...million dollars compared with the NHS’s top salary of less than half a million US. Not covering an individual for expensive treatment thus saves the company money and provides stockholders with dividends or capital gain a very dangerous approach to the provision of healthcare coverage. An estimated 62% of individuals’ bankruptcies are related to healthcare bills, and of these,80% had health insurance numbers which would cause widespread revolt among Europeans. The private nature of US healthcare has resulted in pharmaceutical companies directly advertising to consumers the infamously endemic “ask your doctor if MagicMarioMix is suitable for you” tagline. Consumers thus ask their doctors about the advertised drug, and every 1 US dollar spent on advertising by pharmaceutical companies’ results in $4.20 of sales. The quick-fix or one-pill solution approach, rife among Americans, is reflected in the beliefs that pills can solve obesity rather than nutrition or exercise. The cost of drugs in America is much higher than in Germany: each citizen spends an average of 792US$ per year on medicine, accounting for more than 45% of the world’s total pharmaceuticals spending. Among Americans, the dissatisfaction with healthcare is reflected in polls, with one survey having 64% of...
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...Universal Healthcare in the United States Larrissa McBride HCS 235 Monday January 23, 2012 Margaret Meador Universal Healthcare in the United States Healthcare is on the minds of every American in today’s society. Everyone worries about what they will do to afford healthcare and even if they will receive healthcare. America has some of the greatest technological advances and in trained professionals. However, American only ranks 20th in life expectancy and we rank almost the lowest in healthcare availability to its citizens. This causes me to believe that American needs to adopt some type of universal healthcare reform. According to the department of Health and Human Services the United States is one of the only industrialized countries to not give every individual healthcare coverage and access. The United States currently has a system of government sponsored and private insurance companies. The “poor” Americans fall under the care of government based programs. Those who are poor but are considered too wealthy for government sponsored programs are forced to turn to for-profit insurance companies. These for profit companies have strict guidelines and or co-payments and are likely to turn down medical care for any reason they see fit without explanation. I feel that some kind of universal health care system would regulate and control these organizations and could potentially save billions. Currently in the United States a large majority of citizens are uninsured. According...
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...Healthcare Spending HCS/440 July 24th, 2014 Healthcare Spending The national healthcare spending within the United States keeps increasing annually. The overall deficit keeps increasing due to national healthcare expenditures. In 2012, the healthcare deficit was three trillion dollars. Due to services such as medical treatments and health insurance; the healthcare spending will continue to increase. National Healthcare Expenditures In the United States, the overall projections are primarily based on the National Healthcare expenditures. These projections are measured by the form of services or goods provided. Services may include physician care, hospital care, and clinical services rendered. Goods may consist of necessary prescription drugs and medical equipment. The source of funding for the services performed and the required goods may come from Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, and out-of-pocket expenses ("National Health Expenditure Projections 2012-2022 ", 2012). Health Care Spending in the United States According to recent studies in the United States, the projected health care spending is to increase by almost six percent between by the year 2022. This is actually a percent faster than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expected. Researchers thought that the healthcare spending would remain around four percent since the economic recovery was very slow at the time in 2013. There would an increase in cost- sharing requirements for Medicare, Medicaid...
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...Introduction: What is the effect of racism on healthcare inequality in the United States? Healthcare in the United States has always been a contentious issue. A good healthcare system is necessary for a society to function properly, but how to best implement it has been a subject for debate. Yet for many Americans, the main problem with healthcare in the United States intersects with another institutional problem: institutional racism. Like all other institutions in the US, implicit and explicit racism has always been a part of the healthcare system. Professionals in the healthcare system often treat African Americans and other minorities unequally and provide lower quality treatment that results in worse healthcare outcomes when compared to White...
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...Health Care Issues in the United States Lori Schaffer Professor Gilliland Health Services Organization July 15, 2011 Health Care Issues in the United States Our health is affected by behaviors, economics, and social structure. Numerous behaviors and lifestyle patterns affect our health, such as: exposure to violence, vehicular accidents, alcohol, drugs, and infectious agents. (Williams/Torrens, p 67) Alcohol consumption and illicit drug use are examples of personal decision making and patterns of behavior that have tremendous adverse effects on health and on the economy. Alcohol abuse can lead to diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver, various cancers, intestinal disorders, and brain function deterioration. (Williams/Torrens, p 68) Drug abuse can lead to violent behaviors, liver, kidney, and brain deterioration. Tobacco abuse is associated with numerous diseases, including cardiovascular disease, lung and oral cancers. The above mentioned dysfunctional behaviors are made by personal choice. Some other behaviors that are detrimental to our health and affect the health care system are food choices. America is one of the heaviest countries, full of individuals that not only are overweight, but have unhealthy eating habits. This, too, can lead to illnesses. There is also the issue of unsafe sexual practices which lead to sexually transmitted diseases. A lot of these diseases go undiagnosed until irreversible damage to one’s health has occurred, such as, syphilis...
