...Universal Healthcare in the United States Larrissa McBride HCS 235 Monday January 23, 2012 Margaret Meador Universal Healthcare in the United States Healthcare is on the minds of every American in today’s society. Everyone worries about what they will do to afford healthcare and even if they will receive healthcare. America has some of the greatest technological advances and in trained professionals. However, American only ranks 20th in life expectancy and we rank almost the lowest in healthcare availability to its citizens. This causes me to believe that American needs to adopt some type of universal healthcare reform. According to the department of Health and Human Services the United States is one of the only industrialized countries to not give every individual healthcare coverage and access. The United States currently has a system of government sponsored and private insurance companies. The “poor” Americans fall under the care of government based programs. Those who are poor but are considered too wealthy for government sponsored programs are forced to turn to for-profit insurance companies. These for profit companies have strict guidelines and or co-payments and are likely to turn down medical care for any reason they see fit without explanation. I feel that some kind of universal health care system would regulate and control these organizations and could potentially save billions. Currently in the United States a large majority of citizens are uninsured. According...
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...Jerrica Miller English III 2/19/2016 “Why Healthcare Should Be Free?” As Marcy Jackson walked to the counter of the Healthcare information desk, she took a deep breathe. Marcy had been to the healthcare desk once before about 4 months ago and she was denied access because she was overweight. So Marcy thought if she lost the 13 pounds within this month, she could go back and reapply. Walking up to the desk, she was accompanied by her daughter, who was 6 –years –old, Anna Jackson. The receptionist asked her, “How can I help you today?” She replied, “I am here to re-apply for healthcare.” She received the forms, filled them out and was told to wait for a phone call in a couple of days. A few days went by and Marcy was away at work and missed the call from the Healthcare organization, but they left her a message on the answering machine. The message said, “Hi, sorry that you missed our call. I am a representative from the healthcare organization that you applied to a few days ago. I am so sorry that because of your weight, you have been denied access for affordable healthcare. If you have any questions you can contact us at your local healthcare location. Have a nice day.” Marcy fell to her knees she could not believe what she had just heard. She tried so hard to lose the weight and just when she thought it was enough, she failed again. Marcy worked two jobs just to keep things in order and being able to afford healthcare for her and her daughter, just was not enough. And this should...
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...Healthcare systems have been debated for years in the United States, and have led us to fall behind the race for affordable high quality health insurance for all our citizens. To be able to comprehend how this can be achieved, we must examine various other systems and see how they are implemented. For over a decade the front runner in universal healthcare has been France. This country is truly a measuring stick for others who want to provide universal healthcare, and I believe for the United States in this particular situation should be the country that we want to imitate the most. Solely by imitating we cannot really achieve our main goal, we must put effective legislation into effect and provide our citizens with ample information to get them knowledge about this system. I truly believe by proposing a plan similar to French and examining the reasons through a consequentialism point of view we can understand why healthcare is a right that others should not interfere with. Having that kind of view brings on a heavy burden on trying to explain what is the morally correct right for healthcare, in answering the question in simple terms the moral right way to provide healthcare is through a comprehensive system that allows all resources to be available to those who need. This brings the very tough dilemma of how we can provide that many resources to our entire population. To answer that and the distribution of our new drug we will examine the French system of healthcare. To determine...
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...The United States faces a long battle to repair its economy. Issues like unemployment, the federal budget deficit, immigration, gun control, etc, seem to create never ending discussions without any resolution. The healthcare system is one of the many issues that have been affected by the economic crisis and according to president Barrack Obama, reform is a must. Besides all economic factors affecting the healthcare system, the system has been blamed for inefficiency, excessive administrative expenses, inappropriate waste, and fraud and abuse. Many Americans today are having trouble keeping up with the continue rise of healthcare costs and many firms cannot afford to provide coverage to their employees. Although the government is working on a reform for the healthcare system, many questions are still pending to be answered. One question that has raised polemic discussions around the country is: should the U.S. government provide healthcare to all citizens? While many feel there should be a simple yes or no to this questions, many others realize that we do have to consider any potential ethical, moral or legal issues that can cause collateral damage to our economy and also the healthcare system. President Obama has been focusing on a reform for the healthcare system prior to his first election and to give a little overview of his reform, according to The White House (2013), see table below: Overview of Health Reform “It makes insurance more affordable by providing the largest...
