Overview of the US Healthcare System

Medicare's finances are in peril for two main reasons. The first is steadily rising health-care costs. In 1996, Medicare spending, at 12.2% of the federal budget, was the third-largest budget item. Only Social Security (the federal government's pension plan for retirees) and defense spending consumed a larger share. Medicare spending totaled $196 billion in 1996, and according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it will reach $312 billion in 2002.

W E S T L A K E H I G H S C H O O L

I N W I L L I A M S H A K E S P E A R E ‘ S

S i g n i f i c a n t e v i d e n c e i s a v a i l a b l e t o i l l u s t r a t e t h e p r e v a l e n c e o f m e d i c a t i o n e r r o r s r e l a t i n g t o o v e r l o o k e d c o n t r a i n d i c a t i o n s , d o s a g e m i s t a k e s , a n d a f a i l u r e t o d o c u m e n t p a t i e n t h i s t o r y c a n l e a d t o t r a g i c a n d c o s t l y h e a l t h c a r e i n c i d e n c e s ( c i t e ) . T h e r e f o r e , a d i r e c t c o r r e l a t i o n e x i s t s b e t w e e n e f f e c t i v e p r o c e d u r a l c o n t r o l o v e r t h e p r e s c r i p t i o n , a d m i n i s t r a t i o n , a n d m o n i t o r i n g

The first characteristic of the US health care system is that there is no central governing agency which allows for little integration and coordination. While the government has a great influence on the health care system, the system is mostly controlled through private hands. The system is financed publically and privately creating a variety of payments and delivery unlike centrally controlled healthcare systems in other developed countries. The US system is more complex and less manageable than centrally controlled health care systems, which makes it more expensive. The second characteristic of the US health care system is that it is technology driven and focuses on acute care. With more usage of high technology,

Primary care is the backbone of many industrialized nations, but is the US one of them? Unfortunately, the answer is no. The US lags behind such developed nations in its accessibility of primary care by a huge difference. The United States healthcare system fails to ensure the timely preventative and primary care for its residents. The current estimates indicate that there is merely one physician for every 2,500 patients. Not only Medicare beneficiaries, but also privately insured adults struggle in accessing the right primary care physician at the right time. Moreover, maldistribution of physicians only exacerbates the problem, especially for those residing in health professional shortage areas (HPSA).15 Approximately, sixty-five million Americans live in designated primary care shortage areas.13 Such underserved population faces higher disease and death rates and health disparities that then result in higher rates of hospitalizations and emergency department visits—in other words, expensive medical bills.21 More governmental control on the geographic location of primary care physicians can be a first-step to fixing the shortage problem.

2. Here, the research shows that in many situations, healthcare professionals are urged to conduct unnecessary tests and procedures in order to rack up the bill for insurance claims to then

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A N D S T A N D A R D S O F T H E B R I T I S

When it comes to the U.S. healthcare system, there are two sides of the argument. Some Americans may argue that the U.S. healthcare system is the best in the world given the many state-of-the-art healthcare facilities and innovative and advanced medical technology available, and there are those who argue that it is too costly and inefficient on many different levels (Chua, 2006). Despite the large amount of spending invested on their healthcare system, the U.S. consistently underperforms on most indicators of performance compared to other countries (Davis, Stremikis, Squires, & Schoen, 2014). Healthcare costs such as doctor visits, hospital stays, and prescription drugs are more expensive in the U.S. than any other country in the world.

Y o u r C a r e e r: H o w t o M a k e It H a p p e n

E l l a c u r í a f u r t h e r e d h i s e d u c a t i o n a n d “ s t u d i e d H u m a n i t i e s a n d P h i l o s o p h y a t Q u i t o ,

Health care systems are organizations that are formed to meet the overall health needs of the population. Health care is regarded as one of the leading cause in promoting not only physical and mental health but the well-being of the population. Legislation is implemented requiring government to offer services to all members of its society. The role of health services and the organizations that provide aid is to focus on the health of an individual and to uphold their human rights. According to WHO (2013), a “well-functioning health care system requires a robust financing mechanism, a well-trained and adequately-paid workforce, reliable information on which to base decisions and policies, and well maintained facilities and logistics to deliver quality medicines and technologies (World Health Organization; 2013).

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