The Health Care Solution Missing

A national health care system in the United States has been a contentious topic of debate for over a century. Social reformists have been fighting for universal health care for all Americans, while the opposition claims that a “social” heath care system has no place in the ‘Land of the Free’.

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 New York Times printed an article by Robert Pear, which reported that on December 24, 2009, the US senate passed the first bill, which would call for major reform regarding health care in the United States (Pear). The article titled “Senate Passes Health Care Overhaul on Party-Line Vote,” discusses the fact that while this step was a major milestone in the process of providing Americans with affordable heath care, it was not the end of the road. Over the coming months and years there would be a lot of give and take between democrats and republicans to revise the bill to the point where both sides could support it. One of the major points in this reform is that the US government was now going to offer affordable plans including subsidy options which would allow more Americans affordable options which were

Citizens in America obtain healthcare either through an employer, Medicare, or ,for the forty-five million, out-of-pocket. The number one in healthcare, Japan, uses the Bismarck model system- healthcare through insurance. America is almost the same, except the Bismarck insurance insures everyone without making a profit. Japan has more privately owned hospitals than America. This model can be funded several different ways for cost-control. The reason we have not changed our healthcare system is because of federal debt. Half of the health care costs are paid by the government. This debt will be America's downfall, but also the healthcare reform it so desperately

Long before the 1990s when Ms. Clinton fought for a Universal Healthcare system in America, the issue of America’s healthcare had been a political quandary. The enactment of the Republican administration’s Health Management Organization Act of 1973 was a weapon meant to address that crisis, yet, it did little to fix the problem. While the liberal Democrats are fighting for Universal Healthcare coverage for all Americans, the conservative Republicans are fighting to maintain the current private health insurance, however, with some revamping of the system, which preserves the capitalistic element of the status quo. The reason for the two opposing views stems from their differences in political ideologies, which theoretically is like pitting socialism against capitalism. While the liberal Democrats’ endorsement of Universal Healthcare system is socialistic in practice, the conservative Republicans’ fight to retain the private or market based plan is unarguably in support of their pro-capitalism stance. The truth, however, is that, though almost every American believes in capitalism, yet, almost none would vote to disband the Medicare and the Medicaid programs, both of which are socialistic. In that light, the argument of a pro-capitalist nation is negated, as we do already have a socialized healthcare program for the seniors and the poor. Extending that concept to include

Creating a health care reform plan for the U.S. health care system is no easy task. Multiple things must be taken into consideration. These include making insurance affordable, making sure the plan is economically feasible, and creating a plan that will still work in the future. What hindered the reshaping of health care into a sustainable system in the past, are the health sectors interests that prefer the status quo. By continuing to cling on to yesterday’s model, the health care industry is creating its own peril (Schaeffer, 2007).

Health care is a very expensive issue here in the United Sates and the current system is not sustainable at its current state. Republicans for the last 8 years have tried to replace the current system (ACA) with a more cost effective one, but this has been a daunting task.

The paper is broken up in to three sections. In section one, we will discuss the problems with the American Healthcare system and we will try and clear up some of the often misrepresented facts about the healthcare problems and solutions to fix them. In section two, we will present some of the solutions being put forward to fix the healthcare system, including plans by both Presidential Candidates

The American Healthcare system has always been in a perpetual state of chaos. In the decades that preceded President Obama’s healthcare legislation. Our system was based entirely on the citizens choosing to have insurance and if they chose not to the cost was absorbed by the insured and the hospitals, because it is illegal to refuse care to anyone. “Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care act.” Made having no insurance punishable in the form of a “fine” administered by the IRS thereby making sure every citizen has medical coverage. By expanding our current laws into a “single” payer system it becomes a tax on all citizens. Universal Healthcare is a moral and just obligation, by promoting the health of our citizens we

The health care system in the United States is one of the greatest concerns facing Americans today and is an issue both moral and economic in nature. Some think the system should stay, for all intents and purposes, the same. They believe that the right to healthcare is a stepping stone toward socialism, and that it is the responsibility of the individual to obtain health care. These are usually the more ideologically conservative citizens and politicians who believe that medicine should remain a free enterprise, not to be constrained by government interference. Then there are those who believe that healthcare is a right, and the federal government has a responsibility to make sure it is available to all citizens, not just those who can afford

There should be a public option available in health care and the government should have control over the industry. Backing up a bit, what is wrong with the health care system in the first place to cause such an enormous reform?

One solution I found very remarkable is the single payer healthcare system created by Senator Bernie Sanders. The objective for this solution is for middle class and up to pay a bit more in taxes than the poor. The benefits of this program will provide more medical attention to the public without co-payments, deductibles and premiums. This will allow people to pick the hospital of their choice without the hassle from an insurance company.

Healthcare in the contemporary United States emerges from a long and sordid history that began in the late 1800s when the fight for universal health care came on the heels of the formation of systems that ranged from rudimentary to comprehensive in various European countries including Germany, Norway, Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands (Palmer, 1999). Most of these programs were formed as “a means of maintaining incomes and buying political allegiance”, as conservative governments, primarily in Britain and Germany, worked to stem the flow of the burgeoning socialist and labor parties (Palmer, 1999). During this same time brought a greater transparency of the experiences of industry workers and the “nightmare” conditions they were enduring

US health care expenditures have been rising quickly over the past few years; it has risen more than the national financial system. Nonetheless a number of citizens in the US still lack appropriate health care. If the truth be told, health care expenditures are going to continue to increase; in addition numerous individuals will possibly have to make difficult choices pertaining to their health care. Our health system has grave problems that require reform, through reforming, there is optimism that there will be an increase in affordable health care and high-quality of care for America. Medicaid, Medicare and private sector insurances are all going through trials and tribulations because of

Lenamond 7 The United States is the only major industrialized nation which does not guarantee universal health care to its citizens and when observing statistics concerning the cost of health expenditures and the quality of care, it is clear: the United States must switch to a system of national health care. Not only is universal coverage the most moral option available to the public, as it dramatically reduces easily avoidable deaths and disease, but a system of universal access is economically advantageous, an issue particularly persuasive when considering the current economic status of the United States. While the nation has seen small changes emerging in the recent years to attempt to transition to such a state (namely through the Affordable