The Importance Of Health Care In The United States

Because the United States spends the most on a health care system, one would think that most people in the U.S. would be healthy. This is not the case. Surprisingly, the United States does not have a particularly high life expectancy rate. Within this paper I will discuss heath issues in the United States including how heath effects behavior, economics, and social structure. I will also include key stages of medical technology development and population demographics.

The United States is full of opportunity, individual choice and freedom than any other country (Cline, 2007, pg. 9). It is outrageous to think that our medical care would not be considered the best of any nation. However, the United States quality and overall healthcare fall dead last in comparison to eleven countries. A country rich in opportunity spends more money on health care than any other nation has one of the poorest health systems (The Commonwealth Fund, 2014, pg.26 ). This spending on healthcare predates the 2010 Patient Protection, and Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) intent is to reverse the incentives that drive up the costs (Sultz & Young, p 33). According to a comparison made by Baribault, decent medical care is available in other advanced countries at lower healthcare costs than the United States.

In the United States, health care is considered a market compared to the National Health Insurance (NHI) System in Taiwan. In the U.S. health care is seen as a privilege in accordance with the lack of universal coverage. The U.S. also has the most expensive health care system in the world, yet when assessing performance compared to other countries, they consistently fall short; the U.S. has failed to achieve better health outcomes than other countries and is last or near last on dimensions of access, efficiency, and equity (Davis, Stemikis, Squires & Schoen, 2014). According to Palfreman and Reid (2008) in the film “Sick Around the World”, Taiwan has the lowest health care average costs paid by families per year.

The United States of America is without a doubt one of the largest, most diverse countries in the world. The U.S is universally known for it’s ground breaking medical research and scientific technological advances. Paying nearly 2.6 trillion on medical related services (Silverman & Demak, 2011), the U.S continuously exceeds their financial budget each year, ranking them #1 for the highest healthcare spending in the world. Ironically, Americans are among the few who are not guaranteed medical coverage. For Americans healthcare insurance comes in many forms, some receive it through job benefits or government programs such as, Medicaid and Medicare, while others are among the many not financially covered at all. There are many potential issues arising from the U.S healthcare plan such as high insurance cost, unfair selection and denial of coverage, and high rates of uninsured citizens.

Health care has come a very long way since the earlier years, and still has a lot of improving to do. Health care can be very complex and frustrating, but has become a bit more manageable compared to the past. Hospitals today are a lot different then how they were years ago. Many hospitals are making medical advances to help people live longer, healthier lives. Health care is one of the most important benefits to a persons’ life. There are so many things affecting the health of people all around the world, both positive and negative. Canada and the United States health care systems are not perfect and needs some change for the better of the people. Healthcare in these countries are affected by differences in universal coverage, gender and

The United States health care system has attempted to bring its health care structure into a position fitting of the richest nation in the world. Yet, evidence suggests that socioeconomic disparities still exist, and access to care is still an issue even for citizens who have enrolled in health care plans (Delgado, 2015). Access to health care should be considered a basic right, a natural right for everyone. In 2008 T.R. Reid traveled to 5 countries that were among the richest in the world and provided universal health care access in some fashion. Here we will use Ried’s (2008) findings to discuss distributive justice, vulnerabilities and the human right to health care.

Health Care in the United States The federal government should provide health care for all citizens who cannot afford their own. The issue of health care in the United States has been discussed for many decades and a solution that is suitable for everyone has not yet been established. There are millions of Americans who are not covered by insurance companies and also those who do not have the appropriate coverage they need. These people cannot afford to pay for it on their own, and medical expenses are the main financial problems within their families.

In 2012, the Governor in Council had passed two orders that would change the way refugees could receive health care. The health care went from being one level to a three tiered system. Some refugees cannot receive fundamental health care with these changes. Refugees from countries like Afghanistan and Iraq will not be able to receive the health care coverage anymore. Medications like insulin and cardiac drugs will not be supplied to some refugees, even though they are lifesaving drugs. Women and children will not be able to receive pre-natal, obstetrical and pediatric care either. This has led to eight main issues, some involving infringements on an individual’s Charter rights.

