Since its inception, healthcare has grown and expanded rapidly. From beginning as a field that relied primarily on traditional beliefs and barbers, medicine has become progressively more science and technology based. The United States’ healthcare system, despite its flaws, is arguably one of the best treatment programs in the entire world. Currently, high quality care is being delivered to a good portion of the population and it appears that the overall health of society is increasing. However, a closer look reveals the fact that, although the United States has a much more advanced healthcare system, the health disparities between various socioeconomic classes within the country are growing rapidly. It is true that the efficacy and …show more content…
At first glance, one might look over the relationship between education and health as two variables that seem relatively independent of one another. Education is important, undoubtedly, but to most people, its only purpose is to ensure a stable job and income in the future. However, education has a profound impact on both individual and population health from a very young age itself. According to the Perry Preschool Project, there are critical periods during childhood in which intervention may confer long-term benefits. In other words, by teaching basic lessons on health topics, such as diet and exercise, at a younger age, the likelihood of developing diseases such as diabetes or obesity, which are a result of neglecting these factors, could significantly decrease (Adler). Research has also shown that the relative risk of being diagnosed with diabetes decreases significantly with education (Lee). By increasing health literacy amongst lower income populations, these individuals are more likely to be able to understand the importance of preventative care and advocate for their own health (Zimmerman). Another societal level factor that impacts individual health is neighborhood context, both from a social and geographical perspective. From a social context, the theory of planned behavior can be used to help explain why those of
Clearly the universal health care will not benefit the Americans. While there may be some benefits to universal health care the detrimental impact to American citizen clearly outweigh any of the possible benefit as the right to health care. Increase taxes, increase wait time, end of the free market, the quality of care, and medical abuse will be discussed in detail later in the panel.
Health care in America is a serious issue as it involves families that are unable to receive accessible, affordable and quality medical treatment. Middle class or impoverished families are unable to receive the benefits of health care due to low income levels and a volatile economy. Politicians discuss the reformation of the health care system, but people who are uninsured suffer the consequences of a system that overlooks middle class families in favor of wealthy families, a dominant issue for conflict theorists. Some argue that the health care system is not in need of reform and state that
Although the United States is a leader in healthcare innovation and spends more money on health care than any other industrialized nation, not all people in the United State benefit equally from this progress as a health care disparity exists between racial and ethnic minorities and white Americans. Health care disparity is defined as “a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social or economic disadvantage…adversely affecting groups of people who have systematically experienced greater social and/or economic obstacles to health and/or clean environment based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion” (National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities [NPAEHD], 2011, p. 3). Overwhelming evidence shows that racial and ethnic minorities receive inferior quality health care compared to white Americans, and multiple factors contribute to these disparities, including geography, lack of access to adequate health coverage, communication difficulties between patients and providers, cultural barriers, and lack of access to providers (American College of Physicians,
In today’s society, there is still a great struggle with health care disparities and many lives are affected by the lack of this fundamental program in our society. There are millions of people who die each year because they are unable to afford quality healthcare. The debate still continues about healthcare inequalities, what causes this disparity and who are affected by it. Health care is more of a necessity rather than a luxury and even though skeptics may argue to the latter, it only underlines the importance of the need for the wellbeing and care of individuals. There are several factors that could contribute to the lack of health care in the United States which ranges from but not limited to race, gender, socio- economic status, and lack of insurance coverage. The truth is there is a great disproportion between who can really afford quality healthcare as appose to individuals who have it. One would imagine that an employed individual would easily afford quality healthcare but we could be no further from the truth, since one’s economic status is an essential determinant to its affordability.
For decades, a person’s socioeconomic status or SES has affected the healthcare that people receive due to race and “wealth”. This problem has plagued American society because of these factors leading to many receiving inadequate healthcare. All of these factors for someone’s SES has changed a lot in the healthcare domain that is unfair to many who are not the “ideal”. Due to this the perception, experiences with healthcare waver and are different between the stages of these SES’s. No matter the status of a person they should receive the same amount of care, treatment, and closer.
The United States is plagued with stark health disparities across its communities (Institute of Medicine, 2013). Defined as the “variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between socioeconomic and/or geographically defined population groups,” disparities describe the inequality of access to basic health services in America (HSRIC, 2016). Over the past decade, health reform has attempted to address this issue of health inequality by strategizing to insure more people and provide increased access to care.
