Health Insurance Of The United States Essay

The U.S. health care system is way more complex than what meets the eye. A major difference between the health care system in the U.S. and other nations, is that the U.S. does not have universal health care. Lack of a universal health care opens up the doors for competition amongst insurance, physicians, technology, hospitals and outpatient services.

rehend the PPACA, one must understand the history of the United States’ health care system. The most successful and known reform would be the passage of Medicare and Medicaid. President Johnson’s main objective with his program was to provide health insurance to those over 65 years old, who otherwise wouldn’t be able to receive coverage due to retirement or being financially unfit to purchase health insurance. It has since been expanded to cover those with disabilities, and lower income families (“Overview,” 2015). Brady (2015) examines President Clinton’s attempt to massively overhaul health care in the United States. His plan, the Health Security Act (HSA), required employers to offer health insurance to their employees, and mandated that every US citizen purchase health insurance. This plan would have most likely expand health insurance to many more Americans; however, many feared the large tax increases, restricted options for patients, and with the lack of general support for the bill, it failed in Congress and was never implemented (p. 628). President Clinton’s failed attempt at health care reform opened up the door to future reforms, and it even shared multiple similarities to the PPACA. Smith (2015) updates the history of the health care system in America stating that “In the mid-2000s, America’s uninsured population swelled to nearly 47 million, representing about 16 percent of the population” and how “16 million Americans […] were underinsured” (p. 2). People

Health care plans are policies created to aid the patients in accessing medical services in form of insurance to cover the expenses incurred during treatment and hospital care. In analyzing the options given by two major health care plans elaboration will be based on two major insurance schemes namely indemnity insurance plan and Managed Care plan. All these vary yet with a common aim of providing medical services to the patients. In order for the analysis, consideration will be based on the costs and the coverage. These two plans differ in many important ways, more so in regard to how the services are offered, the way to obtain special care and the cost of care after recovery. Despite the diversities, the two care types share many

Health care coverage in the United States is a big business with a relatively recent history. For a company like Castor insurance, providing health care coverage is just as much of a business enterprise as any venture undertaken by a modern organization. As with any business, the central goal idea is to ensure ongoing profitability and viability in an every changing and increasingly competitive environment. Therefore, before offering any company insurance coverage, there are, important economic factors that need to be considered such as which health care package best covers the needs of both the insured and the insurer. To determine the best decision as to which insurance coverage to offer it is important to understand the history and

We live in the United States, “The Land of the Brave and Home of the Free.” However, the United States is the only developed country that does not provide guaranteed insurance coverage for all citizens and they’re thereby doing not ensure access to health services (Government hub, n.d.). Meaning other countries offer health coverage without cost. This always disappointed me because America is the richest, and most unequal, country (Sherman, 2015). So why wouldn’t America provide American’s health care insurance (McAlearney, 2003, p. 20). Since the United States does not provide universal health care coverage, we will discuss briefly forms of insurance offered to Americans, the categories of insurance and how individuals qualify for coverage and Affordable Healthcare Act (Obama Care).

Prior to The ACA, the United States was primarily composed of a private health care system. This meant that employers, families or individuals would buy health insurance through private insurance companies. There were also Medicare and Medicaid government insurance programs for qualifying individuals. (Bradey, 2016) Typically the Medicare program is reserved for those individuals who have reached retirement age and Medicaid is for the poor. There are exceptions to each of the programs that this paper will not explore.

Health insurance comes as second nature to many of us. We grab that blue and white card and put it in our wallet and forget about it until we are sick or injured. When this happens, there it is, cushioning our fall like the extra padding it provided to cushion our wallets. This is not the case with everyone, however. Many Americans have no cushion to fall back on, no blue and white card to show the emergency room when they have an unexpected health concern. No HMO with a convenient co-pay amount when their son or daughter develops an ear infection.

