Plain Populations

It is no secret that the cost of American healthcare is becoming increasingly more expensive. However, the issue of the rising cost of healthcare and its severity needs to be recognized as a major problem. Health prices are steadily increasing in the United States, and there is no sign of it stopping. Since 1970, spending on American health care has grown 9.8%, which is a rate that is growing faster than the economy (“New Technology”.) Furthermore, health insurance premiums are also increasing at a rate five times faster than American salaries, which makes it difficult for families to afford health care coverage (Zuckerman 28). Therefore, it has become an obligation to address why the cost of American health care is soaring and to seek out a solution to lower the cost. Many would jump to the conclusion that the United States simply charges too much for their medical services, but there are deeper influences that need to be analyzed. The causes of the rising cost of health care are people not using preventive health care, the development of modern technology, and the treatments being overprescribed. A possible solution is to have preventive health care services available in clinics of low-income areas.

Seven in ten deaths in the United States, are attributable to chronic disease (“Leading Causes” 1). These diseases are not on account of bacteria or viruses, which could be treated with an appropriate prescription or vaccine. Chronic conditions are developed through unhealthy lifestyles and behaviors such as a lack of exercise, poor nutrition, poor sleeping habits, and substance use (e.g. tobacco). Consequently, seven in ten of every death can be prevented with changes in lifestyle. The CDC states that these conditions, “are among the most common, costly, and preventable of all health problems” (“Chronic Disease” 1). Although these conditions have clear and definite causes (knowing the exact reason and “cure” for them), they are becoming more prevalent rather than domesticated. According to Wu and Green, “Between 2000 and 2030 the number of Americans with chronic conditions will increase by 37 percent, an increase of 46 million people” (1). This increase comes with an increase in health care costs: the CDC reported that the U.S. spent three trillion dollars on health care in 2014 (“Health Expenditures” 1). 86% of these costs was associated with these conditions (“Prevention” 1). Despite there being a range of causes of why patients make these choices, one issue that may be less familiar to others is the lack of knowledge in preventative medicine among health care professionals. Current training standards are not adequately educating or equipping health care professionals

Not only has the cases of preventable chronic diseases increased over the years affecting half of the U.S population, they account for 86% of the health care costs. Programs and policies that address risk factors and causes of these diseases at their roots would not only promote public health but reduce the cost of health care both in treatment and hospitalization.

Since 1980, the United States has taken on 10-year plans that outline certain key national health objectives set to be accomplished during a 10-year timeframe (Shi & Singh, 2015). These initiatives are founded on medical care with prevention services, health promotion, education, community health care, and increased access to integrated services. The initiative, Healthy People 2010: Healthy People in Healthy Communities, launched in 2000. The initiative emphasizes the role of community partners such as

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This saying goes to show that investing in preventative care is the only way to effectively reform health care plans in America. It is no secret that there are many issues facing health care; however, the most important issue seems to be the lack of funding for preventative care. Redistributing health care related funds into areas like public health and preventative medicine can increase the overall quality of life for patients. If health care reform revolves around preventative medicine, then America’s standard of health will rise. A healthier society will lessen the demand for expensive life-saving surgeries, thus decreasing the overall cost of health care. The overall solution for this issue would be to set a realistic health care budget that correlates to the United States’ current standard of health, thus majority of the budget focuses on preventative medicine.

Preventive health care involves a wide range of interventions which help for maintaining good health habits, reducing the incidence of disease and disability, and slowing the progress of illnesses. These interventions can include providing childhood immunizations, raising taxes on cigarettes,

In the state of Louisiana there are a great deal of health care concerns. These health care concerns need to be brought up and discussed because the future of Louisiana’s health care system depends on it. It is essential that there is something done for the prevention and quality of care for these health care concerns. Having a healthy lifestyle will help to prevent short life spans and increase longevity of ones life. The health care concerns of Louisiana are asthma, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, infant mortality, and obesity. A lot of residents seem unaware of the health concerns Louisianans face on a daily basis. Which cause high number of deaths due to health concerns.

