...Health Care Economics History Health Care Economics History Over the course of U.S. history, the economics of healthcare have undergone several changes that have all culminated into what it is today. Although several factors come into play in regards to these changes, the primary driver behind these changes have been major advances in medical care techniques and advanced technology such as in the field of diagnostic imaging and surgical services. All these things aside, it is important to illuminate the fact that regardless of the time period, the payment for services and its source have always been a critical factor in how fast and how far healthcare can go. The source of payment for medical services has changed quite a bit over the past few decades. Today, third party payers such as insurance companies pay the bulk load of the healthcare bills leaving only a portion to be paid by the actual recipient from their own funds. In the not so distant past, patients were expected to foot the bills in their entirety for their own pockets. In those times, physicians were considered tradesmen. Their bills were no different than any other tradesmen such as a plumber or carpenter. When their work was done, the patient paid the bill. Frequently, if the patient was unable to pay in cash, physicians would accept non-monetary reimbursement for their services such as livestock or some other farm produced item. This "barter system" worked quite well but as the 20th century came about and...
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...1. List a few major challenges you think would impact the future economic well being of the United States. Explain why these are crucial challenges and how they can be overcome. Your response must make references to short term fluctuations as well as long-term economic growth prospects. As I see it, the U.S. national debt is one thing that will have a huge impact on the future economic well being of the United States. As of July 19, 2015, the U.S. national debt equals $18,158,174,556,882.73 (U.S. National Debt Clock), which is 101.53% of the gross domestic product (Trading Economics, 2015). From an individual’s perspective this exorbitant national debt will potentially lead to higher taxes, reduced benefits (for example Social Security), and higher interest rates. The national debt has continued to increase approximately $2.05 billion dollars per day since September 2012 (Trading Economics, 2015). If the U.S. government doesn’t find a way to curb the current expansionary fiscal policy, the United States could find itself in a situation similar to Greece over the past few weeks. As a healthcare provider and someone who sees the firsthand effects of the current system on patients and healthcare organizations, I am very interest in healthcare reform and its impact on the Federal budget deficit. With healthcare expenditures in the U.S projected to reach 34% of the GDP by 2040, the case for healthcare reform is a no-brainer, and President Obama’s monetary policies sought...
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...Nearly the entire developed world has adopted the system of Universal Health Care, including Europe, the powerhouses of Asia, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The United States (U.S.) is not one of them. Funded through taxes and run by the government, health care proves vital to all countries across the world. Unlike other first world countries, the U.S. falls behind in attempts to providing a single-payer health system, a type of Universal Health Care. Health care affordability continue to drastically decrease for United States citizens, becoming less affordable due to its high costs. Other first world countries are able to provide their population with adequate amounts of medical attention without the high expenses like the current system...
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...Healthcare Spending Ngozi Ofolomah HCS 440 Bruce Peterson September 17, 2012 Healthcare Spending Healthcare spending is a key factor to any country’s economic expansion. It provides many job opportunities for high skilled workers residing in rural areas. Additionally, further advancements in drugs and medical technology lead to the new innovations, products and new areas of marketing. Health spending is essential because it fulfills personal and social needs for medical service that are set in place to better health, increase productivity, and save lives (Squires, 2012). In comparison with the many other sectors of the economy, a significant portion of the health care is publicly funded. When viewing other countries, we notice that they have adopted a universal healthcare system. This means that the systems are financed through taxes. In the United States, there are systems in place such as Medicare and Medicaid (Squires, 2012). Medicare is an insurance program for persons who are either elderly or disable. Medicaid is insurance coverage for families who have low-income. It is public funds that assist people with health care in these two insurance programs. There are also tax policies that promote and provide support to employer-based health insurance and delivery systems such as, Veterans Health Administration. Due to the fact that the public sector has a lot of pull in regards to healthcare, it has become had to make sure that we are gaining...
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...Health Care Spending HCS 440 Economics: The Financing of Healthcare Class Group: BSEW1GQMZ5 University of Phoenix Online Instructor: Geoffrey J. Suszkowski, Ph.D., LFHIMSS 05/11/2015 Health Care Spending “In 2013 U.S. health care spending increased 3.6 percent to reach $2.9 trillion, or $9,255 per person, the fifth consecutive year of slow growth in the range of 3.6 percent and 4.1 percent. The share of the economy devoted to health spending has remained at 17.4 percent since 2009 as health spending and the Gross Domestic Product increased at similar rates for 2010 - 2013”("National Health Expenditures 2013 Highlights," 2013). The cost of health care spending greatly affects the way that individuals budget their spending. It is important the economy can adjust accordingly to individuals about whether health care spending is too much or not enough. Current Level of National Healthcare Spending The topic of healthcare spending in the United States is a controversial one, and most often, the populations' opinions doesn't always agree with those of policymakers. Getting health care spending under control is vital to the economic health of the government and the people of the United States. What makes healthcare expenditures so disgraceful is the large amount of money the government spends on healthcare each year versus the number of people without health care. The amount of money the U.S. government spends on health care each year doubles that...
