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¶ … Health Care Costs in the United States on the Access to Care
Total U.S. Spending on Health Care vs. Overall Health in America (2010, June). Mirror, mirror on the wall: How the performance of the U.S. health care system compares internationally. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from the Commonwealth Fund website: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Fund%20Report/2010/Jun/1400_Davis_Mirror_Mirror_on_the_wall_2010.pdf
The United States spends an extraordinary amount of money on health care. In 2009, health spending was $2.47 trillion dollars and accounted for 17.3% of the U.S. economy in 2009 (Pickert, 2010). This was a significant increase over the 2008 figure of $2.34 trillion and "was the largest one-year jump since 1960" (Pickert, 2010). This has led to predictions that by 2019, U.S. health spending will be $4.5 trillion (Pickert, 2010). Much of this spending is government spending. Approximately one-fifth of the federal budget in 2009 went to health-care spending. That year, the "federal government spent about $500 billion on Medicare; the federal government and states spent some $380 billion on Medicaid" (Pickert). However, while U.S. health care spending has risen, the quality of health care in the United States has been in steady decline and has been surpassed by many western nations. "Compared with six other nations -- Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom -- the U.S. health care system ranks last or next-to-last on five dimensions of a high performance health system: quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives" (Davis et al., 2010).
Pickert, K. (2010, February 4). The unsustainable U.S. health care system. Retrieved December 5, 2011, from Time.com website: http://swampland.time.com/2010/02/04/the-unsustainable-u-s-health-care-system/
Increased Health Care Costs have Led to Approximately 49 Million Uninsured Americans
The increased costs of health care have led to an insurance crisis. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2010, the number of uninsured Americans was 49.9 million (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Moreover, "the percentage of people covered by private health insurance has been decreasing since 2011" (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). While there was an increase in the percentage of people covered by government insurance, it was largely due to Medicare. Most alarmingly, "in 2010, 9.8% of children under age 18 (7.3 million) were without health insurance" (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). Children in poverty were more likely to be uninsured than children in general, despite government…
Increased medical costs mean that medical facilities may need to reduce their budgets. Oftentimes, this results in decreasing staff numbers and not replacing medical equipment and supplies when necessary. This is particularly troublesome for large-scale care providers, like hospitals, where supplies form a significant part of their budgets. "Many -- but not all -- of the price hikes are driven by the continually-rising price of oil, but others are not" (Zieger, 2008). The relationship between medical supply costs and oil prices is not simply about transportation, some medical supplies, like latex gloves, require oil to manufacture them. However, they also happen to be critical in helping curb the spread of disease in a hospital environment. "All told, it's an ugly picture that shows no signs of getting better over the near-term. And with many hospitals at the break-even point or even losing money, supply costs could be the straw that breaks the camel's back for some" (Zieger, 2008).
Zieger, A. (2008, July 22). Rising medical supply costs squeeze hospitals. Retrieved December
5, 2011 from Fierce Health Finance website: http://www.fiercehealthfinance.com/story/rising-medical-supply-costs-pinch-hospitals/2008-07-22
These stakeholders are also vital in the promotion of the application of standards-based technology. This is critical as it enhances the safety and security of the citizens as they pursue low-cost health care services and products within the context of the United States. The federal and state governments have also been influential in the development and implementation of policies towards addressing security and privacy issues in relation to the utilization
Universal healthcare is the only saving formula for this nation, which is doomed in a health care crisis of unprecedented proportions. There is a urgent need to transform healthcare from its present state of commercialism towards the humanitarian approach which guarantees 'healthcare for all' independent of their social or financial circumstances. A shared and collective responsibility of healthcare management is the only viable formula for America. It is high
Access to Health Care in USA This research paper focuses on the degree of accessibility to the health care services in the U.S.A. Accessibility refers to the ability of an individual to meet health care needs and to acquire the needed medical services on time. It then discusses the findings of the research. The suggestions for the elimination of the prevailing problems in the health care system are also given in
(Wolf, 2008) When you put all of these different elements together, it means that denying health care services to undocumented workers and their families will cause their underlying levels of health to slowly deteriorate. If something serious does occur, these people will more than likely be forced to fend for themselves. Conducting research in these two areas would be beneficial in influencing health care policy / outcome by: highlighting the
Even though the overall life expectancy in the U.S. has increased to the age of 78, the relative ranking has fallen in relation to the rest of the world, with the U.S. now 38th out of 195 countries, behind most of Western Europe. These rankings may reflect the combination of a shortage of public health education, lack of daily exercise, poor nutrition, and the uninsured not seeking medical help. The results seem
Health Care Costs and Health Care Quality The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, dedicated to improving the health and health care of Americans, focuses on research, publication and funding. Two of its articles, "What is the National Quality Strategy?" And "What's the price of health care?" focus on several important issues of national health care. By simplifying the explanation of our National Quality Strategy and examining several states' attempts at health care