Pros And Cons Of The Healthcare System In The United States

Healthcare system is one of the biggest debates in the twenty-first century; especially in the United States. It’s been changing to fit the needs of American people as the knowledge and technology become more advanced. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) are currently in charge of renovating the American healthcare system. While some might say PPACA (also commonly called ACA) is helping people receive the most health benefits, others think it is rationing their health benefits in a way, where they are being limited to fewer options. However, rationing does not always have to cause disadvantages; many countries with different healthcare models use rationing to provide the most benefit.1 If that’s the case, then why does
it invoke fear in the American people? Essentially, where is the US healthcare heading towards?
Concern
Rationing existed many years before it became known as an issue that describes the healthcare in the US today. Beforehand, it was commonly used to describe the allocation of supplies like food, medications, and miscellaneous items in WWII in order to provide an equal share for soldiers and families to keep them satisfied.2 Today, these goods and services are still distributed by rationing to some extent. The US healthcare being one of them, rations primarily by price and insurance coverage. The fear of rationing became more popular during the debate over Section 1233 of HR 3200, which would have paid physicians for providing counseling to Medicare patients about end-of-life care options. Sarah Palin, an American political, was first one to call HR 3200, Section 1233 as “Death Panels” because it basically enforced Medicare patients to have counseling discussions with physicians every five years or so to plan their future.3 She advocated Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to address the nation about President Obama’s destructive healthcare changes.3 This lead to a mass resistance by media towards HR 3200 Section 1233 which made it disappear soon after. While most of the groups believed that these changes would lead to “government sponsored” euthanasia and limited health benefits, other groups like American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) thought that it would help the patients to come up with their own decisions.
Breakdown
The demand for healthcare keeps rising, leading the price to go up every year. Since most of the insurance companies are privately owned (for-profit organizations), the rationing just gets worse with years as people are forced to pay more if they want better coverage. Even though the US has different programs that try to cover those in needs, it is usually not enough to cover everyone. Those that are fortunate enough to get employment in big facilities with important status can almost always get better coverage than those that work in small facilities with regular jobs. Thus, the class divides people to different healthcare coverage; meaning upper class gets whatever they desire with money, leaving the middle and lower classes with the medical care they can barely afford. While the US has its own complicated healthcare system, most of the other nations have 4 main models.4 First one is the Beveridge model - a healthcare system that is provided by the government through taxes.5 Most of the clinics are government-owned and citizens do not get charged for medical expenses.6 It is cost effective; however, it causes the medical care and treatment to be rationed more than others models.
Some notable examples of these countries are New Zealand and Great Britain. Next one is the Bismarck model - a healthcare system that uses insurance system with a “sickness fund”.5 This fund is regulated by the government and covers main medical requests the employees and employers might have. It differs from the US in a way that they do not make any profit and everyone receives equal treatment.7 Some notable examples of these countries are Germany and France. Consequently, the National Health Insurance model, which is a mix of the last two models, uses both private-sector providers and government-run insurance program to cover most if not all medical expenses.5 While the prices are very low, some patients have to wait longer periods to be treated.8 Canada is most notable to use this type of model. Lastly, the Out-of-Pocket model is a healthcare system that is used in poor and undeveloped nations where citizens pay out of their pockets for any medical care they want.5 Therefore, the poor class in those countries like India will have lower life expectancy because not everyone will be able to afford medical
care.
The Future
Even though the US does not have the worst healthcare system, it does not have the best either. It is becoming very inefficient in both the cost and coverage. The system has become so complicated that changing the way healthcare is rationed is very difficult unless it can satisfy most (if not all) citizens. While ACA started moving the US in the direction of better health care, the majority of citizens still get the same care for higher costs. The US needs to change its healthcare towards the Bismarck model where everyone will pay the employees and employers insurance and receive equal healthcare coverage from the joint fund. While rationing by the ability to pay would be eliminated, the upper class will still have the option to pay out of pocket for more extensive care or treatment. This will not only remove the for-profit organizations, but will make the system more efficient in a way of saving money.