Preview

A New Social Contract for Health Care Insurance Costs

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
805 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A New Social Contract for Health Care Insurance Costs
A New Social Contract for Health Care Insurance Costs The new social contract between the health care system and employers, patients, and the government has given everyone involved some breathing room. They have provided a clearer picture of the costs of health care; however, it is evident that there is still work to be done regarding the transparency of complete and exact costs. For example; all hospitals have a price list called the chargemaster that includes nearly 20,000 health care procedures. The prices on this list are the prices that patients will most likely see on their bills; however, the terms are not standardized and many are bundled services that make it difficult to compare them with other institutions. It is obvious that even though the public does see more of what is being paid out on their behalf and by whom, true transparency is still lacking (Curtis P. McLaughlin and Craig D. McLaughlin, 2008). If I were to propose a new social contract to try to solve the health care cost concerns between the health care system and the professionals, and another between the people and the states, it would be similar to that of Japan. Everyone in Japan is covered by the same high-quality health insurance for medical, dental and prescription drugs and the premium they pay is based on their income as well as employment and household status. All insurance plans cover the same services at the same cost and do not compete with one another for these reasons. There are also subsidies for the elderly and low-income citizens to afford health care, which means that everyone is covered one way or another (Michael Tanner, 2008). Given these facts, my new social contract between the health care system and the professionals would be premium payments based on how much money the company actually makes instead of how many employees work at a company. For example; every year premiums are set by how much money the company is expected to bring in throughout


References: Curtis P. McLaughlin and Craig D. McLaughlin (Copyright 2008) Breaking the Old Social Contract; The Current “Era” Emerges; Health Policy Analysis an Interdisciplinary Approach; Chapter 3, pages 70-72 Michael Tanner (Copyright 2008) The Grass Is Not Always Greener: A Look at National Health Care Systems Around the World; Policy Analysis; Retrieved December 8, 2011 from: http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-613.pdf
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Change and Culture Case Study 2
    • 1722 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Change and Culture Case Study 2

    The cost of health care in the United States remains an important concern for American consumers. The challenges for controlling costs and providing a better health care system are various and complex. These challenges, in many cases, are in the realm of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or other federal or state agencies (Department of Justice, 2012). Hospitals continue to team up with other facilities, insurers and for-profit companies, although the cause of the bump in M&A activity varies. While some hospitals cite financial problems, others join forces because of collaboration mandated under the Affordable Care Act and changing reimbursement models, according to Minnesota Public Radio (Caramenico, 2012).…

    • 1722 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Hcs 440: Economic Terms And Health Care History
    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hcs 440: Economic Terms And Health Care History

    The history and economics in health care can be traced back to the late 1890’s, but became prevalent in the 1930’s. Over the course of the last century health care industry has evolved to multi-billion dollar industry. This evolution can be attributed to managed care and third party payee systems. The cost of care has been the forefront for debate for over the last two decades in the United States. The cost of care has rising so dramatically some Americans are unable to receive coverage for the health needs. After researching health care economics, a timeline of this evolution is apparent.…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Medicaid Managed Care: A Case Study
    • 290 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Medicaid Managed Care: A Case Study

    From these chapter I have gain the knowledge of know, the delivery of health traditionally evolved around the individual relationship between the provider and patient/consumer. The payment was either provided by a health insurance company or paid out of pocket by the consumer. This fee-for-service system or indemnity plan increased the cost of healthcare because there were no controls on how much to charge for the providers service. As healthcare costs continued to spiral out of control throughout the decades, more experiments with contract practice and prepaid service occurred randomly across the U.S. healthcare system (Shi & Singh, 2008)…

    • 290 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    National Healthcare Reform in Us-Impact on Hospitals
    • 3981 Words
    • 16 Pages

