Why Is Health Different Then Other Businesses?

Having access to quality healthcare is major part of one’s life however the cost of care has been on the rise over the past decades and continue to rise every day due to many situation such

"In the past two decades or so, health care has been commercialized as never before, and professionalism in medicine seems to be giving way to entrepreneurialism," commented Arnold S. Relman, professor of medicine and social medicine at Harvard Medical School (Wekesser 66). This statement may have a great deal of bearing on reality. The tangled knot of insurers, physicians, drug companies, and hospitals that we call our health system are not as unselfish and focused on the patients' needs as people would like to think. Pharmaceutical companies are particularly ruthless, many of them spending millions of dollars per year to convince doctors to prescribe their drugs and to convince consumers that their specific brand of drug is needed in

Health care spending in the United States of America as a percentage of the economy has reached astonishing heights, equating to 17.7 percent. This number is shocking when compared to other counties; in Australia health care is 8.9 percent, in United Kingdom 9.4 percent, in Canada 11.2 percent. If the American health care system were to hypothetically become its own economy, it would be the fifth-largest in the world. While these statistics sound troubling, they lead us to look for answers about the problems surrounding our system. The first health insurance company was created in the 1930s to give all American families an equal opportunity for hospital care and eventually led to a nationwide economic and social controversy that erupted in the 1990s and continued to be shaped by the government, insurance companies, doctors, and American citizens. In this paper, I will go in to detail about the various opinions regarding the controversy, the history behind health insurance companies, and the main dilemmas brought out by the health care crisis. Greedy insurance companies combined with high costs of doctor visits and pharmaceutical drugs or the inefficient hospitals all over America can only describe the beginning to this in depth crisis. Recently, the United States health care industry has become know for the outrageous costs of insurance models, developments of various social and health services programs, and the frequent changes in medicinal technology.

In addition, health care industry can affect every living person in United State in one way or another. For instance, the uninsured are excluded from services, charged more for medical services and die when medical care could have saved them(Berkin, 2012). America is known to have some of the best doctors, and healthcare facilities in the World, however two thirds of our country do not have an access to health insurance, or cannot afford it(Berkin, 2012). The Right to Health Care notes that the United States is one of the few, if not, only, developed nation in the world that does not guarantee

Looking further into the effects of health care. It is overlooked that universal health care promotes better business by benefitting them. Firstly, which is done by the means of allowing every individual to live healthier lives, more specifically individuals who are employed. Employees would have higher standards of living thanks to universal health care. With healthier lives will maximize the work done by these individuals. In total benefitting their business or the business they work for. Secondly, a fact which all business owners would love to hear is that the amount spent on employee’s health insurance would be no more thanks to universal

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

A big problem that the film addresses is the fact that the United States spends such a large amount of money on healthcare, but ends up with one of the worst outcomes. One of the factors that contribute to this is how doctors are encouraged to see as many patients in a small amount of time. PCP Dr. Erin Martin expresses her dissatisfaction with the constant pressure that productivity should be more valued than the patient’s care. This inevitably drives up the cost and decreases the quality. Unfortunately, medical industries are still striving to gain a profit from health care. Dr. Steven Nissen speaks out saying that “when medicine became a business, we lost our moral compass”. Unlike many other countries, the United States healthcare system is heavily governed by big industries. , hoping to gain money from people’s illnesses.

In light of these new traits of the society, the health care sector must develop itself and address the new needs of the society. Furthermore, these new needs are not only shaped by the changes in the life style of the population, but other traits as well. For instance, at a demographic level, it is noted that the population ages at a rapid rate and requires more health care. Then, at an economic level, it is noted how the internationalized economic crisis poses new threats and limits the population's access to health care.

