One solution is providing universal access and increasing financial affordability. Having physical accessibility, meaning health services within reasonable reach providing adequate health care. As well as financial affordability, the people’s ability to pay for services without financial hardship. Lastly, acceptability, when in the environment of different social and cultural factors such as age, sex, or ethnicity. Sadly, universal access is not always ample. The goal in having health insurance or health care coverage is to lighten the financial hardship from unaffordable out of pocket payments. Universal health care is not possible without universal access. Depending on the insurance you possess, different coverage is provided. Medicare, a…
We are stuck between a free-market system and a government-run system. As the government continues to increase subsides and provide insurance for more and more people under Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare, as well as new stipulations under the Affordable Care Act, the system can not realistically be described as a free-market. This has created dramatic price increases in health care and has also made the costs of care entirely unrealistic because there is a total diffusion of responsibility for the payment. Additionally, as emergency rooms are required to provide care to people in need, all people technically can access care. However, this care is extremely expensive and an inefficient use of valuable resources. In order to prevent people from “free riding” in this system and just going to emergency rooms but never paying their bills, it follows that everyone must have health insurance. However, in order for that to be possible monetarily, there have to be subsidies and policies that prevent people from being excluded from coverage for preexisting conditions or other factors. Ultimately, it makes little sense to provide universal coverage of emergency care but not provide primary or preventative care, which is much more cost effective, efficient and…
By enacting a national healthcare insurance program low-income families, and elderly people will be able to receive medical care, medical supplies, and prevent diseases at little or no cost to them. The cost of medical care continues to climb, making it difficult for individuals to pay for health insurance. For instance, low-income families and the elderly, are faced with choosing between paying a mortage bill, food, and health insurance on a fixed income. Enacting a national healthcare insurance program will help relieve stress and allow people to get the medical care that they deserve. In addition, enacting a national healthcare insurance program would encourage individuals to get frequent check-ups for detection of any diseases, and allow them to seek therapheuic counseling for any prognosis.…
References: Academic Medicine: April 2000 - Volume 75 - Issue 4 - p 323-330, Institutional Issues: Articles…
I agree with you, the United States health care system is very expensive. Because of this many people do not have health insurance. People how to have less income they cannot afford the health insurance because of premium and copayment. That makes them jeopardy their health. Uninsured people have less access to recommended care, receive poorer quality of care, and experience worse health outcomes than insured people do. People who are uninsured suffer significant health consequences as a result of not having insurance. Being uninsured has been correlated with poorer quality of health care, lower rates of preventive care, and greater probability of death. Many uninsured people avoid seeking medical care unless they are faced with an emergency,…
“Successful health reform must not just make health insurance affordable, affordable health insurance has to make health care affordable” (Elizabeth Edwards). Universal health care is one of the primary goals the United States wants for all Americans. The fight for universal health care dates back to 1993 when Bill Clinton suggested a reform bill for employers to provide health insurance, but the Senate rejected it and proposed individuals instead of employees to buy insurance. This specific proposal prompted the government with the necessity to create a health care reform. To give all of the nation’s residents basic health insurance, The Affordable Care Act was passed also known as Obamacare in 2010.…
“Thirty-two of the thirty-three largest developed countries have some form of universal healthcare coverage”; we are the exception (www.who.int/en/). The United States healthcare costs are the highest of all developed nations, as well as the highest death rate for people who are uninsured. Healthcare has always been a for profit industry in America. The industry has maintained record profits each year while more people face financial ruin because of their healthcare costs. Healthcare costs are the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, and there continues to be many families on the verge of filing. Healthcare costs cannot be managed by middle/lower class individuals in the United States. The private market has failed to provide affordable access as well as quality of care; Universal Healthcare will provide preventable care, access without having to pay, and peace of mind to American citizens. We currently offer two federal/state programs to help those who need healthcare coverage: Medicare, for those sixty-five years of age and above, and Medicaid for low income people/families. Both of these programs cover medical costs, but they do not cover all medical costs or preventable care. Our country needs to eliminate these two programs and…
The new health care policy provides more coverage to a larger percentage of American and is more cost-effective for the United States’ budget especially during these dire economic conditions, and is a moral cause and sign of community that all Americans should strive for. The problem with universal health care, however, lies in the fact that above all concerns; the main goal of insurance companies within the United States is to make a profit. Insurance companies seek to provide satisfactory care without major financing and costs of their clients. On the other hand, clients seek plans that provide the most care without paying a fortune. 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. This statistic demonstrates the sheer quantity of people that need healthcare in America, as well as the urgent need to support these people. There exists yet another fiscal issue concerning universal health care: how will we pay for all this? The most obvious answer is an increase in taxes and the cutting of extraneous federal spending. Yes, by having universal health care the government will have to budget…
Twenty six thousand people died in the United States in 2010 due to a lack of health care coverage. Only in Michigan there were 763 deaths. In total almost 500 people died each week all over the United States. They all had loved ones and people who cared about them and could have been saved if the United States had provided universal health care to them. This number is projected to continue to grow if universal health care is not adopted.…
According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2005 approximately 44 million people were not covered by any means of insurance, which made up about 15% of the United States population. In more recent estimates, the number has grown to about 60 million; witch would be about 18% considering the increase in population size. With numbers this great healthcare reform is needed, but, the big push at this time is Universal health care also known as a single payer system. Single payer systems are big in European countries and Canada, but it would be tough to judge if they really work, if you were to ask ten people in those countries if the system worked you would get ten different answers.…
When a person is not able to afford something they avoid it, and that is how a person treats health care. Suffering from a serious illness and knowing that they cannot afford it is a horrible thing because the illness could be prevented or treated if health care was affordable. Health disparities in the United States are based off of income and education levels. Certain groups of people cannot afford healthcare and due to that they are more prone to suffer from a disease or illness. “Clinical preventive services also improve population health. People are more likely to receive appropriate preventive services when quality assessment systems ensure that they are informed about the benefits of the services and invited to accept the services”. (Kottke, 2010) The National Opinion Research Center completed a random digit-dialed telephone between November 2008 and February 2009. Below is how the research was…
Health care centers are extremely important for the uninsured and underinsured population in the United States. This study compared the utilization and preventive care of patients in 330 federally funded health care centers to patients utilizing other medical settings. The study found that patients that utilized health centers had fewer office visits and hospitalizations than those patients that used other medical care facilities. Other findings concluded that of those patients who were uninsured had fewer outpatient and emergency room visits due to the utilization of health care centers. The data collection methods used over a 2-year span were through a Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and five household interviews of the 33,137 adult…
First, we can give everyone access to the health care system, and to all uninsured Americans. I strongly…
Healthcare is extremely important in today’s society. It has always been an ongoing issue. After President Obama was elected into office, he worked diligently with the United States Senate to find a solution to health care reform. There were many debates regarding health care reform; never the less, in March of 2010 President Obama signed the Affordable Healthcare Act giving millions of uninsured people access to affordable healthcare.…
Problem Statement: Chronic diseases – such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and obesity – are the most common and leading causes of death in America.…