Health Insurance And The Health Care System

Health care spending in the United States of America as a percentage of the economy has reached astonishing heights, equating to 17.7 percent. This number is shocking when compared to other counties; in Australia health care is 8.9 percent, in United Kingdom 9.4 percent, in Canada 11.2 percent. If the American health care system were to hypothetically become its own economy, it would be the fifth-largest in the world. While these statistics sound troubling, they lead us to look for answers about the problems surrounding our system. The first health insurance company was created in the 1930s to give all American families an equal opportunity for hospital care and eventually led to a nationwide economic and social controversy that erupted in the 1990s and continued to be shaped by the government, insurance companies, doctors, and American citizens. In this paper, I will go in to detail about the various opinions regarding the controversy, the history behind health insurance companies, and the main dilemmas brought out by the health care crisis. Greedy insurance companies combined with high costs of doctor visits and pharmaceutical drugs or the inefficient hospitals all over America can only describe the beginning to this in depth crisis. Recently, the United States health care industry has become know for the outrageous costs of insurance models, developments of various social and health services programs, and the frequent changes in medicinal technology.

Health insurance in the United States is a highly politicized issue. In recent years, many strides have been made to extend health insurance coverage to all Americans with the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). While the program has been vigorously debated in the public realm, arguments are often centered around political ideology rather than economic theory. This paper seeks to challenge the entire structure of the current health insurance model, since its inception in the 1950s. Through the overuse of a third-party payer model, a magnitude of problems have emerged that severely diminish the efficiency of health care allocation in the United States. This paper proposes a model that seeks to correct issues of cost, access, and market efficiency by adapting the Medicare Part D payment scheme for an all encompassing insurance model.

Long time ago, there was no need for health insurance in America, as doctors had many clients because their services were not so expensive and in some cases in rural areas, people could pay by giving other items. Doctors were not as knowledgeable as they are nowadays to care for the sick, therefore this didn't have much effect then on the patients, as they were treated for the basic illnesses.

In the beginning of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the “healthcare system” was left in the hands of the states, which the states handed off to private and voluntary programs to deal with. In the presidential term of Teddy Roosevelt, 1901-1909, he felt that “no country could be strong whose people were sick and poor.” (Palmer 1999) He did however back health insurance as a whole. Roosevelt was not the one fighting for the health care though, there were outside forces that impacted health care. The American Association of Labor Legislation (AALL) led the campaign for health insurance. They drafted their first bill by 1915. This bill wanted to limit the coverage toward the working class and anyone who earned less than $1,200 a year including dependents. The American Medical Association (AMA) backed this bill because they felt the same way about coverage. The AMA did not speak for all doctors and those who opposed this backing spoke up. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) opposed the bill because they felt that it would weaken the unions and they wanted to maintain their strength. The private insurance

In total honesty, today 's health care/insurance system in the United States from time to time can be overwhelming and frustrating. Most likely, because of the outrageous cost in clinical institutions and recent reform policies. Generally, when we think about how the whole health care/insurance system started, everything

One financial problem the healthcare industry is facing right now is healthcare collections. Healthcare collections have always been a financial problem to healthcare industries because of nonpayment from the uninsured and individuals who are uneducated about their health plans. Nonpayment to healthcare industries means a loss of revenue. A loss of revenue means that health care industries may run the risk of exhausting their financial resources and become unstable. This financial problem is very typical in the healthcare industry.

It is important to begin with the fact that the United States has no formal healthcare system. There are five subsystems: private employer provided insurance, Medicaid for low or no income individuals, Veteran’s hospitals serve military veterans, workers compensation serves individuals that have on-the-job injuries and services for active military and dependents. There is also the Medicare system that serves individuals over the age of 65 (Williams & Torrens, 2008). Even with all these subsystems, there are still many individuals without health insurance. It is also important to realize that having health insurance coverage and having access to healthcare are two entirely different issues. An individual can have insurance but still not have access to healthcare. Of course the goal in the United States is to provide adequate healthcare access to everyone (Beedasy, 2010). This is not always possible due to different demographics such as age, socioeconomic, and other issues. I have health insurance but with the deductible extremely high many times I cannot afford to go to the doctor. For individuals that are low income, this issue is a problem. There is a gap between income low enough to qualify

The population has been steadily increasing in the United States since its founding. For a long period the US led the industrialized world in its fertility rate however, though this rate has slowed in recent generations with Americans having few babies per household, immigration into the US has become one of the main drivers of the expanding population (Wang, 2013). Furthermore, the population is also steadily aging and therefore often requires more in terms of health care services. All of these factors contribute to a trend in which health care accessibility is becoming more and more limited in all types of coverage's. For example, those who have private health insurance may be faced with higher out-of-pocket costs and limited services to attempt to control costs while those without private insurance could be potentially excluded from service all together. One study found that in 2007 nearly two-thirds of all bankruptcies were related to medical expenses; a trend that has been rapidly increasing since the turn of the century (McCarthy, 2009). It is reasonable to believe that such trends correlate to a negative perception of the health insurance system.

