The Healthcare System Of The United States

Chapter Assignment 1 1. The first characteristic of the US health care system is that there is no central governing agency which allows for little integration and coordination. While the government has a great influence on the health care system, the system is mostly controlled through private hands. The system is financed publically and privately creating a variety of payments and delivery unlike centrally controlled healthcare systems in other developed countries. The US system is more complex and less manageable than centrally controlled health care systems, which makes it more expensive. The second characteristic of the US health care system is that it is technology driven and focuses on acute care. With more usage of high technology,

U.S. Health Care System Introduction The U.S. healthcare system is entirely private, but the modes of payment for their services are of two kinds: private and public. Healthcare insurance of the U.S. is something that is a dream for people in the developing countries who are dying in huge numbers due to inadequate facilities and insufficient funds for their treatment. It seems like a fantasy for someone sitting outside the U.S. to be able to pay for a million dollar operation just through your insurance even if you do not earn a lot. A common man to be able to afford any healthcare treatment is the biggest security for anyone. With the number of diseases in the world rapidly increasing and our exposure to them becoming more and more frequent, healthcare is a major concern in anyone's mind. (Chua, 2006)

Primary care is the backbone of many industrialized nations, but is the US one of them? Unfortunately, the answer is no. The US lags behind such developed nations in its accessibility of primary care by a huge difference. The United States healthcare system fails to ensure the timely preventative and primary care for its residents. The current estimates indicate that there is merely one physician for every 2,500 patients. Not only Medicare beneficiaries, but also privately insured adults struggle in accessing the right primary care physician at the right time. Moreover, maldistribution of physicians only exacerbates the problem, especially for those residing in health professional shortage areas (HPSA).15 Approximately, sixty-five million Americans live in designated primary care shortage areas.13 Such underserved population faces higher disease and death rates and health disparities that then result in higher rates of hospitalizations and emergency department visits—in other words, expensive medical bills.21 More governmental control on the geographic location of primary care physicians can be a first-step to fixing the shortage problem.

According to Joe Conason, "America 's current health care system wastes considerably more than a trillion dollars every year. We know that because countries such as France, Germany, Japan and Finland, with comparable standards of living to ours, spend roughly half what the United States spends annually on health care per citizen, while covering everyone and achieving better results." (Conason, 2009) The United States healthcare financial systems are severely flawed - affecting the overall cost control, services, and care made accessible to its clients. The rising costs in healthcare are reaching new highs, and with rising costs, there doesn 't seem to be much change in the quality of the care being given. Clients coming in and out of these

Universal Healthcare in The United States “There are three basic goals for a National Health Care System; 1) keeping people healthy, 2) treating the sick and 30 protecting families against financial ruin from medical bills”, (Physicians for a National Health Program, 2016). No truer statement could there possibly be written or proclaimed as there is a crisis in healthcare costs across the United States. United States, one of the most developed western country, yet we suffer from – higher infant mortality rates, have shorter life spans and are affected by more chronic disease and or illness – than our contemporaries all while spending the most for insurance per capita and less annual doctor visits with less physicians, (OECD Health Data 2015). There is a question to be answered, “why”, why are we trailing our contemporaries and more important than that is, is our National Health Care system really working for us? The year 2010 was the beginning of change in the United States where we transitioned from primarily private insurance and welfare to a universal healthcare model, under President Obama with the signing into Law of the Affordable Health Care Act March of 2010. The purpose of the Affordable health care act is to ensure that all Americans have access to affordable healthcare, however in 2016 we are still questioning we’ve been successful based on funding, government sponsored healthcare programs, effects on the current HCO, elderly, military and accessibility.

The United States Health Care System has undergone some drastic changes over the past few years. It is almost unrecognizable when we try to compare and contrast the growth and evolution; with physicians with no formal standard requirements such as licensing or even training to now being one of the hardest programs to enter. From private house being used as hospital settings with no type of formal reimbursement or insurance; to having hospitals now so luxurious, that they can be mistaking as five star hotels. Where we where around the Great Depression and the outburst of growth in the industry change the mission of Health Care System from patient oriented to business or profit oriented. Throughout all these transformation, one thing remains unchanged; what one entity is truly in control of the Health Care System?