Key messages: every country does their effort to make their citizen healthy and productive. In order to make citizen healthy, there should be enough health care workers to meet the increasing healthcare demands. Nowadays, not only in the USA but also all over the world facing nurse shortages which make difficult to provide appropriate health care to their citizens. Therefore, the Robert wood Johnson foundation and institute of medicine collaborate together and conducted the two-year long research aiming to find the solution of the problem and ways to reform the health care in order to provide quality and affordable care. In 2010, their report came out as a “ Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health”. In this report the

The healthcare cost in United States is almost twice as much as it does in rest of the developed countries. The $3 trillion cost in health care cost was its owe country than it would have the 5th largest economy in the world. The asymmetry of information in the health care sector often leads to making bad decisions for example, doing more business with less-profitable or riskier market segments and insurance companies try to reduce exposure by limiting coverage or raising premiums (ConsumerReports, 2014). “Because of adverse selection, a company selling insurance finds people at higher risk of death are more willing to take out and pay greater premiums for policies” (Investopedia, 2016, para. 4).

Many American’s can accept the fact that there are economic classes that separate us based on our income. However, our health care system seems to mimic this behavior. It astonishes me that the United States spends the most in health care compared to the other nations in the world, yet we have fallen so short on the ladder of quality care. “The United States is one of the world’s wealthiest nations, yet the health of average American’s lags behind that of citizens in other developed countries.” (P.390) Considering the large amounts invested in health care, one would assume that we would be on top with providing all American’s with the best health care for their busy lives; but this certainly isn’t the case. “The reason is a widening gap between the health of rich and poor American’s” (P.390)

In accordance to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2012 there were about 47.9 million people in the United States that did not have health insurance. That is about 15.4% of the U.S. population. United States is one of the countries that do not have universal health care. Health care is administered by health practitioners in nursing, medicine, and other health professions. It is the treatment, diagnosis and prevention of illnesses, diseases and injuries in human beings. Physicians for a National Health Program stated that since the 18th and 19th century, the U.S. federal government did not provide health care to the general public. Nevertheless, it was not until the 20th century where the debate over the right to health care began to come into view. The Chair of the Department of Public Health at Yale University claimed every citizen should realize their privilege of health and life span. Others argued that claim such as the American Medical Association’s House of Delegates. They passed a pledge opposing the mandatory health insurance in the United States. Is it fair to take away the right to health care? Should Americans have the right to health care? Americans should have the right to health care because it provides them the care they need for routine checkups or emergencies. Also health care can help human beings with the basic care they need.

The access to health care in the U.S. is very important now than ever; there are more senior citizens that require more health care coverage. Long-term care is providing health care services to an individual for more than 90 days. Long-term care has grown over the last couple of years and will continue to grow. Long-term care isn’t just for senior citizens, but also for people with disabilities, children with special needs and veterans. There are many health care services for senior citizens; these facilities are home health care, hospitals, adult day care and nursing homes. I have noticed there are more adult day care facilities that have popped over the last couple years; there are currently six centers that are near my home. My neighbor

The debate about health care involves issues concerning the right to have health care insurance as well as those 65 and older, obesity epidemic, smoking and how each of these topics affects health care in the United States. The number of people with health insurance has steadily increased along with the population of those 65 and older, who face additional challenges when it comes to seeking health care. The projected increase of Americans classified as obese or who smoke has also had an impact on our health care system. The rising cost of health care and health insurance will have a great impact on the future of the economy.

What was once considered a luxury, healthcare is becoming more and more of an expense as the years have gone on. It is no secret that the cost of healthcare is spiraling out of control. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, “Total health care spending in the United States is expected to reach $4.8 trillion in 2021, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010 and $75 billion in 1970. To put it in context, this means that health care spending will account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or one-fifth of the U.S. economy, by 2021.” Insurance premiums are multiplying faster than the rate of inflation. This could lead to a decline in economic growth and leave businesses with less money to hire new employees, increase wages, and expand their companies. While the quality, and availability, of medical care in the United States remains among the best in the world, many wonder whether we would be better off adopting a universal government-controlled health care system like the one used in Canada. With the cost of healthcare more than the average cost of food and housing, it’s time to make a change (Claus, 2011). I believe that access to healthcare is limited because of lack of hospitals and treatment centers in the community, economical and social economic status, and financial responsibility.