Less than a hundred years ago, in the late 1920’s and 30’s, almost 90% of Americans did not have health insurance (Fall of HMO’s 4). They used a variety of home remedies and when medical assistance was truly needed, they paid for it out of pocket, even incurring vast amounts of debt. This had been the case throughout history, and it changed due to an important factor, medical equipment. The industrial revolution finally caught up with the medical industry and the country saw a vast change in the scientific instruments used by physicians. These instruments required a lot of money to make and care for which caused prices to rise. Due to this massive problem, a committee was formed of health care professionals and after a 5 year study, the Committee on the Cost of Medical Care suggested that health insurance co-operatives start. These corporate medical practices became known as Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO’s) and preferred provider organizations (PPO’s), and up until the 1970’s, were an experiment to regions across the U.S. Factors that hindered health care included bullying of “money politics” from both sides of the isle as well as Presidential views and tactics as well. President Nixon first

The main historical developments that have shaped the health care delivery system in the United States. Knowledge of the history of health care is essential for understanding the main characteristics of the system as it exists today. For example, the system’s historical foundations explain why health care delivery in the United States has been resistant to national health insurance, which has been adopted by Canada and most European nations. Traditionally held American cultural beliefs and values, technological advances, social changes, economic constraints, and political

Healthcare industry in United States has been an important industry for a long time. It is one such industry that has representation from both public sector and private sector. The current health care system is segregated and fragmented in America. Some states have very effective and efficient healthcare system while some states lack the desired infrastructure. The evolution of healthcare system in USA can be traced back to 1750. The period from 1750 to 1849 is termed as preindustrial period where the care of sick people was primarily handled by families (Brian, 2010). The period of 1850 to 1969 is termed as postindustrial period which reflects the growth of organized medicine and systematic healthcare delivery.

Healthcare didn’t always exist in the United States. Before the 1920’s, most people didn’t have health coverage. Most people were treated at home and hardly anyone, except a few large employers offered healthcare. Everyone else paid out of pocket. As the population shifted from rural areas to urban centers, families lived in smaller homes with less room to care for sick family members (Faulkner 1960, p. 509). Increasing requirements for licensing and accreditation, in addition to a rising demand for medical care, eventually led to rising costs. By the end of 1920s, there was an increased demand for medical care and the costs of medical care increased.

The Post-War period was not the first time healthcare was on the American legislative agenda. Earlier on in 1916 after the New Deal policies, the American Association for Labor Legislation (AALL) had lobbied for a comprehensive form of health insurance, which was largely based off of the German model at the time which largely focused on employer contribution to insurance costs in addition to public contribution. The leaders of AALL felt that health insurance was vital for a productive labor force. With this belief, they aimed to not only just increase and enhance worker’s health, but also aimed to increase prevention measures. This meaning that with comprehensive health care available for individuals, the likelihood of treatment and prevention

Currently, the issue of health insurance has been a bone of contention for the public regarding whether the United States government should provide this health plan or not. People often possess different perspectives and refer to pros and cons on both sides of the spectrum. While some believes a universal healthcare system will set a foundation for a lower quality of service, increasing governmental finance deficit, and higher taxes, others do not hold the same thought. A universal healthcare system brings enormous advantages rather than disadvantages, such as all-inclusive population coverage, convenient accessibility, low time cost, and affordable medical cost, all of which not only provide minimum insurance to the disadvantaged but also improve the efficiency of medical resources distribution.

“The maintenance and improvement of physical and mental health, especially through the provision of medical services” – Healthcare. These services aren’t something that just happened 10 years ago. Hospital and medical expense policies were introduced during the first half of the 20th century. During the 1920s, some hospitals began offering services to individuals on a “pre-paid” basis which eventually leaded to the development of Blue Cross Organizations in the 1930s. throughout the years health care has changed rapidly, in the 1940s, prepaid group healthcare began, it seemed as radical.