There continues to be racial and ethnic disparities in the United States, and these problems need to be addressed since the rate of racial/ethnic populations in the country are steadily rising. According to the 2001 United States Census, “racial/ethnic minority populations are growing at such a fast rate that by 2050 more than 50% of the population will belong to a minority group” (Weech-Maldonado, Al-Amin, Nishimi, Salam, 2011). Race and ethnicity should not determine the levels of health care people receive. Certain races have genetic predispositions for certain diseases and that fact cannot be changed. However, the differences among race for things such as treatment, access to health care, and availability of medicine should not be as great as they are. One of the most important disparities that exists between racial/ethnic groups is access to care, specifically how access to care is limited due to treatment not being tailored to the needs of different minorities.
Healthcare in the United States is facing numerous issues within the current and future turbulent times. I believe that two major issues are the disparity of provision of healthcare to varying societal groups as well as the projected shortfall of healthcare providers to adequately service the population in general.
Health care disparities are the main crux of the American health care system because while American enjoys some of the most advanced health technology the world, it is very much market based, causing health care inequality. These inequalities force people of lower socioeconomic status without insurance to visit emergency rooms once their health problems are catastrophic, expensive, and difficult to treat. By transferring the health system to a proactive system with increased medical education and governmental subsidization, a patient will not only experience diminished health care costs, but also an improved quality of
The issue with health care in the United States is similar to a domino effect. Each sociological factor such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender all inter twine. This domino effect occurs when one factor connects to another factor in which creates a cycle. This cycle involves inequality, discrimination, and unequal distribution of quality. According to multiple research and scholarly articles, the health care system displays many issues and flaws when it comes to the care and coverage for people depending on their social status.
Healthcare in the United States is rooted in the private sector. The private sector directly funds 56% of the expenditures through private health insurance, household expenditures and copays, and other private expenditures. (CMS, 2014) The US healthcare system can thank the private sector for providing much strength such as new diagnostic technologies, innovative treatments and procedures, and dynamism. American hospitals and physicians are regarded internationally as being of high quality. Americans can also be proud that the physician- patient relationship is among the most trusted and valued relationships in the country. By allowing the private sector to take a lead role in the healthcare system, the United States values
Changes in access to health care across different populations are the chief reason for current disparities in health care provision. These changes occur for several reasons, and some of the main factors that contribute to the problem in the United States are: Lack of health insurance – Several racial, ethnic, socioeconomic and other minority groups lack adequate health insurance coverage in comparison with people who can afford healthcare insurance. The majority of these individuals are likely to put off health care or go without the necessary healthcare and medication that is needed. Lack of financial resources – Lack of accessibility to funding is a barrier to health care for a lot of people living in the United States
This evidence shows that universal health care is various and exists in every other developed countries are less expensive and more effective than what United States offers.In general universal health care should be looked at like its a right not looked like as a privilege.Supplying people with the right to access the highest standard of physical and mental health and most importantly sanitation,food,decent housing,healthy working conditions and a clean environment..The best part of including universal health care in our country would save a great amount of lives.Often times,people would be taken in the E.R to only found out the hospital does not accept their insurance and would have to pay the bill out of pocket,which sounds impossible to
First, the US healthcare system lacks health care resources for its citizens, which makes it scarce in the US. This means that in some situations the US can’t always provide medical treatments to everyone who needs them according to, "Distributing Limited Health Care Resources." Distributing Limited Health Care Resources. University of Minnesota, Apr. 2010. Web. 13 July 2017. . Since healthcare resources are scarce it causes healthcare and insurance prices to rise making it harder for families and people with less money to obtain. In a market-based system affordable healthcare coverage is scarce too because only certain people with enough money can pay for it. The private sector runs the US healthcare which causes the allocation of resources
There are many processes that shape the way health care programs go into effect in the United States. One of the key issues is that the states have the ability to decide who gets what from a specific health care program, which leads to many different determinations (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). Another thing that affects the way health care systems are formed is that we have a fragmented governing institution that often disagrees on a lot of issues, and makes it a lot harder to pass legislation. Many of these legislative administrators impede the movement towards universal health care by tying up proposals and dragging things out (Knickman & Kovner, 2015). No one in the government can seem to agree on what they want done with our health care