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...Walter Olejarski Ms. Marshall SYG 2000-02M 15 March 2012 Healthcare in the United States: A Flawed Society People in the United States pay too much for the healthcare benefits they receive, and some have a poor quality of life. Advancements in technology and medical science allow people to live longer, but at times living longer has an adverse effect on the elderly. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “all men are created equal,” yet in today’s healthcare system, all citizens are not treated as equal. Moreover, quality healthcare is provided only to those who can afford it. Due to sociocultural differences and socioeconomic changes in the United States, health disparities are at an all-time high. Rising healthcare costs and the under-regulated health insurance industry directly correlate to poor health, and true healers are few and far between. In our society, those who can afford it stay healthy, and the remaining population is forced to live without proper medical care. Many problems exist with regard to healthcare in the US including poverty, crime, ethics, and policy, but the most overwhelming is cost. President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, called Obama-Care by some, is a start, but our society has a long way to go in bringing affordable healthcare to all Americans. Functionalists would view the healthcare system as if nothing is wrong, calling it a trend in society and finding some rationale to justify their position...
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...Single-Payer Healthcare Reform in the United States Not long ago, Tina Bachtel, a beautiful thirty-five-year-old women from Ohio walked into a local healthcare clinic seeking treatment. Tina was pregnant and having health issues. She had visited the clinic prior to that day while uninsured which resulted in her having a large unpaid balance. Bachtel was denied treatment. She was told she could only be granted service if she paid one hundred dollars per visit. Tina Bachtel did not have the money to pay upfront. Shortly after leaving the hospital, Tina Bachtel and her baby died (Krugman). Healthcare nightmares like these are not uncommon in the United States. Reform of the American healthcare system is crucial for a healthier and more financially...
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...The U.S. health care system is the subject of much differentiating debates. On one side we have those who argue that Americans have the “best health care system in the world”, pointing to our freely available medical technology and state-of-the-art facilities that have become so highly symbolic of its system. On the hand we have those who criticize the American system as being fragmented and inefficient, pointing to the fact that America spends more on health care than any other country in the world yet still suffers from massive un-insurance, uneven quality, and administrative waste. Understanding the debate between these two diametrically opposed viewpoints requires a basic understanding of the structure of the U.S. health care system. This paper will explain the organization and financing of the system, as well as explain the U.S. health care system in a greater perspective. For most people, the frightening prospect of being unemployed, losing health insurance coverage, having inadequate insurance benefits, or living in a rural community without a physician raises one vital access-related question: Will I be able to get the care I need if I become seriously ill? Because of health care's special status, society has an ethical obligation to ensure that all people have access to an adequate level of health care including access to new technologies as well as existing ones, without facing excessive burdens in obtaining such care. Society's recognition and implementation of...
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...Types of Healthcare Models: Socialized Medicine, Private Insurance, HMOs, Obamacare Pros and Cons to various healthcare models in terms of: quality of care provided, life-expectancy, accessibility to care, preventative medicine Focus: What type of health care model works best for the United States? Claim #1: The United States should look at overall health of various nations and try to copy systems used in countries with the highest overall healthcare ratings (I hope to prove this claim wrong) Claim #2: The U.S. President should not have very much say in the system put in place; rather, medical experts with a solid knowledge of public health and economics should be making these decisions. Claim #3: The best system for the United States would take our entire culture into perspective. The highly litigious environment that has been created by successful and powerful medical malpractice law firms has caused the cost of basic healthcare to go up, propagating an environment where the doctor must watch his or her back, before using logic in the distribution and usage of medical resources. Perhaps the reason that U.S. healthcare is subpar is because we are wasting too much money on unnecessary tests that have evolved into the standard of care in this country. If the focus were more on using medical logic to treat patients, rather than protection from medico-legal lawsuits, there might be more money to take care of basic patient healthcare needs, such as preventative...
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...Public health and health literacy is an unfamiliar topic to many Americans and continues to be overlooked and disregarded in the United States Healthcare system. Healthcare professionals and students in the Healthcare field are not specially trained in this area, which makes it hard to construct a system that targets public health and health literacy. Creating a healthcare system that is more focused on preventative measures may help to alleviate costs in the emergency room, leading to better quality of life and directing our system to prevention rather than solely focusing on treatment. Public health initiatives focus on preventative measures such as colonoscopies, mammograms, screenings for diabetes, immunizations etc. Unfortunately, students...
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...The Governments Fiscal Policy and Healthcare Proposals Trisha Elledge Colorado Christian University Abstract Bernie Sanders is looking to convert our country to a universal single-payer healthcare system. The following paper will break apart the article written by Avik Roy for Forbes titled Bernie Sanders’ Single-Payer Health Care Plan Would increase Federal Spending By At Least $28 Trillion. By converting to a single-payer healthcare system households would suffer more than they would thrive. Increased taxes, less government revenue and a higher unemployment rate can all come from implementing Berniecare into our country. Although Bernie Sanders is claiming to give “free” healthcare to all, I will point out why it is not free at all and why we should give the control of our healthcare back in to the hands of the people and out of the control of the government. The Governments Fiscal Policy and Healthcare Proposals According to Reem Heakal with Investopedia, “Fiscal policy is the means by which a government adjusts its spending levels and tax rates to monitor and influence a nation’s economy.” This can include the changing of tax rates nationally or adding a new local tax, adjusting where money is spent and allocated or changing where our government dollars and tax dollars will be used. Each year the government decides where our money will be divided out by agreeing on the upcoming year’s budget, however; as the year goes on money is overspent or gets cut and has...
