Quality of Care

Health Care in the United States Being physical biological beings makes humanity susceptible to a number of ailments and diseases. For this reason, one of the most important systems in human societies today is health care. The services of this system can make the difference between life and death for people in certain situations.

In the United States, however, the various effects of social and political values have created a system that is not only fraught by difficulty, but also by complication, leading not only to effective health outcomes for Americans, but also a large amount of uncertainty, extremely high costs, and aloof practitioners.

At the same time, it can be said that these values have perpetuated the difficult and complicated nature of the health industry, while nevertheless ensuring a high quality of health care for those Americans who have ready access to the system, although the quality of care available to most citizens have suffered. Fundamentally, Americans believe in the principles of right to choice and the maximization of everything in life.

These fundamental beliefs manifest themselves in a number of social and political values that perpetuate the system with all its benefits and flaws. First the social value of private property and the free market has helped to keep the health care system within the private sector. Government is restricted from involving itself in the general system, although government has been able to create programs for the poor, disadvantaged, and senior citizens.

The maintenance of health care in private hands has resulted in a focus on professional involvement, which in turn can be said to have maintained the quality of the system. In other words, no dilution of quality has taken place by involving the government in specialized health care areas. Further, the fundamental belief in the free market system has also enabled the health care sector to trade its goods and services at prices that have enabled research and development in the field, also enhancing quality.

The meritocracy value focuses on the results of effort. More effort, according to this value, merits greater results. Hence, programs for the poor and disadvantaged have taken second position in terms of funding to systems like employee benefits. The effect on the quality of health care is that greater effort to improve health care has resulted in better results in the sectors that are privately held. Maximization, or the gain and use of resources for the increase of personal benefit, is also applicable to improved quality of care.

Health care professionals who are paid for their services use these resources to improve the same services and hence quality is improved as long as funding can be gained. The value of personal choice allows the public to choose which health care systems to utilize. This creates centralization in health care delivery, with a number of entities to choose from. These entities compete for clients and encourages higher quality in service delivery.

While political culture values such as equality, pluralism, and incrementalism, have perpetuated the health care industry while discouraging its rapid change, it is the social values that have created a higher quality of care for individuals who make use of the system. On the other.