...HEALTHCARE: PROBLEMS IN THE UNITED STATES Healthcare: A Problem Facing Many Individuals in the United States English 215, SEC 035BVA016, Strayer University Abstract The availability and cost of healthcare for the majority of people living in the United States was researched to try and understand as to why so many are left without any affordable options once they have lost their jobs or have reached retirement age. The goal of this paper was to thoroughly examine healthcare reform and the possible options that may become available to the people in the United States while focusing on the problems many will face once the law takes effect and they are unable to make such purchases with their current income only being forced to pay fines. Healthcare reform should provide assistance to those who are unable to purchase insurance on their own and further assist those who currently have insurance. The fear among the people it that it will only further cause low-income families to be faced with a larger problem of having to cover fines because of their lack of funding to make such purchases. Only time will tell which way this reform will lean towards with the inception date of 2014 when all will be required to carry medical insurance or be faced with unwelcomed penalties. Healthcare: A Problem Facing Many Individuals in the United States Healthcare, the cost and availability for the average individual living in the United...
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...The United States faces a long battle to repair its economy. Issues like unemployment, the federal budget deficit, immigration, gun control, etc, seem to create never ending discussions without any resolution. The healthcare system is one of the many issues that have been affected by the economic crisis and according to president Barrack Obama, reform is a must. Besides all economic factors affecting the healthcare system, the system has been blamed for inefficiency, excessive administrative expenses, inappropriate waste, and fraud and abuse. Many Americans today are having trouble keeping up with the continue rise of healthcare costs and many firms cannot afford to provide coverage to their employees. Although the government is working on a reform for the healthcare system, many questions are still pending to be answered. One question that has raised polemic discussions around the country is: should the U.S. government provide healthcare to all citizens? While many feel there should be a simple yes or no to this questions, many others realize that we do have to consider any potential ethical, moral or legal issues that can cause collateral damage to our economy and also the healthcare system. President Obama has been focusing on a reform for the healthcare system prior to his first election and to give a little overview of his reform, according to The White House (2013), see table below: Overview of Health Reform “It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest...
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...United States Government actuaries states that the healthcare spending in the U.S. will double by 2015-to-more than 12,300 per person and account for 20 percent of the nations GDP. U.S. healthcare costs have made health insurance too expensive for many employers to offer health insurance. Health coverage alone is taking away more than a quarter of worker’s earnings. Fewer employers are offering health insurance in America. Under President Obama, the current administration firmly believes that comprehensive reform should reduce long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and government, protect families from bankruptcy or debt because of health care costs, guarantee choice of doctors and wellness, improve patient safety and quality of care, assure affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans, maintain coverage when you change or lose your job and end barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions. Not everyone agrees with the Obama administration. However, there has been major controversy with a new President (Obama), regarding how to fix the health insurance crisis in America. Major health care reform proposals have been the following: (1) single payer plans that call for the federal government to impose health insurance taxes and directly administer health benefits for everyone; (2) universal health insurance plans that require employers to pay all or most of the cost of their employees’ insurance and offer government subsidies for...
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...Governor and fourth female that has taken office since 2009. In a brief look at her history, Governor Brewer has been a gladiator for the state so to speak. She tends to be one of the few willing to take a stance against the government and does not readily back down. However one of her recent stances this time takes side with the federal government. This support is in regards to Medicaid. Medicaid is a federal system of health insurance for those in need of financial aid. Due to Obamacare Medicaid will face an overhaul of expansion. Jan Brewer is making strides to expand Medicaid within Arizona and is one of the first to come up with a proposal on how to do so. The present healthcare of this country has to start with reform within the different states. Each state has a different way to go about it but ultimately the goal is to be in a positive direction when it comes to healthcare. Access to healthcare is a nationally debated topic. There are differing opinions as to what and how exactly healthcare reform should go about. Some focus on the cost and others focus on the access of it. The general consensus is that the access and cost of health care can afford a makeover so to speak. Although cost is important the first thing that needs to be focused on is access. Federal programs such as Medicaid and Medicare are established to help in the area of access. They have varying eligibility requirements but ultimately the goal is to aid those that are less fortunate enough to be able to access...
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...Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3 The History of Healthcare Reform……………………………………………………………………………..…4 The Problem with the ACA……………………………………………………………………………………………6 The Current Policy………………………………………………………………………………………………………..8 Policy Alternatives………………………………………………………………………………………………………10 Evaluation Criteria………………………………………………………………………………………………………10 Policy Recommendation……………………………………………………………………………………………..12 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..13 References………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….14 Introduction Recent health care reform legislation, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and Education Reconciliation Act, which is now being referred to simply as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010. Since the 20th century, several United States presidents have faced challenges in passing national health reform into law. Before the ACA was enacted, national health reform proposals under different governments in the United States faced strong opposition from various stakeholders and multiple interest groups. Therefore, the enactment of the ACA is revolutionary healthcare reform in the history of the United States. Healthcare insurance is a program that assists in paying medical expenses through privately purchased insurance or social welfare programs. In other words, health insurance is a system that provides protection against health costs. This newly legislated healthcare reform offers health insurance for...
