The issue of the uninsured Americans and what can be done to rectify the situation has been on the forefront. However true this might be, it is also significant there are also other economic issues that are equally pulling the nation to its bare feet and which deserve to be addressed within the shortest time that can be afforded. The rising cost of the health care in the entire nation has elicited feelings of…
Dr. Don Berwick, Head of Medicare/Medicaid 2010-2011 whom talks about how unsustainable the healthcare system is. We’re spending almost twice as much in America as any other country on earth. Yearly, we have been spending $2.7 trillion in healthcare. The average per capita cost of healthcare in the developed world is about $3,000, but in the United States, it was around $8,000 annually, more than double. Due to these astronomical amounts, healthcare has not become affordable anymore. Insurance companies are raising their rates they are charging for premiums, covering less on patient care, which in turns takes even more money out of our pockets because we now not only have to pay the premiums, but are now left with the portion of the care given that we must pay for out of our pockets.…
Health care costs have become a major issue in the United States, both socially and politically. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 50.7 million people, or nearly one in six U.S. residents, were uninsured in 2009 (Kaiser Health News, 2010).This is because the high cost of health care has driven the cost of insurance out of the reach of many Americans. Contributing factors to the continuing increase in the cost of health care are the generally unhealthy…
These past five weeks have been a true eye opening experience I always knew that there were so many people who were uninsured or underinsured. Over these past five weeks I have learned so much about the healthcare industry and what is happening in the world around us. Many people tend to be blind when it comes down to the issues at hand. I fall into the statistic when it comes to being uninsured or not having enough coverage, it discourages people to seek the treatment that they need because they are scared of what is going to happen or if they are going to receive proper care like every other individual or treated differently because they don’t have insurance or money to pay it can be as simple as not being able to afford the treatment itself. I chose this particular topic to write my final assignment because I can honestly say that I can relate to this issue and it is a serious problem that has been facing Americans for a while now.…
It makes me angry that this country could be so wealthy and yet so poor. I am a disabled U.S. Army Veteran and I am one of those Americans without health insurance because of previous existing medical conditions. How sick is that? I feel it is unfair to put a price on a human being. Too many Americans die each year simply because they do not have health insurance. And the reasons for not having health insurance are not the person’s fault but that of the insurance companies who deny claims and insurance policies based on ridiculous reasons. Denying someone health coverage is unethical. It is a crisis we must do something about. I feel very strongly about universal health coverage and feel this paper would be an excellent way to express my thoughts and…
As many people may know, a new and improved health care reform is desperately needed in the United States. There are millions of people in the United States alone without health insurance. Health care is a problem that has troubled many American’s for a long time. Many previous presidents have attempted to change and improve the health care system and policies, but have failed and we are left waiting for a perfect health care system. President Barack Obama has announced that as of January 1st, 2014 there will be a new health care reform, which he believes will be helpful to millions of people. He has promised many new and improved changes to be made with the upcoming health care reform. Currently there is 45 million American’s that are without health insurance and won’t receive the health care they need and deserve without worrying about the very large hospital bill that will follow.…
“So now, in the 2009 and beyond, the large numbers of Americans who do not have health insurance can testify to the fact that the healthcare system needs reform. The primary issues of health reform are:”…
The issue of universal health care taking over the present health care system has become a heated topic all over America. With President Obama’s promise to pass a bill that will give government coverage to all Americans, most people were happy that health care would become more affordable for them. But is this the case? There has been a stiff opposition to the passing of any bill of this kind throughout the entire process, but the longer a bill stays in circulation the more time people have to form an opinion on the issue. With the law in effect now the issue now turns to if this will be better off for America in the long run, and if there is any good to such a system.…
Over the years, healthcare has gradually become one of the major issues that have government officials concerned. In 2011, an estimated 44 million people living in America were uninsured, while another 38 million had inadequate health insurance. That number is increasing each and every year due to the fact that our economy has been in a slump recently, and because our nation has spent a majority of our federal funding to support warfare, our government had to cut back on allot of public programs. With the lack of money in circulation, many business owners have had to cut back on wages as well as their employees. Majority of uninsured people state that they do not have health insurance simply because they just cannot afford it. In an attempt to create a solution, President Barrack Obama came up with a universal healthcare program called the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act, also known as Obamacare. In this paper, key points that will be discussed are how the program works, its pros and cons, if it raises any issues with federalism and if the program is actually helping our nation’s healthcare crisis.…
