US Healthcare Failure

The U.S. has failed to provide universal coverage for its population even though most other industrialized countries that do manage to provide universal coverage for their populations have been charted to spend less on health care and achieve better health outcomes. Those who are uninsured struggle the most with access to sufficient care and making medical bill payments. It may even be understandable for those who are unemployed to not have health insurance.

However, the main people facing this issue are those who are employed and earn too much money for government-assisted insurance and not enough money to pay for employer-based managed healthcare plans or private insurance.

The U.S. is spending more on healthcare costs than its value is being received (“Why not,” 2008).

The percentage of adults between the ages of 18 and 64 who are uninsured or underinsured has increased significantly over the years and attempts to alleviate this healthcare problem are being made with the current administration in office.

Healthcare has become less affordable over time and if no reform takes place, conditions will continue to worsen. The cost of paying for health insurance for most people have gone up but wages on average have not.

Exhibits 3, 13, and 14 from Why Not the Best? Results from the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance (2008), display the statistics related to healthcare costs on average comparing the U.S. to all other industrialized nations, and the rate of increase of those who are uninsured or underinsured amongst the populations of adults between the ages of 18/19 and 64.

Get quality help now

Prof. Finch

Verified

Proficient in: Health Care

4.7 (346)

“ This writer never make an mistake for me always deliver long before due date. Am telling you man this writer is absolutely the best. ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

These statistics are very important in terms of current health policy in the U.S. (“Why not,” 2008).

Exhibit 3

The failure of the United States to provide universal coverage for its people has been considerably detrimental to say the least. The financial investment in healthcare that the U.S. has endured has not been equal to the value of the care that has been given compared to other industrialized countries.

Apparently, we are suffering from poor health status due to lack of timely access to care (“Why not,” 2008). We are more susceptible to premature death. Those in the workforce are becoming sicker because they cannot afford the medical bills they may acquire by going to the hospital. This is also causing for health conditions to go untreated for long periods of time. Other industrialized nations seem to have been able to use universal coverage as a valid approach to preventing these difficulties.

Exhibit 13

The percentage of adults between the ages of 18 and 64 that are uninsured has increased significantly over the years. The exhibit specifically covers averages between the years of 1999/2000 and 2005/2006 (“Why not,” 2008). By the year 2014, with the new Affordable Care Act in place, new health insurance plans will be required to provide certain preventative services at no cost to the consumer.

Also, those with pre-existing conditions will not be denied coverage upon application for health insurance. Medicaid will be expanded to extend to those individuals who earn less than 133% of what is considered to be poverty level. Already, the cut-off age for the younger population to still be able to be covered under their parent’s insurance has increased from 25 years of age to age 26. Small business owners will be forced to provide health insurance to their full-time employees, if they have more than 50, or else they will be fined (“Affordable care,” 2012).

The law may help to reduce uncompensated care. As of now, no one is allowed to be denied care under any circumstances, whether they have health insurance or not. The changes in the healthcare system with this new Affordable Care Act may help to stop this type of “charity care” usually given to those who are in their late stages of illness or injury (“Affordable care,” 2012).

Exhibit 14

The percent of adults between the ages of 19 and 64 who are uninsured or underinsured has increased from 35% to 42% overall. Health insurance costs and medical care costs have become less affordable for everyone. Less expensive alternatives should be provided to the individuals who may need it. It can be a very daunting and stressful pain to have to look for ways to pay for treatment (“Advice for,” 2012). There are many measures and accommodations that need to be taken in order to reach a level where we can have quality care at a reasonable cost overall (C.P., McLaughlin & C.D., McLaughlin, 2012).

People who are underinsured are struggling greatly along with those who are not insured at all. Buying the cheapest insurance sometimes can mean higher deductibles. The underinsured tend to delay seeking care or even avoid it at times. By the time an underinsured patient manages to seek care, their illness or injury has already gone into its’ late stages. On the other hand, well-insured patients tend to over-utilize healthcare services (“Underinsured patients,” 2012).

Exhibit 1 displays the dimensions of a high performance health system and how the U.S. fares on the scorecard. This is relevant but it does not necessarily give us the entire picture of how the U.S. compares to the rest of the world. Exhibit 2 gives us 37 key performance indicators, rating the U.S. performance against the benchmark country. However we do not know what the benchmark country is (“Why not,” 2008).

Exhibit 3 was used because it showed exactly how much the U.S. was spending on healthcare compared to other industrialized countries. It shows that we are not getting the rightful value from our investments. In Exhibit 4, it tells us that the US had one of the highest number of deaths amenable to healthcare amongst all of the industrialized countries.

Even those countries that had higher death rates than the US back in 1997/1998 reduced their mortality rates to a lower number than the US did in 2002/2003. The U.S. fell to last place among 19 industrialized nations on mortality amenable to health care. The fact that the mortality amenable to health care rate is so low is astonishing. However, it can be said that Exhibits 3, 13, and 14 give a valuable explanation as to why this is the case (“Why not,” 2008). Many uninsured/underinsured delay to even seek medical help until their illness or injury is in its’ latest stages and this contributes to high death rates in hospitals (“Underinsured patients,” 2012).

Exhibit 5 shows the percentage of people who receive health screening and preventive care according to their socioeconomic status and their status of being insured or uninsured (“Why not,” 2008). Consumers are more likely to receive health screenings and preventive care if it is 100% covered by their insurance. Those of whom do not have insurance at all, are not likely to see a physician regularly just for the sake of possibly preventing an illness because it is likely they cannot afford to pay. Exhibit 6 only displays the rates of which diabetes and hypertension are being controlled. Exhibits 13 and 14 show exactly what the numbers are in regards to the “uninsured or underinsured” (“Why not,” 2008).

Exhibit 15 shows that the national average percent of adults (ages 19-64) with any medical bill problem or outstanding debt increased from 34% to 41%, over the years 2005 and 2007. The number was much greater for those at poverty level who were also uninsured.

This Exhibit simply gives us more statistics as to some of the results of the health insurance issue the U.S. faces. Exhibit 21 brings in the factor of race/ethnicity and equity (“Why not,” 2008). However, this should not necessarily be our concern. Our concern should be with making lives better for the entire population of the United States. How some groups fare compared to others is bring the issue down to micro level. We need to approach the health insurance at the macro level so as to not create the impression that certain people’s struggle is more or less important than others. This is a United States issue.

The U.S. has failed to provide universal coverage for its population even though most other industrialized countries that do manage to provide universal coverage for their populations have been charted to spend less on health care and achieve better health outcomes. Those who are uninsured struggle the most with access to sufficient care and making medical bill payments. It may even be understandable for those who are unemployed to not have health insurance.

However, the main people facing this issue are those who are employed and earn too much money for government-assisted insurance and not enough money to pay for employer-based managed healthcare plans or private insurance (“Underinsured patients,” 2012). The U.S. is Commonwealth Fund spending more on healthcare costs than its value is being received (“Why not,” 2008).

The percentage of adults between the ages of 18 and 64 who are uninsured or underinsured has increased significantly over the years and attempts to alleviate this healthcare problem are being made with the current administration in office. Healthcare has become less affordable over time and if no reform takes place, conditions will continue to worsen.