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...health care spending, the quality of healthcare available in the United States is low”("Health Care Issues”). If 15 percent of the entire nation population does not have some sort of health care, chances are that they will not search for services, leading them to distance themselves from hospitals, doctors offices, dental offices, and everything in between. In this case, potential patients’ health will not be monitored, they will not receive preventive care vaccines, and they will not pursue care, if...
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...varies. In the United States there are two systems that cater to the healthcare needs of its citizenry and legal aliens alike who are residents. According to Wexler, the United States healthcare system is being looked to as a model by other countries because of the systems and coverage that the citizens enjoy (Wexler, 2011). However, there are flaws to the system as there is no perfect system to satisfy the society. Forces Affecting the Healthcare System Rising Cost of Healthcare. The shortcomings of the health care in the United States have become a significant moral issue. Being the only industrialized country that does not provide a universal health care, its citizens are left unattended. Other nations in the world have made health care as a basic right while the US consider it as a privilege and only accessible to those who can afford it. With this insight, everyone sees health care in the US as a commodity and not as a social service. Pohl writes that the uninsured Americans now number in tens of millions where most of them are those who are working hard to make ends meet (Pohl, 2002). Even with their employment (blue collar jobs, mostly), they still cannot access insurance because their employers do not provide them because of the high cost or these individuals are not eligible at all. Medicare/Medicaid. One of the biggest differences is Medicaid is a state governed program and Medicare is a federal governed program. Medicaid is applied for at your local Department...
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...and Mexico Healthcare Comparison of United States and Mexico The objective of this report is to give a comparative analysis between the United States healthcare system and Mexico's. Its key focal point will be centered on the countries policies, how their various systems are financed, who provides healthcare, the costs of the programs and availability of access. While some factors of these two countries are similar there are varying differences among them, especially cost and access. All of the components of the two countries healthcare systems will be discussed in depth in a non-biased manner, it is our goal to simply establish how they are similar and what differences there are among them. For starters a comparison of the overall health of the people of the two countries will form a baseline as to the quality of care being provided in each of the countries and give us an insight into the effectiveness of its preventative services. The mortality rate of citizens of Mexico is 4.86 per 1,000, whereas the U.S. has 8.38 per 1,000(CIA, 2001) This is due in large part to the number of citizens the U.S. has over 65 years of age, 13.1% of the U.S. population is over 65, Mexico's is half that with 6.6%. While the baby boomer generation is a large reason why this number is high, a correlation between the quality of care given to this age group can be made about U.S. citizens compared to that of Mexico's, generally speaking countries with high percentages of citizens over age 65 invest...
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...the impacting the Medicare, Medicare patient services and employees. Most of the people in the island think that the Affordable Care Act is giving more security and help to address the existing disparities in the healthcare system. With the new Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act, the insurance companies can no longer drop the coverage if one becomes sick, bill individual into bankruptcy because of an annual or lifetime limit, and they will not be able to discriminate against anyone with a pre existing condition. Most of the Medicare and Medicaid community suffers do to the imbalance in our healthcare system this situation affects the quality of care and places a financial strain on the government, individuals and families, employers and employees, and public and private providers. Most of the Medicare beneficiaries have to enroll in the MA program to help them to succeed and receive the adequate treatments without MA to help the disadvantaged seniors on the island, Puerto Rico's elderly citizens will be forced to turn to Mi Salud in larger numbers. Although Mi Salud is scheduled to receive an average of $690 million annually during the next five years, the widening deficit in MA funding is likely to create a net negative impact on federal funding for healthcare in Puerto Rico. The Health care Policies and Issues Ethical concerns and issues The Affordable Care Act (ACA) policies are intended to give patients more access to health care without any restrictions as...
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...The U.S health care system has gone through three changes within the last fifty years. In 1964 the federal government implemented Medicare and Medicaid followed by the Balance Budget Act in 1997. The third change made by the federal government was the Affordable Care Act. This bill was passed by congress on March 23, 2010 which required all Americans to obtain health insurance by law. The Affordable Care Act was implemented to the United States on January 1, 2014. According to an article the primary purpose of the Affordable Care Act is to “decrease the number of uninsured, expand access to affordable health care, dissolve the concept of charging higher insurance rates for people with preexisting conditions, and decrease overall costs of health care by focusing on quality rather than quantity” (Savel, 2014). In other words the Affordable Care Act’s purpose is to improve the quality and efficiency of the healthcare system. Although the Affordable Care Act is allowing more individuals to gain access to the health care system nevertheless, the health care system is not relocating the resources to provide the access to the thousands of new consumers. Due to the Affordable Care Act more Americans are now eligible for health insurance. For example individuals with pre-existing conditions before were either denied by health insurance or insurance was rather too expensive for them to purchase. According to Kavita K. Patel (2014) “Before the ACA, those with pre-existing medical conditions...