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...Healthcare in the United States has become quite expensive due to the use of various new products. Hospitals can spend millions of dollars each year on one-time use items that end up getting disposed of, which end up costing patients and their insurance companies more money for care. With the use of plasma sterilization, hospitals can save a lot of money having most medical devices reconditioned to an almost new state. Plasma is defined as ionized gas that is equally positive and negatively charged and often regarded as the fourth state of matter, which can be categorized as high or low temperature based. With plasma sterilization, the difficulty sterilizing metal or plastic instruments used in surgery or hospital care is significantly...
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...of the liver and cardiovascular disease. Sexual Transmitted Disease (STD) such as gonorrhea, AIDS, syphilis, and high levels of infertility, cancer, and other complications are results of bad sexual behavior (Williams & Torrens 2008). Social and economic structure have as consequence for the decision making and patterns of behavior: violent crime, to global social dysfunction, besides many other untoward consequences likewise vehicular accidents, workplace injuries, divorce, poor job performance, poor fetal outcomes associated with fetal alcohol syndrome, spousal and child abuse are also common (Williams & Torrens 2008). Furthermore, economics and social structures affect health in the sense that a person’s ability to access quality healthcare in a timely manner is affected by whether that person can afford to pay health insurance or pay cash on his or her own and that person’s willingness to seek medical help when they believe they need it. These factors are influenced by a person’s income level, education, societal status – married or unmarried - and psychological characteristic such as his/her believe system, also among other things, which have a correlation with his/her social structure. Describe the three stages of medical technology development. A...
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...1 Health Care Issues in the United States Ashley Barnes Dr. George Ojie-Ahamiojie Health Services Organization Management July 15, 2010 2 Describe how health is affected by behaviors, economics and social structure. When it comes to our health, there are numerous factors that play a part in whether or not we stay healthy or not; some factors we can control(physical activity & nutrition), while others are not always up to us to decide (poverty level, income). There are six key factors identified by the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) (2010) that affect the health of individuals: alcohol and drug use, smoking, injury and violence, physical activity and sexual risk behaviors. A majority of these factors an individual can chose to engage in or not, however, economic situation and social structure can impact those decisions as well. For people who are in a less affluent status, they may not be able to purchase the more nutritious option in a grocery store and will have to resort to buying enriched and over processed food products that are less expensive. These types of groceries do not provide the necessary nutrition and with prolonged consumption of these goods, can lead to adverse health effects such as obesity and diabetes. Engaging in behaviors such as drinking, risky sex and violence can lead to issues later in life if started at a young age, and contribute to education and social problems that the United States currently faces (CDC, 2010). Certain...
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...|The Case For Single Payer, Universal Health Care For The United States | | | | | | | | | |Nicole Jones | |April 2011 | |HS 544 Health Policy and Economics | |Fowler | | | Table Of Contents Page Section 1: Executive Summary …………………………………………….. 3 Section 2: Introduction …………………………………………….. 4 Section 3: Literature Review ……………………………………………… 5 Section 4: Problem Analysis ……………………………………………… 10 Section 5: Solutions and Implementations ………………………………………… 17 Section 6: Justification ……………………………………………… 18 Section 7: References ……………………………………………… 20 Executive Summary Almost four decades ago, Canada and the United States had very similar health care systems. Today, they are very different. The...
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...Running head: MEASURING THE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM 1 Measuring The United States Healthcare System Luc John Arnaud HCM 550 Quality and Performance Improvement in Healthcare Colorado State University Global Campus Dr. Gloria Wilson March 27, 2016 MEASURING THE U.S. HEALTHCARE SYSTEM2 The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is based in Paris, France, and it is essentially an assembly that comprises over thirty members (countries) who work with each other and who all share common commitments to democratic states and market economies. The goal of the OECD is to promote and improve economic growth, prosperity, sustainable growth, and expansion of each nation (OECD United States Mission, n.d.). The OECD “tracks and reports annually on more than 1,200 health system measures across 30 industrialized countries, ranging from population health status and nonmedical determinants of health to health care resources and utilization” (Anderson, F., Squires, D., 2010, para 1). The article titled Issues in International Health Policy clearly exposed the fact that the United States of America fundamentally lacks behind the majority of other developed nations as it’s related to the efficiency, effectiveness, and solvency of its overall healthcare system industry. The facts and data within the article come from an analysis of health data from 2006 from the OECD, ...