Mckinlay and Marceau break down some of their reasons for why U.S. health care system has become on corporatized and profit-driven rather than a service for the people into two categories: intrinsic and extrinsic. One extrinsic factor discussed they discussed was the “bureaucratization of doctoring” which involves the increasing number of physicians working for big businesses rather than maintaining their own private practice. With this came the fact that many doctors were unintentionally treating medical care as if it were some GM factory in which patients were churned out and doctors were rewarded for not quality of care but how many patients they were able to see, diagnose etc. I’ve had my own experience with this when at an appointment, my own gynecologist was lamenting about the fact that she sometimes wishes she were a nurse because she never actually gets to garner relationships with her patients. She

It’s the dream of all people to have a close family, to have freedom, to be able to make their own life decisions, etc., but most importantly to live in good health. Today, in United States some people are able to have health insurance but what about the other people who can’t afford the cost of health insurance or are illegible to have health insurance? Should we leave them suffering from illness or dying in the street? Should doctors be able to tell their patients, “sorry we won’t be able to save your life because you don’t have the cost for it?” With no further sarcasm it’s unfortunate to know that this has been and is still being done to many people in United States. In Los Angeles, hospitals have been dumping patients on the roads and sending them away for not having money or health insurance to cover their treatment. (Plevin, R. 2015, April 29). Sadly, the place that is supposed to save people’s lives is taking it away from them. However, this essay will discuss the social issue of health insurance in Unites States, the recent policy, reasons to change the policy, and lastly it will look at this issue from the perspective of functionalism.

Healthcare is a large industry that impacts numerous consumers. There are many stakeholders within the healthcare setting. Each consumer plays a vital role within the industry. Determining which one has the biggest impact on healthcare is a challenging task. In this industry, the consumers are the patients, physicians, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, employees, and suppliers. Each works with one another to provide quality service. The patient selects the caregiver; which may be determined by the quality of service the physician provides. Some selections are made based on a referral from friends or relatives.

As we move to a value based model in healthcare, it is imperative we contemplate the dilemma of who is the ultimate risk bearer. At the end of the day, that entity should be the one receiving the financial value of our efforts. Presently, the entity holding the financial obligation for paying for services is not the recipient of the saved dollars. This is becoming more prevalent as newer and more expensive treatments are available that impact an illness early in the disease process. One might disagree with the premise that a certain level of healthcare is a right, but we as a nation have effectively made this decision. For instance, deemed as illegal to refuse treatment of emergent care, we do not allow people to die at the footsteps of our

One of the must have necessities of a human being is the provision of sound health care and every government, both national or local is obligated to offer this essential service to all the citizens without favor or any discrimination of any kind. Where else it is paramount that every employer to make sure the health and the safety of the employees are given the first priory. This will make sure the employees who are injured during the work are taken care of, and they are relieved the burden of the cost of health care. Thus, it is common to find most companies get the services of insurance companies and other organizations which provide health care programs for workers such as IndUShealth to make sure the welfare of the employees is in safe

Part A: There has been an indisputable growing trend in consumerism in the healthcare industry. The shift of patient to consumer has begun to take effect. The relationship between patient and consumer are closely related and complicated, “A patient is also a healthcare consumer, but a consumer is not necessarily a patient” (Jayanthi, 2015, para. 2). The definition of patient is arguable, Medicinenet.com varyingly defines a patient as a person requiring medical care, receiving treatment, under a physician’s care, waiting for treatment and care, a person receiving care by a licensed professional (2016). A consumer’s role as described by Thomas in the rise of product differentiation and consumerism, had to be introduced and educated of a good and service, have awareness of purchase opportunities, and standardization of goods and service where the consumer was to be persuaded to choose one or the other (2015, p3). Margolis is quoted, “Patients…receive care, while consumers make choices” (In Jayanthi, 2015, para. 4)

In this talk he discusses healthcare in America and how much we spend on it. He also talks about people’s experiences in healthcare and their quality of life from when they are diagnosed with a terminal illness to their death. Timothy Ihrig speaks about his experiences dealing with people going through the healthcare system and how they can improve their quality of life. He tells many stories about patients that he has treated with a different approach to medicine. In his approach, he connects with the person, he asks them what they want to do.