Problems of The Healthcare System Essay Sample

📌Category: Health, Health Care
📌Words: 1296
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 11 June 2022

What a dream it is to be an American! It is the land of the free, so shouldn’t our healthcare be free as well? The United States alone, spends more on health insurance than any other country yet, we are the only country in the developed world without universal coverage. Our current system doesn’t serve us and there is no way to avoid or overlook the ways our system is failing us and the future of our countries physical and economic health. We don’t have the right to affordable or equitable healthcare, we don’t have the right to control the spending of our taxpayer dollars and most importantly we don’t even have the right to quality care. Adopting a system not only for one, but for all; a universal healthcare system, would ensure that everyone has access to healthcare, minimize wasteful spending and allow for more regulations around the care being provided. 

Merriam Webster Dictionary defines equitable as just or fair. Our health system is neither. One problem that contributes to this inequity is racial and ethnic disparities. Americans of racial and ethnic minorities are much less likely to possess health insurance than their white counterparts. “African Americans are almost twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to be uninsured” (Smedley pg. 85). Absurdly, Hispanic Americans have even less probability of being insured. Not only do these groups face hurdles when it comes to receiving insurance, but language and cultural barriers have shaped negative experiences for them when receiving care. In a focus group a Chinese participant shared “I have a desire to improve my English so I can go to an American doctor and get better treatment” (Smedley pg. 394). 

These aren’t the only groups, by which our health system does a disservice to. In 2019 158,000,000 Americans were covered under employer-based health insurance (Health) and just last year alone 6% of these adults lost this coverage as a result of the pandemic (Collins). If you do the math, that is 9,480,000 adults unemployed and without health coverage. Albeit much of this was largely due to atypical circumstance, employer-based health insurance still comes with its own set of drawbacks. The seemingly more affordable healthcare option has become so expensive, premiums are exceeding wage gains leaving people to feel ‘uninsured’. It also entangles its users in job lock and creates economic inequity by providing those with higher paying jobs more and better access to care. 

Despite the Affordable Care Acts efforts in making healthcare more accessible and affordable, due to income restrictions and other eligibility criteria many families were left without truly affordable coverage options. In fact, 1 in three Americans still worry about affording their healthcare (Carroll). This is especially prevalent in medium income families as they are offered the least amount of support. Dr. Goodman “the father of Health Savings Accounts” describes that “these perversions have a common source: treating people at the same income level very differently depending on where they get their insurance, how many hours they work, how many other employees they work with, etc.” (Goodman). Although meant to be helpful the Affordable Care Act has only increased inequity in our already divided system.

Americans heftily funded healthcare system is also extremely wasteful. “Aggregate estimates of waste varied from $600 billion to more than $1.9 trillion per year, or roughly $1800 to $5700 per person per year. Wider recognition by public health stakeholders of the human and economic costs of medical waste has the potential to catalyze health system transformation.” (Speer). Quite frankly, the lack of functionality in our multiple systems creates waste due to higher administration costs and poor care coordination resulting in not only a waste of funds, but wasted efforts towards better care coordination, and more efficient, quality care. The money needing to be spent towards quality care is instead being used towards co-pays and deductibles for expensive insurance companies. 

According to the National Library of Medicine approximately a surprising, 200,000 Americans die from preventable medical errors annually (Andel). What isn’t quite so surprising is the link to these preventable deaths and costly care. Our healthcare system creates economic waste, yes, but this waste extends an unmeasurable amount to lives of people in this country and the economic hit extends more to the individual that we realize. High costs have been linked to increased mortality rates. On top of this, continuously increasing costs, and lack of transparency about those costs advert patients from seeking necessary help at all. 

Another problem our healthcare system faces is poor outcomes. Despite the amount of funds put into healthcare, this benefit does not seem to be serving our countries health. In comparison to similarly industrialized countries it provides incredibly low-quality care. As reported by OCED data American’s life expectancy is lower than nay other developed country and are at the highest risk to die from a treatable illness because we practice defensive medicine as opposed to advocating for primary care (Ervin). In fact, it has been shown in the U.S. than an emphasis on receiving primary care has been linked to communities being “healthier than populations with comparable levels of social deprivation receiving care in other types of physicians’ offices or clinics” (Starfield).


 

By covering everyone under a Universal healthcare it will not close the gap of mistrust and unfair treatment to those in minority groups because this deep-rooted systematic injustice lays deep within our foundation, but it will make sure each and every one had access to basic coverage which is a good start in aiding health and wellness to all. Freedom to choose a heath provider that feels comfortable

“The association between a greater supply of primary care physicians and lower total mortality was found to be four times greater in the African American population than in the white majority population, indicating a reduction in racial disparities in mortality in the U.S. states” (Starfeild).

By eliminating the system everyone has equal access to care “similarly situated households should receive similar financial help, wherever they reside and wherever they work” (brookings)

By avoiding job lock, small businesses the backbone of our county’s economy can be better employed, people will be less likely to feel stuck in a job due to coverage. This would promote not only happier but healthier people. ‘Loss of a job should not be a direct threat to your heath’.

Providing Universal coverage could help all families to sustain premium heath and avoid major economic turbulence.

Because a single payer system, by the government would be more consistent and regulated the fees in our fee for service system respectively be consistent and regulated. Patients will know what to expect and can get a more realistic idea of their cost of care. There will be no more ‘crazy surprise medical bills’ Paul B. Ginsburg, Ph.D. states, “quality transparency as an engine for better consumer choices and more engagement by providers to raise the bar of practice has the most potential for success” (Young).

Similarly, ridding our country of the competition in healthcare would reduce its for-profit motives in a single payer system. According to a study over 49 states and the district Columbia, researchers found that private insurance companies pay almost two and a half times more than what government-based healthcare programs pay for the same services (Whaley). If we were to expand the entirety of our healthcare needs to be negotiated my the government costs could be lower, consistent and much more transparent.

Because a universal healthcare system can provide more accessible and affordable care options, patients are more likely to seek care before a problem becomes emergent, have better access and more support towards day-to-day optimal health wil akso provide preventative health measures.

When systems are combined as opposed to functioning in many different, moving parts communication between providers becomes much more efficient making for optimum patient care and minimized waste.

“Quality care is less expensive care. It is better, more efficient, and by definition, less wasteful” (Andel)

With how much were already spending toward healthcare, it should be easy to use these financial efforts in a better functioning system to get more of whats necessary and cut bsck on what isn’t. to make sure there is enough resources for everyone respectively.

Universal healthcare can very obviously not be an end all, be all fix to our countries issues surrounding healthcare but it sure would be a great start in providing a more equitable community, providing financial ease to its citizens, reducing waste and promoting a healthier, happier society.

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