Besides assessing the current state of America’s healthcare system, the historical perspective of America’s healthcare sector demonstrated how it evolved to be this way and it allows the public to understand the potential impediments to reform. The professionalization of medicine and the emergence of insurance companies has been a long and gradual process. Several previous Presidents have developed blueprints for healthcare reform with varying degrees of success. This section explores the growth of healthcare in America from its colonial days throughout the twentieth century.

2008 was an election year and also the year Frontline’s program, Sick Around the World was made. A big topic pertaining to the election year was healthcare reform. How were the presidential candidates going to “fix” the U.S. health care system that is supposedly the best in the world? At the time of this program, the U.S. was 37th in the world in terms of fairness and quality (Palfreman, 2008). Other rich countries were ahead of this U.S. in this ranking but were spending a lot less. Frontline’s reporter, T.R. Reid traveled to 5 different countries to examine their health care systems on how this was possible and hopefully come away with any ideas that could potentially help with the U.S. health care system.

The U.S. health care system faces challenges and it is urgent that the American people become aware of these challenges. There are approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured, and many insured Americans who face rapid increases in premiums have to pay out-of-pocket costs. As Congress and the Obama administration consider ways to invest new funds to reduce the number of Americans without insurance coverage, people must address shortfalls in the quality and efficiency of care that lead to higher costs and to poor health outcomes. If something is not done soon, there will be many more who will not have health care coverage that is affordable or they will be without coverage altogether.

The United States health care system is the most expensive in the world. It spends

The U.S health care system, in 2012, cost around 2.6 trillion dollars and is expected to rise to about 4.8 trillion dollars in 2021, if nothing is done to repair the issue. To further illustrate, America is the only wealthy and industrialized country in the world to not have universal health care. Yet, many still believe that the United States may become a communist nation if health care is provided to all. They still believe that it will perhaps send it into an economical crisis. However, the national government should provide universal healthcare, because it is a basic human right, tens of millions of Americans have been left uninsured, and it is a vital part for the recovery of the economy.

There are more than 43 million people right now in the U.S. that live below the poverty line (Poverty Talk, 2016). There are 43 million Americans who struggle to make ends meet, provide for their families, and receive adequate health care. Those under the poverty line have a difficult time maintaining specific needs; I am especially interested in the effect that socioeconomic status has on the health of an individual, particularly those in a lower socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic status focuses on either an individual or a group within a hierarchical social structure; it focuses on a combination of variables including occupation, education, income, wealth, and place of residence (Dictionary, 2005). The variables I will mainly be focusing on are income and wealth. While most working Americans have their healthcare paid for by employers, what about the 4.9% of unemployed Americans? The American health care system works on two different plans, Medicaid and Medicare, these plans were designed with the elderly, disabled, poor, and young in mind; I will be focusing specifically on factors of health for those with little to no income. Access to healthcare is another important factor that has a direct relationship to overall health of an individual. Research has shown that those with a lower socioeconomic status have a lower overall physical and mental health. The argument can be made that health is directly impacted by socioeconomic status with income being the biggest

1.) Briefly describe the US Health Care system. Identify the people, professionals and organizations that have something to say about how health care is delivered -- and paid for -- in the US.

Health Care The U.S. health care system faces challenges and it is urgent that the American people become aware of these challenges. There are approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured, and many insured Americans who face rapid increases in premiums have to pay out-of-pocket costs. As Congress and the Obama administration consider ways to invest new funds to reduce the number of Americans without insurance coverage, people must address shortfalls in the quality and efficiency of care that lead to higher costs and to poor health outcomes. If something is not done soon, there will be many more who will not have health care coverage that is affordable or they will be without coverage altogether.

The United States “spends 17.6% of the Gross Domestic Product on healthcare” (Niles, 2015, Pg.53). Two programs that are supported by this gross domestic product are Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare is the “federal health insurance program for people who are 65 or older, certain younger people with disabilities, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease” (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, n.d.). On the other hand, “Medicaid is a program that helps with medical costs for people with limited income and resources” (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, n.d.). Without these programs the elderly, the disabled, and low income families would not be able to afford medical care or prescriptions. As a result, the health of these individual’s would deteriorate and they could possibly