The patient centered medical homes (“PCMH”) approach “focuses on keeping people well, managing chronic conditions like diabetes or asthma, and proactively meeting the needs of patients.” According to the Arkansas Department of Health, chronic diseases like cancer heart disease or diabetes affect approximately over fifty percent of adult Arkansans. Yet chronic diseases are often preventable. The high rate of chronic diseases can partly be attributed health insurance coverage—“when people don’t have health insurance they tend to avoid seeing doctors. People

Overall healthcare quality has been improve the overall health of the population under these insurance plans candidates receive free preventative care. With many preventative treatments available it’s essential for healthcare field to shift from treating chronic disease to taking preventative measures beforehand. These programs has been able to improve the financial status of the Medicaid and Medicare programs by creating awareness among enrollees of the importance of preventive health and reduce the impact of obesity.

According to Kouame (2010), approximately 51 million, or 20%, Americans live in the rural areas and depend on local resources for their health care. This population is at risk for less than adequate health care due to the lack of resources and support available. Nearly half of the rural residents in the US have at least one chronic health condition (Harvey & Janke, 2014) higher than their counterparts in the urban setting, and meeting the complex needs of this population has become a challenge in the current health care system. The lack of resources increase hospital readmission rates and use of emergency departments to manage chronic illnesses. Klug, Knudson, and Muus (2010), identified a rural readmission rate of 17.6% with 76% of those readmissions potentially preventable.

Disparities in access to health services affect people and lead to unmet health needs, preventive medical services, and poor health. Low-income people are less able to afford the out-of-pocket costs of care, even if they have health insurance coverage. Public health insurance programs have expanded coverage for the poor and not enough to close the disparity gap. In order to improve health care services, we must make sure that the District 17 communities have usual and ongoing source of care as people with a usual source of care have better health outcomes. District Council 17 needs increased access to quality care regardless of their ability to pay, insurance status, or other potential barriers to

In 2010, Healthy People 2020 was started by the Department of Human Health Services. Health programs and research topics were instituted to help Americans live healthier and longer lives (CDC, 2014). The 42 topics presented are all very important in maintaining the goals set by Healthy People 2020. If these programs were to be cut or budget restraints imposed on them, the impact would be felt by all Americans. There would be more unhealthy people, preventable chronic diseases would be more prevalent, and education and health associated programs would be

In public health, as in many fields there are a set of conundrums that practitioners, leaders and law makers have to address in order to provide the most appropriate service to their populations. One of these conundrums is the battle between what is good for the community vs. what is good for the individual. This topic will be broken up to the community vs. the individual, and discussed based on research done by Kass et al, and Oriola, and will be concluded by presenting possible solutions.

According to Shi, the social determinants of health is defined as followed. On the force field in Blum’s are daily life style, personal medical care, individual heredity ad lastly environmental settings (Shi, 58). Life expectancy have drastically increased in the past two decades thanks to advanced medical services. In order to enhance life expectancy and lower premature deaths in the United States, it is crucial to have medical care available and easy access to health care services The Center for Disease Control has announced that approximately 50 percent of premature deaths relate to lack of access to medical care (Shi, 58). When it comes to being healthy and living beyond life expectancy age, regular medical care is the answer. Preventative care such as regular lab work, screening, and colonoscopy procedure when individual reaches age 50 and over is crucial for decreasing the premature deaths in the United States.

Butler brings to attention that even states within the United States that have a bigger ratio of “social services” spending to health care have seen better health outcomes, such as lower rates of heart disease and obesity (2). In addition, one must also consider the diverse population of the U.S. when it comes to certain preventative measures. Lesley Russell lists out some critical factors of the different races and their likeness to certain illnesses in the “Center for American Progress”. For instance, African Americans had the highest rate of adult obesity as compared to the white population (3). Some races may be more susceptible to certain illnesses and those statistics are important factors to consider when focusing preventative health care on certain population. If certain races of the population are more susceptible to obesity, for example, then we would need to inform physicians to advise those patients and perhaps offer some programs to help prevent further health risks. Although, focusing on preventative medicine rather than “reacting” health care might seem risky, there is enough evidence to see the benefits of implementing stronger preventative health care. Better to stop an illness from happening in the first place rather than when it is too late or risking falling into