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...its citizens have certain rights that should be upheld in every way. One of those is the right to health. Whether or not a person is able to pay the bill should not be the deciding factor in deciding if that person receives the care and treatment they need to be healthy, or alive. Churches and other charitable organizations had always been at the forefront of helping those who were going through hard times. Doctors were either recruited to volunteer their time and services or paid by donations of the better off. In the 1800s, the army developed one of the first government health care programs for veterans and active service members by introducing government run hospitals for the purpose. These were consolidated in 1930 to form a network of Veterans Affairs. In 1965-1966 the government amended the social security act to form Medicare and Medicaid for the elderly and those who were below a certain income level for the provision of funds to help those who couldn’t pay their own medical costs. And in 1997 congress started CHIP, which was a program designed to help with the costs of children’s medical bills for qualified families. Democrats in particular have always favored and voted for government giving to the poor, following the philosophy of taking from those who have, and giving to those who have not. While this socialist structure sounds good in theory it can lead to some issues down the line. One of the major issues is that of free riding. If the government is giving...
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...have had at least 20 employees, and the employee cannot loose their job as a result of gross misconduct. The type of qualifying event, or the reason the employee lost their job will determine how long COBRA coverage can be continued. Mr. Davis's employers have 30 days to notify their health plan administrators of his termination and he should receive an election notice no later than 14 days after the health plan administrators have been notified. Mr. Davis will then have 60 days to decide whether or not to elect coverage. If Mr. Davis chooses to elect COBRA coverage he then has 45 days to pay the initial premium. The premiums for COBRA coverage can be substantially more expensive than what the former employee was paying under their group health insurance while employed depending on how much of the premium the former employees employer was paying. I would encourage Mr.Davis to "shop around" for individual health insurance coverage and to contact the Department's Employee Benefits Security Administration to see if he may qualify for COBRA premium reduction. If Mr. Davis has been deemed disabled due to his illness he may qualify for Medicaid. The biggest challenge states and local governments are facing in providing care for patients like Mr. Davis who have long term, chronic illnesses and require care is funding that care. States and local governments are currently facing huge economic challenges in relation to healthcare funding. As the country...
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...[pic] Title: Total and State Medicaid Spending Growth FY 2000 - FY 2012 Description: With the expiration of federal stimulus funding in 2011, state spending on Medicaid is projected to rise 28.7% in 2012, while overall Medicaid spending will increase 2.2%. Source: Historic Medicaid Growth Rates, KCMU Analysis of CMS Form 64 Data; FY 2008, 2009 and 2010, KCMU survey of Medicaid officials in 50 states and DC conducted by Health Management Associates, 2011. Topics: Medicaid / CHIP Included in these Slideshows: KFF.org Data Spotlight Slide Date: October 28, 2011 Introduce the issue. Describe the problems in the U.S. healthcare system and how we might use another nation's healthcare system for reform. Evaluate how a new system would improve access to care, quality of care, and the efficient utilization of resources. Define the problem. a. High insurance premiums and out of reach for many American who remain uninsured. b. Drug companies are widely perceived as greedy and insensitive. c. Differences in prescription patterns related to insurance coverage. d. Medicaid patients are more likely to be prescribed generic drugs than patients who have commercial health insurance. e. Unethical behavior by the insurers that shows many institutions have violate fundamental values. f. Negative relationship between the insurers and physicians, personal-satisfaction ratings for health insurance plans, public concern about HMOs in particular and the health care...
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...state governments for many reasons. First of all, health care is insurance for people that are injured or ill. Each county has their own type of health care. There are many different types of health care organizations that are offered to people all over the world. Some of these organizations include: the health maintenance group, provider group, and a proposal that combines aspects from both the health maintenance group and the provider group. The most important type of health care insurance is a universal health plan. Universal health care is what will eventually save Americans a large amount of money and it will also guarantee that every American is insured. The number of uninsured citizens has grown to be above 40 million people. Health care is becoming unaffordable and we can eliminate wasteful inadequacies. A centralized national database can be established to make life easier for doctors, and medical professionals will only have to worry about the patience and not who’s paying for the medication for people. There are many people today who do not like the idea of universal health care and refuse to get it. America is known for having the best medical physicians and people are afraid that it will change drastically if we all share one universal health care plan. Also, if the insurance were to decrease in the universal health plan then taxes should skyrocket and therefore the money that is being saved will end up being used for taxes. According to “Should the Government Provide...
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...Beep. Beep. Beep. The nurses’ chattering sounds fill the hallway outside the door, while patiently waiting for the doctor to make their early morning rounds. Lying in the cold hospital room after receiving the devastating news. Cancer. Hearing those horrible words, then worrying about how to afford the hospital stay to begin with. Now all the follow-up doctor appointments and treatments, without a clue how to make the financial obligations. This is something thousands of people without medical coverage face on a daily basis. Should I go to the doctor? Should I call the ambulance? How will I pay for any extra bills? Sadly many Americans must make a horrible costly choice, to put food on the table or pay for medicines and doctor bills....
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