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Us Healthcare System

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Submitted By beemarie0404
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Health is wealth and as much as the latter is important to everyone, its significance and priority in each individual 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 of Health and Welfare’s Self Reliance office while Medicare is applied for at your local Social Security office. While Medicare is an insurance program where a member pays a monthly premium, Medicaid is a social service program that is managed by the State of Washington and is

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