Sicko: A Not So Nice Analysis of Health Insurance in the United States

Costs have escalated for a host of reasons. Americans’ health needs increased as their for example. Coverage grew to include catastrophic illnesses, not just common ailments. Ma added retiree health benefits. Medical techniques and technology became more sophisticate prescription drugs acquired an expanding role in disease management and illness preventio medical inflation had become a serious business issue; by some yardsticks, costs rose at a f decade than in the 1990s.

The documentary “Money and Medicine,” reveals the essentials of unnecessary health care spending and the policies that intervene with the health care systems. In the beginning of the film, the people being interviewed talked about patients receiving major amounts of unnecessary treatment and that a majority of health care spending is devoted to needless services. Several physicians in the video explained the extreme dangers that are present within health care; along with clarifying that they are paid more when doing harm to their patients and when they do more for them even if it is not beneficial to do so. If the cost of health care continues to rise, health care will become too expensive and unavailable that the U.S. will be put in a financial

For those Americans not covered or find their work coverage too expensive, there is a new way for them to buy insurance on their own called Health Insurance Marketplaces. Some states have named these marketplaces something else. The Health Insurance Marketplace is like a virtual insurance megamall where private insurers compete for American’s business. Americans can pick out how much coverage they want, how much they want to pay for it, from cheaper high deductible plans to more expensive plans. Regardless what plan is chosen, all plans will cover a complete set of services like hospital visits, doctor visits,

In recent years, health care has been a huge topic in public debates, legislations, and even in deciding who will become the next president. There have been many acts, legislations, and debates on what the country has to do in regards to health care. According to University of Phoenix Read Me First HCS/235 (n.d.), “How health care is financed influences access to health care, how health care is delivered, the quality of health care provided, and its cost”.

In 2014, the U.S. health care spending increased 5.3% to $3.0 trillion, or $9,523 per person, a faster increase than the 2.9% in 2013. The spending increased due to extensive coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2014b). In 2014, Medicare spending grew 5.5% to $618.7 billion and represented 20% of the national health expenditure, a faster increase than the 3% growth in 2013. The spending increased due to prescription drugs, physician and clinical services, government administration, and insurance (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2014b). In 2014, Medicaid spending grew 11% to $495.8 billion and represented 16% of the national health expenditures, a faster increase

In the United States, health care has become a huge expense and has threatened the economy; additional measures need to be taken to address the rising cost of care. An individual spends an estimated eight thousand dollars a year in health care expenditures. Therefore, we need to recognize that how a physician reimbursement for payment has a vast impact on the economy and the rising cost of health care.

Health insurance is a type of insurance that covers that specific person’s medical expenses. Payments can either be made out of pocket and then the customer will be reimbursed or the company will directly pay the entity. A provider is known as a hospital, clinic, doctor, pharmacy, practitioner, or laboratory.

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’.

Health insurance is protection against the risk of sustaining medical expenses among individuals. It provides financial protection in case of catastrophic illness and averts impoverishment.

Healthcare began over 150 years ago, so today; Americans rely on health insurance to cover their medical services rendered for their healthcare needs. Some may have private insurance, some have government issued insurance, and some carry Medicaid. Those are just a few of the many insurance options that they can choose from. It can be very confusing when one is deciding on health insurance coverage, due to the many policy guidelines. So let’s us begin!

Health care has become a large part of modern society because the methods societies use to pay for health care affect both the providers and consumers of health care resources. Health care financing is especially important as it often restrict citizen access to health care (Cauchi, 2015).In most, modern first world countries, the government is responsible for paying for health care. However, this is not the case in the United States. In the U.S., the health care system is a unique and partially market-based (Seshamani, 2008).

Steven Brill feels that American health care is eating away at our economy and our treasury and discusses the costs associated with the provision of health care services in the U.S.. The article explores the medical world through the medical expenses incurred by a 64-year-old Janice S., Sean Recchi, A 42-year-old from Lancaster, Ohio and several other egregiously billed patients. The article poses the question: why exactly are the medical bills so high; in particular hospital bills?

Socialized medicine has lately been a rising topic in the American society. It is a term which is used to describe the universal health care system. It is a system by which medical and hospital care for all minor cost are covered by means of government derived from taxation. The original meaning was confined to systems in which the government operates health care facilities and employs health care professionals. This narrower usage would apply to the British National Health Service hospital trusts and health systems that operate in other countries as diverse as Finland, Spain, Israel, and Cuba. Most industrialized countries, and many developing countries, operate some form of publicly funded health care with universal coverage as the goal. According to the Institute of Medicine and others, the United States is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not provide universal health care. The American health care system is known as a commercialized system. This system has been used to ensure that all American citizens are given quality of care in a timely manner. Most of the funds for this kind of service comes from insurances that varies in many different aspects. Throughout this paper readers will be able to comprehend the differences between socialized and commercialized medicine.

According to Martocchio (2014), health insurance covers the costs of a variety of services that promote sound physical and mental health, including physical examinations, diagnostic testing, surgery, dental treatments, and corrective prescription lenses for vision deficiencies. More than two centuries ago, the presence of the health care system emerged when mining and railroad companies hired doctors to provide medical services to their employees. As a result of the catastrophic World War I, many health providers were left providing services with the prospect of not receiving payments for the services being rendered and many Americans faced with the financial burdens of these escalating health care costs. The essential for the development of a health care system was not established for no apparent reason. The health care system was developed due to the staggering number of Americans whom where unable to pay soaring medical bills.

1. Michael Moore's documentary film Sicko explored the health care systems in the United States, Canada, England, France and Cuba. The United States is the only industrialized country in the West that does not provide universal health care coverage to its citizens. Using concepts of American political culture, please explain why it is that the United States does not provide universal health care to its citizens. Be sure to address how our political culture differs from those of the nations explored in the film.