U.s. Health Care System

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

Health care reform and access to insurance have been staples of the American political agenda ever since the end of World War II. From President Truman’s call for universal coverage in the late 1940’s to the creation of Medicaid and Medicare to the Affordable Care Act, both parties have debated how to lower the rate of uninsured Americans. After nearly 70 years of debate in Washington and beyond, the number of Americans with health insurance has certainly grown (Miller, 2014). However, the number of people in the United States without coverage is still unacceptably high and a problem that should be addressed with a great deal of urgency and care.

These opposite goals thus result in the polarization between insurance companies and their clients, which has in turn lead to monumental costs for both sick and injured Americans as well as insurance companies. Even more so, these opposite goals result in a drastic percentage of Americans who are left insured. With the 45 million Americans as of 2005 who live in the country uninsured, the United States is the only developed nation that still does not have a universal health care policy (Clemmit 1). This statistic demonstrates the sheer quantity of people that need healthcare in America, as well as the urgent need to support these people.

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

Furthermore, late diagnoses and untreated diagnose are costly for Americans, because untreated and extended lack of treatment cause for expensive medical procedures to ensure quality of life for people. Research by McWilliams (2009) supports, in its comprehensive study of the health consequences of uninsurance, Care without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late, the Institute of Medicine in 2002 found that uninsured adults in the United States have less access to recommended care, receive poorer quality of care, and experience worse health outcomes than insured adults do (IOM 2002) (Para 5). However, America’s public health reform may have a negative reflection with the latest implementation ACA, but there is some positive reflection.

The rising healthcare cost is an issue that affects many working class Americans. Experts have tried to come up with different ways to make health care more affordable and easily accessible to all. Despite all the efforts and even after the Affordable Care Act, there are still millions of Americans without health insurance coverage and therefore unable to access the necessary medical care. According to a 2015 report by the U.S Census Bureau, there are over 33 million uninsured Americans. (“Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014 - p60-253.pdf,” n.d.) The Affordable Care Act has unquestionably made healthcare more accessible and reduced the number of uninsured Americans. However, there are still millions of

More and more people with medical insurance are relying on the health care system as new technologies and treatments become available. This leads to a grater number of claims for payment by insurance companies, the costs of which are passed back to health care consumers. The baby-boom generation is entering its peak health-care using period. Over eighty million Americans will turn 50 in the next 10 years. The cost of providing heath care for these individuals will be staggering

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).

US health care expenditures have been rising quickly over the past few years; it has risen more than the national financial system. Nonetheless a number of citizens in the US still lack appropriate health care. If the truth be told, health care expenditures are going to continue to increase; in addition numerous individuals will possibly have to make difficult choices pertaining to their health care. Our health system has grave problems that require reform, through reforming, there is optimism that there will be an increase in affordable health care and high-quality of care for America. Medicaid, Medicare and private sector insurances are all going through trials and tribulations because of

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,

The authors pointed out that the number of uninsured decreased from 41 million to 27 million. Moreover, the author declared that despite proponents who argued prohibitive costs and limited networks did not anticipate improvements in access to care. For example, “people who are newly insured through the ACA are much less likely than uninsured people report that they are unable to get care or delayed getting care because of cost (p. 5).” The greatest increase for the newly insured will be in primary care, followed by inpatient and outpatient care (Glied and Ma, 2015). Accordingly, government agencies sponsored limited outpatient services to meet the demand of the underserved population (Shi and Singh,

The current health care issues in the United States are no secret. The most significant issue is affordability in the heath care system. Lack of affordable health care plans is a big concern to Americans. Most people are worried about getting sick or injured because of the high cost of health insurance. Despite the Affordable Care Act and the recent changes in healthcare, 15% of the population still remains uninsured. Only 22% of the people that have insurance say that can afford their health expenses. The hike in premiums, deductibles and co-payments makes it very hard for the average American to be able to afford healthcare. It would make sense if they actually went to the doctor often but the average person in the United States goes to the doctor less than many other countries which makes people questions having insurance in the first place.

The United States health care system costs continues to skyrocket as government intervention fails to regulate the prices of health products and services. The hospitals, drug companies, and other big industries inflate the prices associated with a service, or products used when caring for a patient. Each company marks up their products; for greater profits. Individuals struggle when left without health insurance and find themselves unable to afford these growing costs. As of this year, research data collected by the CDC shows the uninsured rate as 10.3 percent of Americans. The already unaffordable health care bills keep increasing far past the rates of other industrialized nations. Health care in the United States,

Today, Americans suffering from chronic diseases face rising healthcare costs. They also receive lower quality care and have fewer options.

Extending beyond individual health, the chronic disease burden in the United States has broader consequences for communities and the economy. In 2010, health care spending exceeded $300 billion for Medicare beneficiaries (Bauer et al., 2014), and nearly 80% of health-related spending was devoted to people with chronic conditions (Anderson & Horvath, 2004; Bauer et al., 2014).