Medicare Is A Popular Choice Of Insurance Coverage

United States is the largest and most diverse society on the globe. It spends almost 2 trillion dollars every year on health care, which is one in every seven dollars in the economy. U.S is one of the very few nations where all its citizens do not have medical coverage. Although it spends heavily on per capita on health care, and it has the most advanced medical technology system in the world, still it is not the healthiest nation on earth. The system performs so poorly that it leaves 50 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered (Garson, 2010).

has the world’s most expensive healthcare system, yet one-sixth of Americans are uninsured. Approximately one-third (31%) of adults and a little more than one-half (54%) of children do not have a primary care doctor. Federal spending on healthcare in 2005 alone totaled $600 billion, a massive one-quarter of the federal budget. Someone files for bankruptcy every 30 seconds in the U.S of health concerns. And every 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure due to unaffordable medical costs. The U.S. spends six times more per capita on the administration of the health insurance system than Western European nations, who insure all citizens.“ www.realtruth.org/articles/090203-005-health.html. “In United States, the annual cost of health care per capita is $5,711. http://www.visualeconomics.com/healthcare-costs-around-the-world_2010-03-01/#ixzz12f0I1lbk

The United States (U.S) healthcare system is a large private system that consist of multiple payers, which leaves the U.S

In the United States, access to health care is largely determined by who has financing to receive insurance (Shi & Singh, 2013, p. 197) Financing for health care comes from many different entities. For most Americans who have health insurance through their employment, the employers pay a part of the insurance premium and employees pay the rest (Shi & Singh, 2013, p.

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.

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 does not have a universal health insurance coverage available for its citizens, therefore, there are varied obtainable coverages. Some coverages are offered through employers while others may be obtained through government programs. As of 2010, with the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, many more citizens were able to receive health insurance (Rosenbaum, 2011). Furthermore, this began the healthcare reform as it is today.

The United States health care system is considered broken because we do not have one universal system. Within the American system there are different types of health insurance such as private, group or self-insurance. The United States works on a fee-for-service system so the providers receive money for every service they provide therefore the medical bills for Americans are significantly high. Before the Affordable Care Act was implemented a few forms of government programs were Medicaid, the Children’s Health insurance Program and Medicare. Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program were to help insure the low income citizens and their children. CHIP and Medicaid are both funded by the government and state but administered by the individual states. CHIP covers children whose family income is up to 200% of the poverty level. Medicaid insures low income citizens but can also

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.

The U.S. health care delivery system is very complex because it is not a universal health system governed solely by the federal government. Only Americans with health care insurance coverage receive routine health services. Health insurance can be purchased in the private market or provided by the federal government. The uninsured and poor population acquire health insurance by government funded health care called Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare and Medicaid is the largest payer of health care services in the United States with Medicaid providing health services to about 72.5 million and Medicare provides health coverage to more than 55 million (CMS, 2015).

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)”.

In the United States health insurance is purchased through private marketplace or can be provided by the government. However, only certain populations qualify for government provided healthcare, such as veterans, people with disabilities, children, and elderly. Private health insurance can be purchased from various for-profit commercial insurance companies or from non-profit insurers, and is usually subsidized by a person’s employer. Employers voluntarily sponsor the health insurance plans for their workers, because it is cheaper to buy plans from insurance companies in a group. Sometimes premiums paid by the employer and employee fund an internal health insurance plan, which is usually administered by a third party from a health insurance program. HMO 's, or Health Maintenance Organizations, are the most common type of the health care. HMOs are an example (employer pays yearly capitation fee). It saves some money on routine care, but it is not good for specialized care. From a physician 's perspective HMOs cause them to earn less, but work shorter hours.

For Americans, health care coverage depends primarily on whether health insurance is provided by their employer or through two major public programs, Medicaid for the poor and Medicare for the elderly.

The United States healthcare system is market based. The US has a widely diverse system with levels for people in different categories receiving different levels care. Healthcare coverage for US citizens mostly is offered through work policies, private policies and government assistance for the poor. In the United States, if you lose your job you lose your health insurance. People can then obtain insurance through a private source but the premiums are more expensive. In 2010, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act became a law in the United States. The PPACA was intended to provide coverage for uninsured or low-income Americans.

United States of America does not have a universal health insurance as in the most industrialized countries. Additionally, USA spends more than industrialized countries on healthcare, but that does not mean that the health of American people is better than populations in the industrialized countries. The health expenditures are 17.1 % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the 2014 (Central Intelligence Agency, 2016). Therefore, healthcare in the US is financed by variety of ways. There are four types of financing for healthcare, which include by government programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, by Federal government, such as military and veterans, by private health insurance plans, which payment usually