discuss ways recent health care reform measures have expanded or inhibited access to health care. This paper will discuss how changes to access may lead to influences in utilization. Concepts of what universal health care may be and how current care reflects or contrasts

The healthcare policies in Mexico and the United States are similar in that both healthcare systems utilize a combination of public and private insurance (freecontentweb.com). Healthcare has rapidly become an important topic in many countries. This comparison will focus on similarities in healthcare reform, healthcare insurance availability, healthcare access, and healthcare cost of both countries. Prior to healthcare reform in the US and Mexico, millions of people did not have access to health care due to the cost and lack of insurance. Healthcare reform was established to improve the accessibility, affordability, and quality of health care in both countries. Even though health care reform made insurance coverage available in both the private and public sector, access of care is limiting. As a result, patients find it difficult to get appointments when they need care. In addition, many patients continue to struggle with the cost of healthcare. Although both countries have some similarities related to healthcare, obvious differences exist.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) was designed to decrease health care costs and require health care access to all U.S. citizens. The Act has the potential for reducing the cost of health care in the United States; however, with many risks which could possibly strain the health care system, increase debt, and decrease the quality of care many are concerned.

First, the act addresses major reforms to undertake in the health insurance sector to improve access to quality health care. The age of dependent coverage increased to 26 years, limits on annual benefits eliminated and challenges faced by those with preexisting medical conditions in getting a cover addressed. In addition, insurance documentation became uniform to allow for comparison (McClanahan, 2012). Thus, more Americans can access an insurance cover without increasing premiums.

It was to be necessitated by the expansion of the community investments and the clinical preventive care. Alternatively, the accessibility of the preventive and primary health care was sought to be expanded and strengthened. The act has led to positive results in the aspect of the health care system. Low-income individuals were previously not able to afford their insurance coverage. It made it difficult for people to get access to good health care. However, the health reform act created a platform for programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. The programs were able to provide minimum coverage to all citizens and individuals who had no form of affordable employer coverage. Insurance companies were also given standards of selling their products. It is essential to note that the act created a bridge between the citizens and the health care system and all the financial disparities that

The changes taking effect on the health care system can be greatly utilized by Americans, whether it is in a good or bad way. Today, most Americans do not have health insurance because they cannot afford it. With the Affordable Care Act, these Americans will be able to receive health care benefits. President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in March 2010. It was created to increase access to insurance coverage, whether through a private

There have been government programs in the past which have also attempted to make healthcare more accessible and affordable. Two such prominent programs are Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare provides health care coverage to the elderly, while Medicaid provides coverage to the poor. They were endorsed by President Johnson. However, even with the implementation of Medicare and Medicaid, which were enacted in 1965, there are many who are still uninsured (“Affordable Care Act”) . One of the goals of the Affordable Care Act was to help such individuals receive health care coverage. While attempting to garner support for the law, many of its advocates, including President Obama, also promised that those who already had coverage they were content would be able to keep it.

According to the website Medicaid.gov, the Affordable Care Act would increase the number of people that are covered by Medicaid, and would lower health care costs, and would Guarantee more choice of health in insurance. This is a great idea, but their downfalls in the program like the increase, tax of people, and when “U.S. health care spending, which reached nearly $8,000 per person annually in 2009, has outpaced GDP growth for the past several decades and far exceeds spending in any other country.” (Squires, 2012) also, there are steps that the people who truly need the help must go through to get these programs especially those you fell in coverage gap like “2.6 million people in 18 states are in the "coverage gap." More than

Once the foundation of the U.S. health care system was reviewed, we began our study of the new regulations. The Affordable Care Act contained three main provisions. The first provision was expanding Health Insurance Coverage. Elements of the regulation included offering coverage to the vast majority of currently uninsured Americans by expanding access to Medicaid to cover all non-elderly individuals below 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), and establishing state-based health insurance exchanges, which will offer Americans a range of private health plan options, with federal tax

The U.S. spend billions of dollars every year on preventative care such as heart disease, cancer, AIDS and many more disease; millions more are spent on trying to find a cure for disease such as MS, MD, AIDS, cancer, polo and so many more. The advantage to the U.S. would come by way of universal health care as it is today. With different measures of insurance coverage, a person benefits more by having the freedom to choose which health care and insurance needs are suitable for them, rather than being confined to only one group (Chernichovsky & Leibowitz, 2010).

The U.S. is an industrialized nation that continues to be behind on providing health care coverage to all citizens. However, the German health care system came up with a plan that ensured all citizens are provided with some form of health care coverage; nevertheless, the U.S. continues to dispute health care reform and how to provide coverage to all citizens. “Health spending per capita in the United States is much higher than in other countries – at least $2,535 dollars, or 51%, higher than Norway, the next largest per capita spender. Furthermore, the United States spends nearly double the average $3,923 for the 15 countries ("Health Care Cost," 2011, table 1)”.

The cost of care has been a growing problem throughout developed nations during the last 15 years. For example, across 34 nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the average per capita health care expenditure increased by more than 70 percent between 2000 and 2010. However, the biggest spenders — such as