U.s. Health Care System

America faces a choice, keep The Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, or scrap it and come up with something better. The ACA in its entirety leaves room for improvement. It could do better, much better, if it weren’t for matters of political expediency. Currently the United States spends more on health care than any other country. According to a Huffington Post article (2013) the U.S. spends about 17.2 percent of their GDP on medical care. Health care per capita is approximately $8,608, second only to Switzerland, which spends $9,121.

The United States, a global powerhouse of military and economic strength has fallen far behind other nations in an unexpected area, healthcare. In a report published in 2000, the World Health Organization rated the United States as number 37 in the world when it comes to effective and affordable healthcare. Since this report, many politicians’ agendas have primarily focused on improving the current healthcare system. One of the key initiatives of Bill Clinton’s presidency was a push for what was known as Medicaid for all. This would be a single payer healthcare system run by the government that would streamline the current disordered

The U.S. health care system faces challenges that indicate that the people urgently need to be reform. Attention has rightly focused on the approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured, and on the many insured Americans who face rapid increases in premiums and 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, we must simultaneously address shortfalls in the quality and efficiency of care that lead to higher costs and to poor health outcomes. To do otherwise casts doubt on the feasibility and sustainability of coverage expansions and also ensures that our current health care system will continue to have large gaps even for those with access to insurance coverage.

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,

Once the foundation of the U.S. health care system was reviewed, we began our study of the new regulations. The Affordable Care Act contained three main provisions. The first provision was expanding Health Insurance Coverage. Elements of the regulation included offering coverage to the vast majority of currently uninsured Americans by expanding access to Medicaid to cover all non-elderly individuals below 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), and establishing state-based health insurance exchanges, which will offer Americans a range of private health plan options, with federal tax

Health care systems are organizations that are formed to meet the overall health needs of the population. Health care is regarded as one of the leading cause in promoting not only physical and mental health but the well-being of the population. Legislation is implemented requiring government to offer services to all members of its society. The role of health services and the organizations that provide aid is to focus on the health of an individual and to uphold their human rights. According to WHO (2013), a “well-functioning health care system requires a robust financing mechanism, a well-trained and adequately-paid workforce, reliable information on which to base decisions and policies, and well maintained facilities and logistics to deliver quality medicines and technologies (World Health Organization; 2013).

The Canadian system is often considered the model for the U.S. health care system. Both countries ' health care systems are very different-Canada has a single-payer, mostly publicly-funded system, while the U.S. has a multi-payer, profoundly private system but both countries appear to be similar and suggesting that it might be possible that the U.S. to clone the Canadian health system.

The United States’ healthcare system is not easy to define. It is a complex, decentralized, market-based system with multiple stakeholders. In this paper we will try our best to discuss the organization, financing, and delivery of the American healthcare system, as well as identify respective flaws. We will conclude this paper with a discussion on potential solutions to the flaws we have identified.

“Today, many if not most obstetricians do not attend births: they perform fetal extractions through the vagina or through an abdominal cut.” Faith Gibson (p.37)

The U.S. health care system faces challenges and it is urgent that the American people

United States health system, the biggest in the world, employs most up-to-date and state-of-the-art technologies in healthcare. U.S. is the world leader in research and development in the biomedical field. The magnitude of the research in healthcare and medical innovations that come out of the U.S., in general have been the largest. U.S. contributes, influences and drives medical research in various parts of the world with great emphasis on the quality of human life. U.S. pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies have access to biggest markets in the world and yet Americans spend more than 17% of country’s GDP towards healthcare, the largest in the world. In spite of that, US healthcare system suffers from complex rules,

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.

When you think of the American health care system, most people would like to think that it has evolved with the citizen’s best interest in mind. I realized maybe this was not the case after the story I heard from my sister. My sister has dealt with many health problems throughout her whole life from childhood leukemia to extensive back problems and most recently a serious heart condition. She was experiencing shortness of breath and was referred to a specialist to get further testing and imaging done to figure out what the problem was. Her insurance coverage was through the Affordable Care Act but it did not actually help her. Although she is covered, her deductible is through the roof at $12,000 a year. That was the best policy she and her husband could afford as they own their own company and some years barely scrape by. She was unable to get testing to find the problem because the test itself was $10,000 and would have been money out of their pocket which they could not afford. While we see many improvements in the healthcare field, this made it clear to me that it does not actually benefit everyone to the best of its ability. While as citizens we would like to think that the Affordable Care Act has benefited everyone and made health care better, there are still many issues that persist and changes that need to be made. The actual advantages of the system on paper sound great but in the long run, the functionality of the system doesn’t make sense and isn’t beneficial.

This paper is a broad overall view of the healthcare system in the United States. The paper will encompass U.S. healthcare structure system and to HCIT effectiveness. I will not be able to cover all aspects of the U. S. healthcare system in this paper, but I will hit on key points that I feel are important for you the reader to understand. Keep in mind that the healthcare system here is more complex and complicated today, and this is due to the constant changes and major shifts from being centered around a physician’s standpoint to being more focus primarily on the patient’s wants and needs.

Healthcare is a widely talked about issue in today’s society. After all, a factor of whether or not we vote for a presidential nominee is whether or not they support free healthcare, or have an effective healthcare reform. Out of thirty-three developed nations, thirty-two have universal health care, with the United States being the exception. A big question has been why does this nation’s healthcare cost so much, but the American people are not seeing their investment go to effective use.