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...Running head: ACCESS TO QUALITY HEALTHCARE PAPER ASSIGNMENT Access to Quality Healthcare Paper Rudolphe Lubin University of Phoenix Lori Lewellen MBAJOGZL57 April 27, 2009 Quality Healthcare Introduction It will be evident to realize that financial, educational, and socio – demographic implications can bring serious impact on access to quality healthcare in the organization. Labor shortage will stay an important component that can affect as well the access to quality care. Socio – demographic changes linked with chronic illnesses can have an effect on the aging population, which may reduce the quality of life, increase costs for healthcare and rise resource allocation. In point of fact, both labor shortage and socio – demographic changes are exactingly dominant in the admittance to quality care in the United States. Besides, the demand for registered nurses and changes in science is already exceeding supply in U.S. nation, including more implications associated with other ethical dilemmas. Healthcare Labor Shortage People have to realize that progresses in medical technology, increasing expenses and market forces provide to the financial decline of many rural healthcare organizations. In reality, small rural healthcare suppliers, particularly hospitals, cannot meet the costs of the equipment and practitioners needed to treat the range of modern syndrome and injury...
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...How Fair is Your Healthcare? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live outside of America? Things would certainly be different, but one big aspect would be healthcare. Would it be better somewhere else? Maybe even cheaper? The United States spends so much money towards healthcare, but is it worth it? And could we do anything to make it more efficient? How much would you guess the United States spends on healthcare per person every year? I bet your guess was not over $8,000. The U.S. spends $8,233 on healthcare per person annually. (PBS.org) Our country spends by far more on healthcare than any other country besides Switzerland. (photius.com) This amount is more than two-and-a-half times more than most developed nations spend on healthcare. (PBS.org) But why? Is our healthcare the best in the world? The answer is no. In 2010, the World Healthcare Organization ranked the U.S. at 37, falling fifteen spots behind Columbia and just beating Slovenia and Cuba. (PBS.org) PBS News interviewed Mark Pearson, head of Division on Health Policy at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – an international economic group comprised of 34 member nations. Pearson talks about looking across a broad range of services, medical and surgical. He says the average price in the U.S. is about 85% higher than the average of all other OECD countries. (PBS.org) The average hospital stay in the U.S. costs about $18,000. The countries that came closest to spending as...
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...Healthcare for Canadians Vanessa Feliciano Rasmussen College H200/HSA2117 Author Note This assignment is being submitted on, 9/3/2014 for Prof. Kelly McGrath. Health care is a service business that exists to meet the necessities of the general public. In discussions of health care reform of the United States and the Canada is both countries' health care systems are different however, both countries appear to be similar, suggesting that it might be possible for the U.S. to adopt the Canadian system. Canada's healthcare has a great influence on the Canadian economy. Below are a few facts about the economy and health care (http://www.canadian-healthcare.org/page9.html): • Healthcare expenses in Canada average about $100 billion in 2001. •Approximately 9.5% of Canada's gross domestic product is spent on health care. In comparison, the United States spends close to 14% of its GDP on health care. •Individually, Canadians spend about $3300 per capita on health care. •At a local level, funding is between one-third and one-half of what provinces spend on social programs. •About three-quarters of all funding come from public sources, with the remainder from private sources such as businesses and private insurance. Insert in-text citation here for bulleted list. In 2013, Canada anticipated to exceed $211 billion in health care spending or $5,988 per person. Additionally, it has estimated to utilize 11.2% of Canada’s gross domestic product...
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...HMA1: Trends in Healthcare Western Governors University Healthcare Management Case Study HMA1 Linda Gunn August 21, 2010 HMA1: Trends in Healthcare The American healthcare system is in the midst of change. No other time in history has the call for healthcare reform been so strong. It is the emergence of expensive new technologies with an aging population and a new call for equitable quality access of health services for all citizens that have pushed for the impending change. Successful managers will need to understand the impetus for this change. The challenges will provide many opportunities for a manager that is properly prepared to lead and guide their organization. Model trends in the United States. Historically, the United State’s healthcare system has been provider dominated. Physicians ordered and directed care without concern for cost or resources. While complex and ever-changing, the focus was on treatment of infectious diseases such as polio, influenza, small pox. (Shortell & Kaluzny, 2006) Our current model of healthcare places much of the responsibility and burden of the cost of medical care on the individual. American healthcare spending approaches 17% of our gross domestic product (GDP), the highest of any member of the World Health Organization. Our performance consistently underperforms in comparison to our peer nations in such measures as life expectancy, infant mortality and overall level of health. (World Health Organization [WHO], 2000) ...