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...Running head: UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE PLAN Universal Healthcare in America Name NUR 109 Fundamentals in Nursing Front Range Community College Universal healthcare is a controversial, yet important topic facing our country today. According to the author, Marleise Rashford there are approximately 300 million people living in the United States and one sixth of them are uninsured.(2007,p.5) That is approximately 50 million without insurance in our country today. Is this number so large because people are unable to afford it, is healthcare not important to them, or are they not using the government’s current medical systems that are put in place for them to use? These are all valid concerns that need to be addressed. The controversy at hand is putting together plan that will be effective, low cost to Americans and a fair reimbursement for working physicians. One huge advantage of universal healthcare program is that each individual no matter their income or pre-existing condition would be covered. That means everyone in the United States would be able to receive affordable benefits including preventative, surgical, specialists visits, rehabilitative services, hospitalizations, long term care and prescription medications. (Rashford, 2007, p.4) The universal healthcare system works through the primary care physician. The physician would be the patient’s overseer and they help plan routine health screens, early interventions, or any...
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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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...Healthcare Spending HCS/440 Healthcare Spending United States healthcare spending exceeds healthcare spending in any other country in the world. These increasingly high figures of healthcare spending cost are influenced by several different reasons. An aging population, illegal immigration, and technology advancements are some of the few influences on rising healthcare costs in America. It is imperative that health care costs are managed and soon because the government is finding it quite difficult to sustain everyone’s needs. In addition, healthcare reforms must be made to lessen healthcare costs before the quality of healthcare reduce in a drastic way. Healthcare spending has been on a continuous incline in America throughout the years. According to Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services, in the year of 2008 health care cost rose to $2.3 trillion in the United States; this was 4.4% higher than 2007 costs. Healthcare costs are averaging a little over %16 of the entire Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In 2008 Medicare spending increased 8.6% and Medicaid spending increased 4.7% in the same year. In addition, hospital stays physician rates, clinical visits, and prescription medications increased as well. 31% of a $1.6 trillion healthcare cost has been designated strictly for hospital stay care. Clinical and physician services are accountable for about 22% however, proposals from physicians account for a much vaster percentage of health care costs. Prescription medications...
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...Executive Summary The United States continues to spend significantly more on health care than any country in the world; however, even though with this statistic the United States has a lot of uninsured and does not have the healthiest citizens. The lack of universal healthcare coverage in the United States has been a forefront issue. With the overwhelming amount of uninsured Americans and the past unsuccessful efforts of health care reform, the possibility of universal health care seemed to be very unlikely. The new healthcare reform bill that was recently passed under Obama’s administration anticipates covering 30 more million of the uninsured (Riegelman, 2010). However, this bill does not offer universal healthcare. While excellent medical care is available in the United States, the rising cost and the U.S. health care delivery system present many challenges for the consumer and lawmakers. This paper addresses four dimensions that are pivotal to the successes and failures of the system: cost, efficiency, quality. The cost of the U.S. health care system is higher than any country in the world. Its efficiency is also under heavy scrutiny. If it were not an emergency most physicians would require insurance verification. Therefore, patients would be delayed of treatment. Moreover, The healthcare system in the U.S. should be redesigned in terms of prevention rather than treatment when people are already sick. Insurance should not go higher for people that have pre-existing conditions...
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...Healthcare: A Right or Privilege Christine P. (NOTE: SCHOOL/ FULL NAME INFO DELETED FOR PRIVACY) November 13, 2012 Healthcare: A Right or Privilege As I have pondered the ever hammering question of our society today, is healthcare a right or a privilege, I find that I am conflicted in making a decision to support either right or privilege. To arrive at an understanding, I needed to define the basic terms of “right” and “privilege”. An individual’s right, as defined by our constitution, is vast and detailed yet a right to health insurance is not discussed. What I did find was a statement that reads and individual has the right “to enter into contracts, and thereby acquire contractual rights” (United States Constitution, 2012). The question of contract is raised when discussing health insurance for it is a contract between member, inurance company and providers and this is a person’s right to enter or decline such contracts. Privilege is defined as “a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor” (Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, 2012). Upon reading the U.S. Constitution’s definition of right and a clarified meaning of privilege, I believe Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. There may be some confusion, such as I had, suggesting that every person be mandated to have health care coverage and this is a right rather than a privilege. With the definition set forth by the constitution, we the people have the “right” to enter into...
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