Nationalization and Regulation of the American Healthcare System According to a study from The American Journal of Medicine, more than 60% of bankruptcies in America are due to medical bills. We are spending more and more each year on health care, much more than other countries whose healthcare quality is on par with ours. These high costs are the result of our flawed system that favors corporations over individuals and is in a dire need of reform. As tax-paying Americans, we should be willing to pay higher taxes in exchange for affordable health care, as those living in an industrialized country should not have to worry about essential services such as health care. This increase in taxes can be invested to construct an infrastructure for regulating the costs of and standardizing medical services, as well as to fund medical research, among other benefits for every person. The cost of hospitalization and prescription medication is exorbitant. Healthcare insurance is not cheap either. Insurance companies insist that they provide “members with a broad range of benefits and conscientious service” …show more content…
In the article “Insured, but Not Covered,” Rosenthal points out that, despite being insured through Empire Blue Cross, Karen Pineman had to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocket for a physical therapist when she broke her ankle while playing tennis, simply because her insurer refused to cover it. There are many more cases such as Pineman’s, where patients are forced to pay out of pocket since their insurance policy does not cover their specific treatments. The expenses can amount to thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars for treatments of more serious illnesses such as cancer. This is a severe flaw in our current healthcare system, one that could devastate individuals such as Pineman, sinking them deeply in debt and forcing them into
Medical costs are getting too expensive. Ever fought with your insurance providers because they refused to pay for care, or struggle to find an “in-network” provider? I know a woman whose name I will change for her privacy and the struggles she is going through are a perfect example of an issue many people face when dealing with insurance; Nancy’s (name changed for privacy) story is a perfect example of how our healthcare system is no longer working for the people. Nancy is this woman whose husband recently passed away. Nancy used to work for county and county workers cannot receive social security; and Nancy is too
The idea is to create a government-run health care plan that would be an alternative to the private insurance plans offered under the Affordable Care Act, or provide a fallback in markets where insurers have been pulling out. A public option could also be a way to stabilize the exchanges because a government-run plan could be used to enroll the people with the most expensive medical conditions. The private insurers would be more enthusiastic about selling policies because they might have to worry less about losses. Public option is simply a public health insurance agency, typically a government-run agency that can compete with the private insurers. This is sort of a half-way point between single payer and the pre- ACA private market. Almost
In the past what has hindered health care reform plans from being enacted were the issues surrounding how they were to be funded. When comparing the attempts of the Clinton administration, the current legislation developed by both the House and the Senate, and Britain’s National Health Service, it is in my opinion that my optimal health care reform plan be funded through taxes, cost-sharing, and fees. In order for this plan to be successful it must be economically feasible and be able to reduce overall health care costs.
There are many problems with healthcare in America today. One of them including the astronomical cost. According to CDC.ORG in 2007 the average person spends seven thousand four hundred dollars per year on health care alone. This rise in healthcare is extremely detrimental for families, seniors, and people of all ages. With such a high cost of insurance people are forced to make hard choices in
The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the current level of national healthcare expenditures and to determine if we as Americans are spending too much on healthcare. The author of this paper will provide examples and solutions where we as a nation should add or cut from the healthcare expenditures. This paper will also detail how the general public's healthcare needs are being paid for, the biggest economic healthcare challenge, why the challenge should be addressed, and how this challenge to be financed.
In 2016 the American population again saw their insurance plans increasing their premiums from 10%-13% across the board. This is much more than expected, and even worse the co-op insurance plans have failed. The government sponsored non-profit plans offering lower rates have not proven sustainability in result of the majority going bankrupt even after receiving 1.2 billion dollars of taxpayer’s money. The Affordable Care Act is already becoming a huge tax expense amongst Americans leading to the U.S. increasing the overall national debt. Starting 2018 all high end health insurance premium plans will come with a 40% excise tax. Also, changes in flexible spending accounts have occurred as over the counter medicines are no longer qualified expenses for flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts. The health care tax deduction threshold account increased to 10% from the previous established 7.5%. All these changes through different avenues account for more reasons we continue to see costs increase through the ObamaCare.