Healthcare has always been an interesting and popular topic in Canada & America. Here in Canada, we have universal healthcare, and it’s been that way since 1948. It is publically funded by the government and we pay for our healthcare through taxes and anyone who is a citizen is insured. In a nut shell, we experience the fortunate benefit of health insurance here in Canada, thankfully. If any of us get sick, break a limb or contract a disease, we’re covered and can seek immediate help. In America, the case is different. About 50 million Americans have no health insurance.1 The lack of health insurance in…
“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…
“Not only did consumers see price increases, many found that their doctor or hospital was no longer in the network, as plans employed narrow network strategies to try to keep costs under control. Some existing plans disappeared entirely as carriers withdrew from an unattractive marketplace, or in the case of many federally-financed co-ops like Health Republic Insurance of New York, one of the state’s largest individual plan insurers, simply went out of business due to substantial underwriting losses.” (USA today 1) It will even increase the medical cost in the U.S as a whole and people who have ordinary commercial insurance are required to pay extra either insurance companies or directly for hospital or medical…
Without a doubt healthcare costs are rising out of control. Not one of us are happy with the increases, but we have to understand what the reasons are for the increases in healthcare. American people look at their insurance bills, co-pays and drug costs, and do not understand why they continue to increase. The insured should consider all reasons behind the increase before getting upset. In 2004, employer health care premiums increased over 11 percent, four times more than the rate of inflation. In 2003, premiums rose 10.1 percent and in 1002 they rose 15 percent. Employee spending for coverage increased 126 percent between 2000 and 2004. These increases were lower than expected. The site to look up information on the cost of health care coverage and the breakdown on the cost is (National Coalition on Health Care, Facts on health care costs). Premiums have risen five times faster than workers’ wages, if medical spending continues to rise by just two percent more than a person’s personal income, by 2040 Medicare and Medicaid will rise 8.4 percent of gross domestic product this year’s 15.6 percent by 2040, according to Congressional Budget Office projections. If all government programs stay at the same size relative to the economy, the budget will grow from 19.9 percent of GDP in 2003 to 27.1 percent by 2040, (http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/pubs/pdf/tbb-0306-15.pdf). There are huge impacts of the rising costs of healthcare. Many people cannot afford health insurance today and struggle to pay for their medical needs. Of the families that do have health coverage, 50 percent are concerned about having to pay more for the coverage in the future, while 42 percent fear they will not be able to afford coverage at all if the rate increase keep s going the way it is. This leads to believe one of the reasons for health care cost increases: cost sharing or cost shifting. When an individual or a family does not have insurance, and cannot…
Health insurance has been a controversial topic for many years. Most people tend to think, assuming they live in the United States, that all citizens should have some form of access to health care. But in reality, many people are unable to afford health insurance so they end up going without health care because that in itself is also expensive. Even when the Affordable Care Act was put into place, people were still facing the lack of coverage due to the high cost of insurance, absence of employment providing health insurance, and people not able to be eligible for public coverage. There are certain consequences when it comes to not being able to obtain health insurance. It has been shown that people who are uninsured are less likely to seek…
A few years ago, there was an announcement about a new health insurance in the United States, which is called Obamacare. President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law on March 20, 2010. Obamacare is a nickname for the set of health care reform rules found in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Obamacare has indeed reduced the number of Americans without insurance. This insurance has two big declared goals to reduce the number of Americans who lack health insurance and to cut health spending that doesn't give good value for money, because it makes health care services affordable and accessible to almost everyone. According to the US government, Obamacare “helps to increase the number of primary care physicians, nurses, physician assistants and other health care professionals." As with the health care industry as a whole, for many years market forces had little or no impact on the health care workforce. That is, the supply side often dominated, controlling the numbers and types of workers that were available (Shi & Singh,…