Health reform policy in the United States

Health Reform

Health Care in a Free Market System

Who influences whom? Where is the U.S. going with "reform"? What would you recommend?

For many decades, the primary influences driving the U.S. healthcare system have been private interests such as insurance companies, commercial healthcare systems and medical supply distributors. Their financial imperatives have driven priorities, which has resulted in a system that is highly profitable to a select few and otherwise excluding of countless Americans. Indeed, the thrust of 'reform' is the redressing of this exclusion through a greater distribution of coverage. The Affordable Care Act pushes for the creation of coverage for a wider cross-section of Americans. However, I would recommend the beginning of a push for universal healthcare coverage through Medicare, Medicaid and a coordination of private insurance programs. Until the cost of healthcare is not an obstacle to the receipt of quality treatment for tens of millions of Americans, the system will be deeply flawed.

- Health Planning and Regulation

Is Government a help or a hindrance in health systems? Be sure to read the Pauly article about Maryland's system of health regulation...

In spite of the objections of some partisan forces to the involvement of government in the regulation of healthcare, the role of government is refining the healthcare system is absolutely critical. The greatest hindrance to achieving a system of quality healthcare in the U.S. has been the role played by wildly unregulated private players. The government has taken decidedly too small a role in regulating the affairs of insurances and providers over the last several decades and the result has been a profit-hungry, exploitive and radically wasteful healthcare system. Because there has been an absence of regulation in the area of healthcare pricing, there has been unrestrained prioritization of profit over quality of care. The result is that a multilayered system which is inherently designed to maintain and improve our public health standards has instead become almost entirely designed by its profitability. The best opportunity we have for reversing this trend is the applying of pressure that only the federal government can bring to bear. Greater regulation of pricing, coverage and standards of care will shift the focus back to quality health outcomes rather than strict improvement of the bottom line at all costs.

- Is there a solution?

How can (or can't) public policy shape health care in the U.S. What do you predict for the next year?