The Healing Of Americ A Global Quest For Better, Cheaper, And Fairer Health Care

During the past few decades in the United States, health care cost has been skyrocketing, and many people have lost their insurance as result of the high cost. Approximately 45 million American s are uninsured or they don’t have a real health care plan that can cover all their needs. Some Americans have the perception that even with coverage, cost and other problems in the system, the quality of the Healthcare System in the US is better than other countries in the world, something that it is not true. As a matter of fact the United States is one of the richest, industrialized countries in the world where it spends a lot of money in its healthcare system. Spending more money in the Healthcare system does not mean it will be a better system, nor it does not mean it could not improve in some areas. In contrast, the Federal Republic of Germany where its healthcare system is completely different from the United States.

In The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care (2009), the author of the book, T.R. Reid travels to industrialized democracies to discuss the different methods of health care delivery system used in these developed countries and compare them to the health care system of the United States. According to T.R. Reid (2009), “the thesis of this book is that we can find cost-effective ways to cover every American by borrowing ideas from foreign models of health care” (Reid, 2009, p. 11). This thesis illustrates that the American health care system can manage health care costs effectively and provide care to all by using some of the successful health care delivery models of foreign nations. The purpose of this book analysis is to discuss the four different health care models presented in this book and provide my prioritization or ranking of these models. This analysis also aims to investigate a case known as the Nikki White case described in this book and discuss the lessons learned from it. Furthermore, this analysis is going to provide my remarks on the, “An Apple a Day” comment relative to the Public Health Model. Lastly, in this book analysis, I will share my conclusion on the basic premise of the book along with my take away messages that I will remember into my future as a Public Health professional.

In “The American Health Care Paradox”, Elizabeth H. Bradley and Lauren A. Taylor explore why the American health care system achieves mediocre results, despite spending a higher percentage of its gross domestic product than any other country in the world on health care. They explain that health care is more than just getting medical treatment, but there are social factors that affect a person 's health. The authors claim that more government spending on medical treatments is not the solution to the health care paradox, but we should focus more on social needs that have a greater impact on health. Case studies and interviews with physicians, other health care providers, and social service providers are used to support the authors’ claims. Though the authors do not explicitly state the path they believe the American health care system should follow, they give examples of foreign health care systems and domestic health care projects that may point in the right direction.

Health care spending in the United States of America as a percentage of the economy has reached astonishing heights, equating to 17.7 percent. This number is shocking when compared to other counties; in Australia health care is 8.9 percent, in United Kingdom 9.4 percent, in Canada 11.2 percent. If the American health care system were to hypothetically become its own economy, it would be the fifth-largest in the world. While these statistics sound troubling, they lead us to look for answers about the problems surrounding our system. The first health insurance company was created in the 1930s to give all American families an equal opportunity for hospital care and eventually led to a nationwide economic and social controversy that erupted in the 1990s and continued to be shaped by the government, insurance companies, doctors, and American citizens. In this paper, I will go in to detail about the various opinions regarding the controversy, the history behind health insurance companies, and the main dilemmas brought out by the health care crisis. Greedy insurance companies combined with high costs of doctor visits and pharmaceutical drugs or the inefficient hospitals all over America can only describe the beginning to this in depth crisis. Recently, the United States health care industry has become know for the outrageous costs of insurance models, developments of various social and health services programs, and the frequent changes in medicinal technology.

The United States health care system is unique among other advanced countries. This system does not have a central governing agency, it is delivered under imperfect market conditions, there are multiple players and payers, and there is no universal health care coverage (Shi & Singh, 2015, p. 9). In a time where healthcare reform is being discussed, it is important for the United States to consider what is proactive as well as what is failing the system. That is what Sick Around The World did; the documentary compared five other countries’ (United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland) healthcare systems to see how they stacked up against the United States.

If there is one thing that most Americans are in agreement with, it is the vile shape of our U.S. health care system. There is no argument that the U.S. health care system is in need of an overhaul, however, there is much debate over just how to effectively go about the process. The public have voiced greatest concern in the health care areas of costs, quality and access. Many presidents have pondered the idea of health care reform; a few even made attempts to start the ball rolling. The first

T.R. Reid uses cost, quality, and choice to fully evaluate healthcare systems all around the world. As an American citizen, I have always thought our system was unfair. The poor suffer more than the rich for going to see a doctor for the same reason. In chapter one of The healing of America, T.R. Reid comments on how many Americans have also started to notice that the American healthcare system is not as great as we once thought. Not only is it unfair, but it is also expensive and unsuccessful (9). By looking at all the other countries’ healthcare systems, Reid would then be able to better pinpoint how America can better its health care system by taking portions of those health systems.