    National Healthcare Reform in Us-Impact on Hospitals

    The national debate over health care reform in the US has been going on for decades. Although the debate continues, the landscape of health care in the US is certainly about to change as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) was enacted on March 23, 2010. Many politicians, economists, health care providers and average citizens have weighed in on the topic with opinions as diverse as the country. The question is, will this reform be the cure for our ills or a bad pill to swallow? This paper serves as an examination of the economic and social impact of reform on the system of health care services and the delivery of same. In order to know where we are going, it is vital to know where we have been, therefore the background of national health care is reviewed and hypotheses about the impact it will have on the hospitals are made. In concluding the discussion of health care reforms’ impact on hospitals, it seems as though there will be both positive and negative implications and outcomes. It is the author’s contention that there will be a need to reestablish guidelines for service and delivery as well as cost containment of health care services. It is likely that the country will see a new model of health care.…

    • 3981 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Aco Review and Discussion
    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Aco Review and Discussion

    There is a growing need in our current healthcare society for controlling costs and quality of healthcare services. Clearly this need for "middle-ground" options or payment reforms are desired in order to provide greater flexibility and accountability for the costs and quality of care than typical pay-for-performance, shared savings, and medical home programs, but which avoid forcing providers, particularly small physician practices, to take on more financial risk than they can manage or to take accountability for services they cannot effectively control.…

    • 852 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    HCA 305 Final Paper
    • 2396 Words
    • 7 Pages

    HCA 305 Final Paper

    American people look at their insurance bills, co-pays and drug costs, and can 't understand why they continue to increase. The insured should consider all of these reasons before getting upset. In 2004, employee health care premiums increased over 11 percent, four times more than the rate of inflation. In 2003, premiums rose 10.1 percent and in 2002 they rose 15 percent. Employee spending for coverage increased 126 percent between 2000 and 2004. Those increases were lower than expected. (National Coalition on Health Care, 2005, Facts on health care costs.)…

    • 2396 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Hsa 500 Week 2 Health Care Research Paper
    • 1835 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Hsa 500 Week 2 Health Care Research Paper

    health care system is dysfunctional and can no longer continue as it currently operates. With or without Affordable Care Act (ACA), there is a need for a deep change. The United States spends more money on health care because a nation is less healthy on the average than the rest of the developed world. The system is dysfunctional and ACA is fast-tracking the process of changes that will be faced by the economic and business challenges by health care organizations. The required adjustments to healthcare organizations operating budgets and methodologies for delivering medicine may become a big issue. Health care organizations will have to go from volume-based reimbursement in medicine based on the number of procedures done or patients seen to a value-based system that will give the same money for every patient regardless of the procedure performed. Health care organizations may have lower income since they will treat more patients. They may face cost-pressure factors such as the overall cost of medical care and the increased incidence of chronic disease, cost transparency and reference pricing, increased government role in paying for care, increased coverage and limited highly skilled medical workforce There is a prediction that forty million more people will be covered nationally, at reimbursement rates below the cost of providing that care (Adams et al.,…

    • 1835 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Cost Reduction of U.S. Healthcare
    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Cost Reduction of U.S. Healthcare

    The U.S. devotes a much larger share of its national income to health care than any other country in the world. However, the gross over-spending has not yielded the healthiest population (OECD Health data, 2009). Our economy is continually growing at a lesser rate than healthcare spending. The need to restrain this unsustainable growth in health care costs is often overlooked in favor of reform focused on expanding access to care. Attention must be focused on restructuring the payment process with the goal of reducing costs without sacrificing quality.…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Enacting a National Healthcare Insurance Program
    • 620 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Enacting a National Healthcare Insurance Program

    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.…

    • 620 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Healthcare Reform in the United States
    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Healthcare Reform in the United States

    What is the current level of the health care expenditures? Over the years, while the nation’s spending on all goods and service has increase of 7.4%, the amount spent on healthcare has risen at a rate of 9.8%. As a result, Americans just cannot afford health care and still maintain other diversions of one’s lifestyle. Meanwhile, other efforts to continue overall costs have the effect of making care in acceptable on a regular basis for all of us – even for those who can afford it. Also, if federal government spending remains at a steady pace of GDP, the increasing cost of Medicare’s budget will smother out all other spending. The third case scenario is that the exhausting cost of healthcare for employees, students, retirees, and their families is pushing some of America’s most economically fortune 500 companies to become uncompetitive in today’s fair market and trade.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Obamacare: The Role Of Health Care Reform In The United States
    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Obamacare: The Role Of Health Care Reform In The United States