One major part of the U.S. healthcare system is Medicare, which is designed to deliver healthcare to those who are 65 or older, and also Medicaid, which delivers healthcare to those that are certain level below the poverty line. These two are the main parts of the Untied States healthcare system to deliver access to the highest risk groups, the old and impoverished. The majority of health insurance is provided by private insurance companies, 49% of which is through employers, however, after the passage of the ACA many have taken advantage of market place premiums.1 This fragmentation of a healthcare system poses several issues as healthcare costs continue to rise, and it is difficult to implement a universal

The Affordable Care Act was into law March 2010. The law has planned to make wide-range of changes to healthcare in the United States. The Affordable Care Act efforts to offer universal right to use to healthcare for Americans, control the rising costs of healthcare, adjust the private insurance industry complete things like state-based private exchanges and online marketplace that brings together state-approved insurance plans from multiple companies so consumers can shop for individual insurance plans, improve the quality of healthcare and make healthcare choices more consumer friendly and easier to understand (Medical Mutual,2017). Healthcare reform involves nearly all Americans from old or young,

In attempting to remedy the unjust nature of the American health insurance system, one cannot determine what a just system should be based on the current assessment of society. Inequalities within the current system cannot foster discussion for what we believe is justice because preconceived notions cloud the judgment of even the foremost health policy intellectuals. Many philosophers therefore turn to creating hypothetical societies where these inequalities do not exist as a means to facilitate the discussion as to what true justice requires. Two such individuals, Ronald Dworkin and Charles Fried, have constructed such situations as a means to assess what a just healthcare system should be comprised of in a truly fair-market economy. Although they agree on issues pertaining to the resources available to individuals in a fair market, they also disagree on what constitutes justice in regards to how individuals may spend their allocations. An assessment of the disagreements between the two reveals that the main consideration for what justice demands of society boils down to the degree to which individuals are responsible for purchasing their share of health insurance as well as their fellow citizens’.

Healthcare didn’t always exist in the United States. Before the 1920’s, most people didn’t have health coverage. Most people were treated at home and hardly anyone, except a few large employers offered healthcare. Everyone else paid out of pocket. As the population shifted from rural areas to urban centers, families lived in smaller homes with less room to care for sick family members (Faulkner 1960, p. 509). Increasing requirements for licensing and accreditation, in addition to a rising demand for medical care, eventually led to rising costs. By the end of 1920s, there was an increased demand for medical care and the costs of medical care increased.

Employer-based health insurance has been present in the United States for many years, however with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) – future considerations must be deliberated. In the early years, during World War II, salaries were halted by the National War Labor Board. In order to entice workers and bypass the salary controls, companies would use employer-based health insurance. It was a positive situation for both, employee and employer because employer-based health insurance premiums paid by the employer was tax exempt (EBRI, 2015) and employees had the security of access to healthcare. Employers have the control and make the decision on which healthcare insurance plans their employees would have to choose from. However, the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) allows for many changes, including the ability for employees to have more freedom of choice. An analysis of employer-based health insurance and current trends reveals that the implementation of the PPACA will affect the employer-based health insurance existence, various advantages and disadvantages to group insurance, including adverse selection, moral hazard and uncertainty.

The first thing that would be enacted through my optimal health care reform plan would be making employer based insurance mandatory. Individuals who are employed will be eligible for health insurance coverage and will not be able to opt out with out proof of other insurance. Employer based insurance will become more affordable for both employers and employees through a tax credit incentive. Employers will be able to choose which plans to provide to employees through the use of a Health Exchange. No less than two plan options will be available to employees.

America is without a question the leading country of medical and scientific advances. There always seem to be a new medical breakthrough every time you watch the news or read the paper, especially in the cure of certain diseases. However, the medical research requires an enormous amount of money. The U.S. spends the most money on health care yet many people, mainly the working class Americans are still without any type of health insurance and thus are more susceptible to health risks and problems. The concept of health insurance for Americans was formulated over a century ago. Most Americans obtain health insurance from

In this next paragraph we will talk about federal health reform’s impact on employer-sponsored health insurance. Employers now aren’t very sure how they are going to provide health insurance. They are trying to decide whether to go off of the plan they have at this moment or make a new plan. Most of their decisions are going come from the Hawaii experience where they are testing the employer based system. Overall they are going to have to follow the guidelines of the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act before making any major decisions. The purpose of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is to cut down the number of uninsured Americans in the United States by making coverage more affordable and more effective. In 2009, 59% of young Americans had employer sponsored health insurance and another 13.8% had private health insurance. Private insurance is when an individual goes to a company and buys health insurance rather than having it supplied with their job. The uninsured were 18.9% of the population under the age of 65 years old. I believe that the reason the number of uninsured people is as high