Although about half of current medical expenses in the United States are currently paid for through government programs such as Medicare (for the elderly), Medicaid (for the very poor and disabled), and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)for children, the American health care system can best be described as a patchwork of public and private programs (such as employer-based coverage). A mixture of public programs and private programs is common among nations that essentially cover all residents, but the American system is unique — and often uniquely inefficient in economic terms.
Keywords Accessibility; Adverse Selection; HMO (Health Maintenance Organization); Medicaid; Medicare; Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (Part D); Managed Care; "Play or Pay" State Health Care Tax Policies; Rationing Health Care; Single-Payer Health Care System; CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program); Socialized Medicine; Two-Tiered Health Care System; VA (United States Department of Veterans Affairs)
The US Health Care System
Social Issues
Overview
Health Care Systems
The medical business defies the normal laws of economics in at least three important ways: * Government-run programs are often cheaper, more administratively efficient, and even of superior quality than privately-run programs at the national level. * Medical insurance functions poorly by market principles unless potential policy holders most in need of health insurance are either denied coverage or are denied the right to redeem policies — both of which result in high administrative costs;. * Improved medical technology results in higher rather than lower operating costs — unlike the corresponding relationship in most other businesses.
Other factors in the inefficiency of the American health care system are not specifically related to the nature of the medical business. American medical