U.s. Health Care System Faces Challenges

The health care system must change to improve our nation’s health and takes strong steps to address the unsustainable growth of health care costs in America. We still have a long way to go before our health system become effective. We still have population that do not have insurance, have difficulties accessing their health care, or their needs are not met within the healthcare system. It is an investment in prevention and wellness and increasing access to primary care physician.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This saying goes to show that investing in preventative care is the only way to effectively reform health care plans in America. It is no secret that there are many issues facing health care; however, the most important issue seems to be the lack of funding for preventative care. Redistributing health care related funds into areas like public health and preventative medicine can increase the overall quality of life for patients. If health care reform revolves around preventative medicine, then America’s standard of health will rise. A healthier society will lessen the demand for expensive life-saving surgeries, thus decreasing the overall cost of health care. The overall solution for this issue would be to set a realistic health care budget that correlates to the United States’ current standard of health, thus majority of the budget focuses on preventative medicine.

Despite the countless advanced in technology and the abundance of health care organization popping up all over the place, whether they are free standing clinics, hospitals, urgent cares or etc, many people still lack the ability to receive quality health care. This has become a concern throughout the world, but especially a more vocal concern for residents of the United States in the past few years. In this paper we will discuss the reasons preventing access to quality health care and how we can overcome the many obstacles that stand in our way to provide quality health care to many who lack it today.

Another issue contributing to the high cost of health care is inefficient use of premium dollars from insurance companies. I am proud to say that the insurance company I work for does a great job of making proper use of insurance premiums. As a company we use on average 8 cents of every premium dollar. This means that 92 Percent of each dollar goes to paying patient's claims and building reserves. Unfortunately this is not as common as it should be. According to Harvard's David Cutler who is among the country's foremost health economists, our administrative costs for health care equal one quarter of the cost of health care today. By comparison, the next closest country spends around 10 to 15 percent on administrative costs (2013, para. 4 and 6). There are many things that could be done to lower administrative costs.

The problem is defined in America’s healthcare ranking as the most expensive, least available, and poorest quality health care in the world.

The last stage before finalizing anything is the revision of the policy before it’s implemented. The revising stage will allow changes to be made for improvement to the public’s health. Finding ways for everyone to be treated equally and still get the proper treatment for those individuals who are suffering from HIV/AIDS is very important.

Every individual in the world deserves to enjoy health and wellness. Maintaining or achieving proper health needs enables individuals to be productive at work and leisure. Traditionally, many people have had barriers obtaining adequate healthcare due to economic constraints or personal inconveniences. Despite impressive technological advances in medicine, the challenge of delivering quality healthcare to the Americans continues to be debated amongst the nation’s political and healthcare leaders. The aging baby-boomers and the increased number of uninsured people add to the equation of population growth which results in limited access to primary healthcare for the entire public. On the

With the health care system the way it was structured it seemed, as the only way a person could get adequate health care is if you either did not get sick or made enough money to pay the costly medical bills if you did constantly visit the doctor. The number one reason for families in America to fall into bankruptcy was noted as being medical bills and cost, quite frankly any person facing a potential life threatening illness is going to seek medical help and is not going to worry about the cost if it means life or death. An when you are living with either no insurance of your condition causes you to be bumped from your insurance provider because you’ve become to expensive for them seems almost

Our healthcare system needs major restructuring. Major improvements needs to begin with "all health care organizations, professional groups, and private and public purchasers should adopt as their explicit purpose to continually reduce the burden of illness, injury, and disability, and to improve the health and functioning of the people of the United States", (Crossing the ……, 2001).

Everyone has their own views on what they think the United States healthcare system should consist of. Consequently, the healthcare system has been flawed for many years and does not plan to change anytime soon. According to Luft (2006), “rapid and wide-reaching technological innovation, the ready access to care for the insured, and clinical and patient autonomy” (p.1). These are some of the strengths the US healthcare system are proficient in providing. In contrast, the weaknesses of the healthcare system outweigh the system’s strengths. Luft (2006) examined and acknowledged the following:

As a matter of fact Wise and Yashiro, 2006 assert that there some individuals who describe the America’s system as being fragmented and inefficient, considering the staggering statistics regarding how Americans spend more on health care compared to other countries in the world. Additionally, they suffer from massive insurance costs and uneven quality of care, and thus understanding the debate about the two diametrically opposed viewpoints requires an in-depth understanding of the current health care issues in the United States (Rashidian, Joudaki, Vian, & Baradaran, 2012).

HIV has been a major challenge in controlling many regions of the world. This disease condition is associated with the greatest morbidity across the world. This disease severely affects the economy by causing those who become sick less productive. The high financial demand of constant medication to keep the disease under control is burdensome. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some 1.2 million people were estimated to be infected with HIV (Glanz, 2005). Of these significant numbers, the CDC reports that young African-American homosexual and bisexual men are the most affected group. The economic consequences included in the United States fiscal 2015 budget for $30.4 billion for domestic HIV and AIDS (HIV and AIDS,

Just as clearly, experience shows that the right approaches, applied quickly enough with courage and resolve, can and do result in lower HIV infection rates and less suffering for those affected by the epidemic. An ever-growing AIDS epidemic is not inevitable; yet, unless action against the epidemic is scaled up drastically, the damage already done will seem minor compared with what lies ahead. This may sound dramatic, but it is hard to play down the effects of a disease that stands to kill more than half of the young adults in the countries where it has its firmest hold—most of them before they finish the work of caring for their children or providing for their elderly parents. Already, 18.8 million people around the world have died of AIDS, 3.8 million of them children. Nearly twice that many—34.3 million—are now living with HIV, the virus [9].

• Foster innovative and sustainable activities and interventions that improve the quality and value of health care.

As a global epidemic, HIV has created several challenges for doctors and health care facilities since it represents an overwhelming public health crisis. While there are various factors that contribute to its spread, initiatives to combat the virus are usually influenced by the availability of human and financial resources. In the past few years, several measures have been undertaken to help curb the spread of the virus and its effects on patients. These initiatives are primarily divided into two categories i.e. provision of care to patients and treatment of the virus. One of the major ways in which HIV patients are provided with care is through policy and programming that is centered on HIV and AIDS-related care (Ogden, Esim & Grown, 2006, p.333). Generally, caring for a patient with HIV needs significant time and resources, which has contributed to the shift of clinical care to the home and community.