America faces a choice, keep The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, or scrap it and come up with something better. The ACA in its entirety leaves room for improvement. It could do better, much better, if it weren’t for matters of political expediency. Currently the United States spends more on health care than any other country. According to a Huffington Post article (2013) the U.S. spends about 17.2 percent of their GDP on medical care. Health care per capita is approximately $8,608, second only to Switzerland, which spends $9,121.

People today consider America one of the world’s greatest countries. Many Americans enjoy a high standard of living compared to many other parts of the world. Yet somehow the health care system in America ranks number 37 in the world. (The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health system) Although the United States is known to be one of the most advanced countries in the entire world, they spend more money on healthcare than any other country. (Zablit) America does not have universal healthcare coverage. Ultimately, lives are being lost due to proper and affordable healthcare being out of reach for some citizens.

The United States’ approach to health care policy is an anomaly among industrialized nations. Disagreement about what the federal government’s role in health care ought to be, combined with the structure of lawmaking institutions, have yielded generations of improvised policies and programs that intend to mollify individual issues created by the health care system rather than comprehensively addressing its flaws.

America is a one of the most economically developed nations. However, according to “PBS Frontline; Sick around the World” America ranks 37th in health care quality and equality. We can hear the general public are debating about health care everywhere. In developed nations like the US, everyone should have health care. Some people believe that Obama’s health care system is effective. On the other hand, some people say that Obama care is not effective because the government cannot mandate the general public to have health insurance. Obama care is an effect, but compared with other economically developed nations, the American health care system is still not affordable and effective.

Many Americans are under the impression that the United States has the best health care system in the world. That may be true at many top medical centers but the disturbing truth is that this country, as a whole, lags well behind other advanced nations in delivering timely, effective, and affordable health care. This next presidential election might take the country in a new direction in terms of how our medical system is run. In fact “socialized medicine” has been mentioned numerous times in the current presidential debates. This is not the first time in American history that this issue has been brought up, in fact universal health care has encountered many social and political

The unprecedented rise in the cost of health care is challenging businesses, households and government alike. Meanwhile, nearly 50 million did not have coverage in 2010. Furthermore, while health care costs are steadily increasing, higher cost does not necessarily translate as better quality, and some care providers are actually able to offer high-quality care while reducing cost. Something has to give, but reforming our health care system is a complex task. Any reform measures should address several important problems in our current system: ensuring that all Americans have access to care, and not just emergency care but prevention services and care for chronic conditions; bringing costs under control; and maintaining or improving quality of care. While some reform proposals are more dramatic than others, any significant effort to fix the problems will involve substantial change and affect everyone— one reason why the topic is such a magnet for controversy. But with spiraling prices, millions uninsured and worsening health care performance compared to other countries, we’ve reached a point where kicking the issue down the road for others to address, as we’ve done for many decades, would be economically disastrous and morally irresponsible.

Health care reform has been a big topic since the Clinton administration when First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton, took it under her belt to devise a new system. Health care is the provision taken to preserve mental and physical health using prevention and treatment. Compared to other health care systems in the world, the United States is ranked 37th in terms of care, claims Michael Moore (2007). Ironically, our health care system spends more than any other nation on its patients, averaging nearly $8,000 per person (DiNitto, 2012). With soaring costs, it is no surprise that one in every seven Americans are uninsured (Kaiser, 2011). Even with these sorry figures, statistics show that 85% of Americans are satisfied with their health care

The current state of United States’ health care system is one of the most polarizing subjects of debate among scholars and other health care professionals across the globe. This can be attributed to the fact that at one extreme end, there are some who argue that that Americans have the best system of health care in the world (MePhee, 2013). Perhaps the availability of the state-of-the-art facilities and free medical technology that have become highly symbolic of the various industries in the United States have motivated the idea of the country’s health care system being unparalleled to others. However, there is a common belief that the fight for universal health care can only be successful if its current state of health care is described as a failure in the modern era as emphasized by MePhee (2013).