The rising cost of health care has led companies to stop offering health insurance for employees, and private insurance is often too expensive for people to afford. Many families make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, but are unable to pay for private health insurance. Health care costs in the United States have more than doubled in the last twenty years. Insurance premiums are rising five times faster than wages, and Americans are spending more money on health care than people in any other country. The average amount one person pays per year for health care in the United States is 134 times higher than the average of other industrialized countries (“Health Care Issues”). Even people who have insurance aren’t guaranteed coverage. Many insurance companies find loopholes to avoid paying for expensive medical treatment, leaving people with massive debt from medical bills. Medical bills and illness cause over half of all personal bankruptcies in the United
The rising healthcare cost is an issue that affects many working class Americans. Experts have tried to come up with different ways to make health care more affordable and easily accessible to all. Despite all the efforts and even after the Affordable Care Act, there are still millions of Americans without health insurance coverage and therefore unable to access the necessary medical care. According to a 2015 report by the U.S Census Bureau, there are over 33 million uninsured Americans. (“Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014 - p60-253.pdf,” n.d.) The Affordable Care Act has unquestionably made healthcare more accessible and reduced the number of uninsured Americans. However, there are still millions of
This national health care tax is supposed to be an answer to most of our health care insurance issues. Although most people agree that our health care system is in turmoil and needs to be reformed, some people do not agree that the solution is a national health care tax. Americans seem to be even more upset over the cost and access to care even more than the quality of care that is given. It is amazing to note that most Americans when asked what they think the most important health care issue facing the United States, the cost and access to care remains the most common response. (Newport, Jones, & Saad, 2012).
In our healthcare system we have put money before the people, like we have in almost every problem in America. It seems to me we have replaced the need of everyone in America with the need of people's money. I have researched a lot of our health care situations in America and all the different opportunities we have to offer, I have found, Medicaid for the people who are less fortunate, Obama care, and Healthcare. In my life I have used Medicaid a lot.I came from a less fortunate family where we couldn't afford dental check ups and doctor visits so the government helped us out in that crisis we were in. I was then adopted in 2014 and it was then that I realized that all my life I thought that I could always just rely on the government and
For US citizens covered by private health insurance, receiving treatment is not necessarily easy with many insurance contracts containing terms and conditions excluding treatments which would be covered under the NHS. This has led to scandals where individuals have died as a result of not reading the fine print on their insurance contracts a massive 21% of claims in California are rejected by private insurers. (Reuters 2011) The profit-driven running of companies that are essentially meant to provide coverage guaranteeing the maintenance of health has seen managers receiving salaries exceeding 13 million dollars compared with the NHS’s top salary of less than half a million US. Not covering an individual for expensive treatment thus saves
In this paper, the USA healthcare system is being compared to the Canadian healthcare system. The U.S. health system has been described as the most competitive, heterogeneous, and inefficient, fragmented, and advanced system of care in the
Currently in the United States, the health care system is experiencing a vital crisis. The U.S. is ranked the highest paying health care system per capita out of 10 countries including, Australia and the Netherlands. We are also ranked worst in patient quality and outcome (Bernstein). Americans without health care are more prone to life threatening health problems and the life expectancy of an uninsured individual is about 60 years. Shorter life expectancies are due to health conditions such as high blood pressure and unhealthy lifestyles that could have been controlled if they had health insurance. Numerous health care reforms have been put into place to improve the system’s efficiency. However, the reforms have made a weak impact on changing the system. The three major problems of the U.S. health care system are high cost, low accessibility, and poor patient quality and outcome.
When you put it in a realistic perspective about upper respiratory infection or even just a regular checkup, I agree that there needs be room for improvement. Any change in general just like making the decision to see if having a national healthcare system could work there will always be pros or cons. I also did touch on the subject of using National Tax because with that everyone will be eligible and it is the simplest form of payment. All those options they mention in the book are facts that us as a community can use and sharing that awareness to others can help in making that change possible in having a national healthcare system.
The prevalence of bankruptcy’s filed due to health care costs has become increasingly common. American’s specifically are paying substantially with their wallets for even routine care. The costs of health care are unremittingly rising and becoming out of control for even the average family to afford. Concurrently, other parts of the world are giving more accurate and efficient health care for minimal cost. Undeniably, the United States needs health care reform, because health care conditions aren’t departing and simultaneously the American people are being taken advantage. Humans require health care as a basic necessity, quickly, efficiently, and should be able to participate regardless of wealth or status. Government intervention in the form of universal health care, wellness programs, and price caps would allow for greater efficiency in a system suffering from inflated prices and convoluted bureaucracy.