Signature Assignment In comparison to other developed nations, the United States spends more of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health care expenses than any other nation. In 2009, the US spent 16% of its GDP on the health care industry. This represents nearly double the amount spent by other OECD nations (an average of 8.7%) and came in 40 percent higher than the next highest nation, France, which had an 11.2% of GDP outlays on health care expenditures. If we examine these costs at an individual level the US spent $7,538 per capita (per person) on health care. This was more than double the OECD median for expenditures which was $2,995. Again the next highest nations were considerably less than the US, with Norway and …show more content…
This left about 15 percent of the population or 46 million residents without any coverage (The Commonwealth Fund, 2010). Further compounding the situation is the fact that the US has an overall trend of lower health outcomes when compared to other OECD nations. Studies have found that a variety of factors contribute to lower health outcomes. These factors range from income, race and insurance status. Another challenging fact is that one the fast growing segments of the US population are individuals who are highly vulnerable to illness. These individuals are faced with very difficult medical needs that are constrained by social and other factors. Of this population racial and ethnic minorities constitute the largest percentage how have multiple chronic co-morbidities and chronic illnesses. From 2000 to 2010 the rates of chronic disease for Hispanics increased 42.4% and for blacks it increased 51.6%. At the same time these members of the population are the least likely to have health insurance (Vanderbilt, et al., 2013). So in a sense there is a perfect storm in place where costs for health care expenses are high and continue to rise, there is a large pool of uninsured individuals who often receive the bare minimum of survival care as charitable write offs by providers, and the overall quality of the health of Americans is poor –- which creates a vicious self fulfilling circle leading to more
Furthermore, the United States spends nearly double the average $3,923 for the 15 countries ("Health Care Cost," 2011).” Accordingly the U.S. throws away more money than any other country on healthcare which consequently could jeopardize the medical attention that is being provided.
United States is the largest and most diverse society on the globe. It spends almost 2 trillion dollars every year on health care, which is one in every seven dollars in the economy. U.S is one of the very few nations where all its citizens do not have medical coverage. Although it spends heavily on per capita on health care, and it has the most advanced medical technology system in the world, still it is not the healthiest nation on earth. The system performs so poorly that it leaves 50 million without health coverage and millions more inadequately covered (Garson, 2010).
has the world’s most expensive healthcare system, yet one-sixth of Americans are uninsured. Approximately one-third (31%) of adults and a little more than one-half (54%) of children do not have a primary care doctor. Federal spending on healthcare in 2005 alone totaled $600 billion, a massive one-quarter of the federal budget. Someone files for bankruptcy every 30 seconds in the U.S of health concerns. And every 1.5 million families lose their homes to foreclosure due to unaffordable medical costs. The U.S. spends six times more per capita on the administration of the health insurance system than Western European nations, who insure all citizens.“ www.realtruth.org/articles/090203-005-health.html. “In United States, the annual cost of health care per capita is $5,711. http://www.visualeconomics.com/healthcare-costs-around-the-world_2010-03-01/#ixzz12f0I1lbk
According to the Garber & Skinner (2008), the United States spends more on health care than other nations but continues to score below other nations in numerous areas of measurement. These scores in, consideration with amount spent, suggest that healthcare is the United States is inefficient. Additionally, the United States has a significantly large portion of under
Contrary to what many people believe, America’s health status is not quite “up-to-par,” to say the least. Over forty-seven million people in the United States lack health insurance; that is more than 15% of our nation’s population! At first this disturbing truth seems impossible to believe, being as America is one of the most technologically advanced and economically developed countries in the world. “We spend trillions of dollars per year on medical care. That’s nearly half of all the health dollars spent in the world. But we’ve seen our statistics. We live shorter, often sicker lives than almost every other industrialized nation. “We rank 30th in [global] life expectancy” (Adelman 2008). Knowing this brings rise to the question: why are
In the current U.S. system the free market prevails and companies, in this case, major insurance providers “compete” for business. This competitive business approach should in theory drive costs down. For some reason, however, an argument can be made that it has produced the opposite result in profiteering. The nation’s largest insurer, UnitedHealth, boasted over a 10 percent revenue increase in 2013 according to Forbes (2013). Health insurance affordability contributes to the disparity in access to health care, as evidenced by the fact that there are millions that are still uncovered. A greater majority of certain minorities lack both health insurance and the financial resource to seek out either health care or insurance. While insurance companies reap huge profits the percent of private sector companies offering health insurance has dropped to less than 50 percent (Kaiser, 2013). There is decidedly a lack of coordination of care for this at risk population as well, since treatment is rendered sporadically and with continuously changing providers. The last major challenge is that of improving the quality of health care. According to a 2010 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (OIG), an estimated 13.5 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced adverse events during their hospital stay and an additional 13.5 percent experienced a temporary
The single most important impetus for healthcare reform throughout recent history has been rising costs (Sultz, 2006). In the book called The healing of America: a global quest for better, cheaper, and fairer health care, Reid wrote that the nation’s health care system has become excessively expensive, ineffective, and unjust. Among the world’s developed nations, the US ranks near the bottom for healthcare access and quality. However, the US ranks at the top for health expenditure as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and average of $7,400 per person (Reid, 2010). Therefore, Americans are spending
Many Americans have access to health care that enable them to receive the care they need. Other faces a variety of barriers that make it difficult to receive health care services. According to the National Healthcare Disparities Reports, racial and ethnic groups are disproportionately represented among the uninsured and lower socioeconomic status. The report showed that health insurance is a contributing factor for poor health for some of the core measures and little improvement (AHRQ, 2014).