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...driven by greed to harvest the world’s first everlasting cells, and even allotted them to colleagues free of charge. Dr. Korn, like Dr. Gey, envisioned the infinite possibilities that could stem from harvesting the cells and tissues of people around the world, as he states, “I think people are morally obligated to allow their bits and pieces to be used to advance knowledge to help others. Since everybody benefits, everybody can accept the small risks of having their tissue scraps used in research.” While we may concede that everybody benefits by knowing that they have the opportunity to receive treatment with new technologies developed because of these cells, millions of people cannot afford to enjoy these benefits as a profit-driven healthcare system stands in their...
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...have been debating healthcare for the last hundred years. Before the 1900s, doctors didn’t have much technology to diagnose and treat the sick, so it was more affordable to patients. Once new medicines were found, doctors started taking advantage of these new treatments, which increased cost. Therefore, as the cost went up, the public needed a way to pay for the treatments; this was the start of health insurance. Health insurance and healthcare came about during the time of the Great Depression. There are currently two main methods of providing healthcare: public and private. Public healthcare provides universal access and is funded through the government. Two forms of public healthcare are Medicare and Medicaid which President Johnson signed into law in 1965. Medicare, or public healthcare, was first enacted by the U.S. government to provide healthcare to the elderly. Medicaid provides insurance to anyone who has a disability or is in poverty. Private insurers are funded by premiums and cover clients while also making a profit. The first private insurer was the Baylor Hospital in the 1930s, which later became Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance. The purpose of this report is to determine whether private healthcare coverage, as it currently exists in the United States, is more or less effective than a single payer system according to three criteria: cost, availability, and quality. Method: The Commonwealth Fund supports research on healthcare issues and helps to...
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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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...AMT 2 Task 3 Western Governors University AMT 2 Task 3 New and/or Pending U.S. Legislation The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) The purpose of the PPACA is to ensure more Americans have access to quality healthcare. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the PPACA is paid for and will provide quality healthcare to more than 94% of Americans. The PPACA will, or is supposed to, eliminate lifetime and unreasonable annual limits on healthcare benefits; prohibit health insurance policy recessions; extend dependent healthcare coverage up until the age of 26; provide assistance to uninsured due to pre-existing conditions; cap insurance administrative expenditures; require coverage for immunizations and preventative services; develop uniform coverage documents allowing consumers to juxtapose different insurance plans from different insurance providers; create temporary re-insurance programs to support coverage for early retirees; simplify healthcare administration as a means to lower health system costs; create an internet portal for consumers to identify insurance coverage options; and implement an appeals process to guarantee consumers and provide consumers assistance processing and accessing their insurance coverage ("PPACA Summary," n.d.) The PPACA does expand public programs, e.g. expanding the eligibility for Medicaid to lower income people; simplify Medicaid and enhance the Children’s Health Insurance Program; simplify enrollment; and expand...
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...HSA 510: Economics of Health and Medical Care Student: Lucy Njoya Assignment 3: The Management Challenge of Delivering Value in Health Care Strayer University Professor: Dr. Jeff Kaluyu Due: Week 8 Introduction: The healthcare industry is evolving both nationally and globally, and as a result, the challenges facing health care services delivery organizations are also increasing. Health care professionals are the decision-makers and also the ones closely associated with the day-to-day decision making processes affecting the delivery of health care services and goods to patients. The economic evaluation of the health care services delivery systems has proven to play an important role in the different types of health care decision-making. For example, formulary decisions, reimbursement decisions, high health cost decisions, and e-prescribing. This makes it a point of interest to assess the influence of economic evaluations on health care decision-making both at the macro, me so, and micro levels. Even though the impact of economic evaluation studies on health care decision making has been limited, there is an increasing requirement for the cost-effectiveness of the health care intervention to be considered when formulating and implementing guidelines for clinical practices. What is encouraging at this moment is the fact that health care decision-makers do recognize the usefulness and necessity of published economic evaluations that rightly inform the public about...
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...throughout the globe have issues of providing quality healthcare for its citizens, and the United State is no exception to this mammoth problem. The United State has a profit driven economy where health care is mostly in the hands of the private business sector. In a lot of countries health care is either supplement or control by their government. Even democratic societies such Great Britain and Canada both control most of their countries medical industry. Because the U.S. is such an open “free market economy” the quality of health care is based on how much a person has can spend on their healthcare needs Understanding how the care of health is impacting the citizens of the United States we must investigate how health care needs are affecting the behaviors, economics, and social structure of U.S. citizens; how the stages of medical technology development is improving the healthcare needs of U.S. or is the technology a hinders; how understanding the trends in the population demographic over a period of 80 years have changed towards healthcare, and lastly, what are the morality trend over the past century. The impacted of healthcare on the United State is tremendous. Healthcare costs are the most single important factor influencing the federal government. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projection without any change in federal law total spending on healthcare (this budget cut is aimed towards Medicare & Medicaid), healthcare cost will rise form 16 percent to 25 percent in 2025...
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