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...Knowledge Healthcare in the United States has changed and evolved over many years to become the advance healthcare system that it is today. The starting points may seem very remedial and primitive in nature compared to the Hi-tech world of medicine in tis 21 century. During the late 1800’s through to 1900, there was basically no real structure of health care in America (Williams, 2008). During this period of time, if people became sick, they relied mainly on the self-care practices of their family and friends. The poor health conditions for individuals in general developed into epidemics. Around the 1920’s hospital entities were discovered and identified as an important part of the healthcare infrastructure in the US (Salhi, 2015). At...
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...I will argue for a universal healthcare system in the United States through a comparison of feminist ethics and traditional ethics. I find that the following considerations from Virginia Held’s Ethics of Care, and Kant’s view on autonomy provide a convincing argument for universal healthcare coverage. Held In Virginia Held’s Ethics of Care, she makes six distinct statements on care ethics through a feminist point of view. 1.) “Moralities built on the image of the independent, autonomous, rational individual largely overlook the reality of human dependence and the morality for which it calls.” (Camp, 2011:48) Held is describing how interdependence is primary and one is not in control of caretaking relationships. The majority of caretaking relationships are not chosen (parents and siblings) and we have a responsibility of care to these unchosen relations. We are all interdependent on each other, not autonomous. An argument relating to health care according to the view presented by Held on feminine ethics directly confirms the point that we are not autonomous beings: “Children in particular are harmed by familial stress and developmental delays from not receiving health care, both of which can lead to behavioral problems and loss of potential. When one member is uninsured or becomes ill, there is a financial burden put on the rest of the family” (http://www.amsa.org). Universal health care coverage would allow for this family burden of stress and finances to be decreased...
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...A Comparison of the United States and Canada Healthcare Systems The United States is the only industrially advanced nation with over 15 percent of its population uninsured for health care services.(1) This aspect of American health policy has earned us a reputation of "backwardness"; for both Western Europe and Canada have systems of universal entitlement to health care (Torrance, 1984). A comparison of the American healthcare system to the Canadian health care system reveals the difference is cost, government involvement, philosophical attitude, and overall health of the citizens. In regards to economics, the American system practically doubles the cost of Canada per-capita bus yet does not yield the healthiest citizens, which clearly indicate there is room for change to improve or reform the U.S. healthcare system. This reform starts with the exchange of dialogue between the two countries policy makers and healthcare experts by identifying and implementing changes that are improvements of specific healthcare needs. Neither model is perfect but there are lessons that can be shared that could possibility lead to a more efficient healthcare system for both the United States and Canada. The United States and Canada are culturally similar therefore it is a realistic possibility that Americans could adopt a huge portion of the Canadian model and be successful with it. One of the main differences between the two separate healthcare systems is the huge gap in cost when...
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...The Healthcare Plight of the Hispanic Population in the United States Joanne Cortez Grand Canyon University March 13, 2016 The Healthcare Plight of the Hispanic Population in the United States Disparities in healthcare for Hispanic communities in the United States remains an alarming trend. Social and political inequities bare much of the responsibility of this humanitarian and economic crisis of healthcare. The burden of poverty, prejudice, racial discrimination, immigration status, language barrier, and lack of education are not easily solved and will continue until greater understanding of the complexities of Hispanic communities are better understood. With greater knowledge of the diverseness of this group and the application of social programs and awareness driven by stakeholders and Hispanic consumers of health, will divides be bridged and progress towards a healthier population be realized. This discussion will shed light on the rise of the Hispanic population and the continued barriers to equitable healthcare fostered by social and political disparities. This document will also outline an up and coming group with a potential for political leverage and a brighter future enabling future generations of Hispanics access to all levels of primary, secondary and tertiary care. Population and health status of Hispanics The Pew Research Center compiled findings from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 American...
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...America's Medicaid program provides medical assistance for individuals and families with low incomes and/or few resources. The program began in 1965 and is now the largest source of funding for medical and health-related services for people with limited income. Today, the program covers 53 million people, nearly one in every six Americans, and costs $300 billion a year in federal and state funds. In fact, Medicaid in some states accounts for more than one-third of the overall budget (Galt, 2005, 1). The program undoubtedly has a major impact on America, but overall it is more damaging to patients and medical providers than it is beneficial. Yes, medical assistance for those with limited incomes is important; however, Medicaid is not effectively providing medical assistance where it is absolutely essential. The Medicaid program can, at times, significantly help individuals in need of medical assistance. With medications often costing upwards of one hundred dollars for a single months supply, Medicaid's maximum co-payment of three dollars can literally be a lifesaver to those without a job and/or insurance. Unfortunately, it can also be as a means to obtain unnecessary medication at taxpayer's expense. More often than not, people being placed on Medicaid greatly increase their number of monthly prescriptions (Galt, 2005, 1). In a recent glimpse of five randomly selected patients, four added three or more medications per month when they began their coverage. By working as a pharmacy...
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