A key factor affecting access to care is economic inequality. Many racial/ethnic groups are considered to be of low socioeconomic status in the United States. When one has to worry about food and housing, health is not considered a priority. Lack of health insurance is a huge problem that many people face. The inequalities in income means less money can be put towards doctor’s visits and medications. Research done by Shi, LeBrun, Zhu, and Tsai (2011) shows
Millions of Americans cannot afford healthcare services, and therefore have no financial defense in battling illnesses. Even with the affordable care act in place, there is a constant struggle for many who cannot afford the premiums that come with these insurance policies. "One of the reasons why we have uninsurance in the United States is that it has become increasingly unaffordable to purchase insurance because the cost of care and the premiums for care have gone up at multiples of the rates of increase of wages and of the cost-of-living in the United States" (Blumenthal, 2014)
The subject of healthcare in the United States can be a contentious one, and it is also an area where peoples' perceptions don't always align with the facts given by policymakers. What makes healthcare spending so scandalous is the amount of money the United States pours into healthcare each year. Over $8,000 per-patient per-year costs, amount that has more than double any of the other nation. Yet 15 to 25% of the American population has no healthcare coverage due to a lack of any form of universal
Within the past couple of year, the United States as a whole has had challenges with improving the overall population health. The increase in healthcare costs has caused a distinct disparity within minority groups. Under the Affordable Care Act, cost and access has drastically affected many individuals. Despite the United States increase in spending, many are still uninsured and vulnerable to detrimental health outcomes. The uninsured have no access to sufficient and effective health care services, meaning they resort to little or no care at all. For example, different racial and minority groups are without access to Medicaid and Medicare due to its restrictions. Targeted groups such as African Americans and Hispanics have lower rates of health care coverage, access and overall quality of care. It is evident that minorities were misrepresented among the coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Apart from such target groups, whites appear to receive better health care coverage and outcomes. This has become a problem when it comes to health care access, meaning there are major health discrepancies. There is a disparity gap between the different ethnic groups that the Affordable Care Act fails to accurately address and provide provisions to such requirements for government-funded assistance programs (Shi & Singh, 2015).
Consequently the U.S. spends more money than any other country on health care, and the medical care that is being provided may be compromised. Research has shown that the lack of health care insurance compromises a person’s health. However, there continues to be unnecessary death every year in the U.S. due to lack of health care
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
The field of health care remains among the most significant study areas around the globe. Health care society ensures that every individual within the society is provided with the most efficient and effective health care, this will increase their ability to participate in the national building. New Zealand is among the nations that have put great efforts in providing high-quality health care to its citizens. The New Zealand healthcare system has gone through a number of significant changes for the last few decades. In the 19th and 20th century, the sector was entirely a public system but various reforms have been introduced in the 21st century. This various reforms leading to the creation of a diversified public-private system for health care delivery. Among the sectors that have gone through a lot of transformations is the nursing sector. The government of New Zealand has worked a lot to ensure the provision of quality health care. To ensure the achievement of this, the government has increased the number of nurses in the country. In addition, the salaries among other remunerations for the nurses have also been increased to ensure high-quality services for the New Zealand citizens. This paper seeks to critically examine the historical development of health care leadership in New Zealand.