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The Current Healthcare Model On Health And The Health Care Outcomes Of Illness Amongst People Groups

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All Americans do not have equal opportunities to health and the ability to make healthy choices. Barriers to health and healthier decisions are sometimes too high for individuals to overcome even with great motivation. [Roberts Wood Johnson Foundation; commission to build a healthier America 2013].1 Profound influences on health are found to occur outside of treatment facilities where majority spend most of their time. The ability to live a long healthy life is determined by various social factors such as behaviour, community/society, education, income, racial/ethnic groups, the environments where we live, learn work and play. These factors are far from random and seem to be predetermined by various factors within and around the built …show more content…

This model involves the provision of preventive and screening services that help keep people from falling ill or helps to identify sickness early when they might be easier to treat. This involves medical practitioners and public health professionals that help people avoid illness.
A sickness/medical model however is typified by activities carried out by medical practitioners to restore health, alleviate suffering [helping a patient to cope with the pain and suffering posed by a medical condition] or limit the spread of disease. “The US Health disadvantage” (the discrepancy between the highest spending on health and poorer survival rates) may be explained by a focus on the medical/sickness model in the US.2b This can also explain the discrepancies in health outcomes amongst different populations in the US. Not up to five percent of the more than $2 trillion dollars health care expenditure per year is spent on preventing illness, the result of this is that only 10 -15 % of preventable mortality may eventually be avoided, by increasing the availability of quality medical care.3

Population health model suggests that prevention is cheaper. Policies and investments in areas other than traditional health care may result in improved health outcomes, longevity and a higher quality of life rather than increasing health care spending. A

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