    Other industrialized countries have their governments argue with health care providers, drug companies, and other people that play a part in health care costs. “In countries like Canada and Britain prices are set by the government. In other countries, like Germany and Japan, they are set by providers and insurers sitting in a room and coming to an agreement, with the government stepping in to set prices if they fail.”(Klein) America spends too much on health care and has made the system into capitalism at its finest. The government needs to step in and start negotiating with drug companies and hospitals and insurers to bring down the high costs. Doctors in the United States get paid more than any other doctors in the world, and patients get charged more if they want to see a specialist, but in other countries they’re small costs stay the same whether they see a specialist or not. The United States is leading the world in medical spending and because of the high costs 50 million Americans remain uninsured and dealing with ailments that they cannot afford to have…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Moral Hazard
    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Moral Hazard

    Despite the widespread and increasing use of cost-sharing over many years, health care inflation remains completely out of control. Physicians push the buttons for health care services much more than patients.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Managed Care Payment Systems
    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Managed Care Payment Systems

    Individual payments for health care services received have undergone many changes over the past one hundred and fifty years in this country. For many years a fee for service system was in place. This was acceptable at the time because costs were low. However, as costs began to rise, changes in the system occurred as well. Private insurance companies started to form in the 1920s to help consumers afford medical care when needed. Through several evolutions over the years and due to increased costs of medical care, we saw new market oriented public policy initiatives starting to form by the 1980s. In 1970 health care spending represented 7% of the national income, but by 1993 it grew to 13.4% (White, 2004). Health care costs were starting to get out of hand and something needed to be done to address it. "In the public sector, important initiatives included the introduction of the Medicare Prospective Payment System, a range of state reform efforts, and the Clinton administration 's health reform initiative. At the same time, private insurers introduced changes that set in motion a fundamental restructuring of relationships in the health care market place, ultimately giving rise to managed care" (White, 2004). This paper will discuss the rationale, effectiveness, strengths, and weaknesses behind this relatively young reimbursement payment system called managed care.…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Health Care Reform Paper
    • 1937 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Health Care Reform Paper

    The American healthcare system of today faces many issues and problems. The growing population of elderly and high rate of unemployment has left many Americans without any type of healthcare at all. To reform healthcare that has to first the infrastructure established that is sustainable for doctors, suitable for members, and costly enough to be sponsored. Hospitals are bulking up into huge systems, merging with one another and building extensive new doctor work forces. They are exploring insurance-like setups, including direct approaches to employers that cut out the health-plan middleman. WSJ 's Anna Mathews joins the News Hub to discuss the changing face of health care in the U.S. as a result of pressure to cut costs. AP Photo. On the other side, insurers are buying health-care providers, or seeking to work with them on new cooperative deals and payment models that share the risks of health coverage. And employers are starting to take a far more active role in their workers ' care. (Wilde-Matthews, 2011) This new and innovative plan does seem to be valid and more cost-efficient. The main issue with current health care plan and especially government mandated health care plan are the doctor’s reimbursement rates for procedures. Doctors argue that current reimbursement rates are too low, causes them to lose money, and force sub-par healthcare to members. Many argue…

    • 1937 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Cost Of Health Care
    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cost Of Health Care

    The United States of America has been struggling to resolve the issues of its health care system for decades now. Looking at the history of previous policies, all issues have stemmed from one major common factor, the cost of health care. With cost at an all-time high, the quality of and access to health care are relatively affected. Therefore, the reshaping of the health care system can only be effective by improving the affordability and quality of coverage for those who are currently insured, and improving the access to and the overall quality of care that individuals receive; thereby conquering the ultimate goal of constraining the growth of health care costs. Health care spending had increased drastically over the past years. As a…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More

Related Topics