U.S. Healthcare Policy Few Issues

U.S. Healthcare Policy

Few issues have drawn more contentious debate and more virulent commentary from both sides of the political fence than has the recent legislation that serves as an overhaul of sorts to the United States' healthcare system. The legislation, which was pushed for quite strongly by the current White House administration and passed largely along partisan lines, purports to address several significant problems with the healthcare system as it currently exists in the country by requiring all individuals to purchase some form of healthcare coverage and by expanding coverage options and potentials for high-risk individuals. This will supposedly end or at least limit the extreme rise in the cost of healthcare that has been witnessed in the United States, which has one of the highest per-capita expenditure rates on healthcare and yet does not provide the same quality of care that exists in many other countries (BLE 2001). But although this legislation does represent a major change in healthcare policy and the government's perspective towards its role in providing affordable healthcare, it truly does not go far enough to solve this nation's problems.

One of the major reasons for the massive expense in the healthcare system as it currently exists is the complexity of the billing system. There are tens of thousands of different healthcare agencies that medical offices, labs, and other service providers have to bill in order to receive payment, and each one of these companies has its own system that it requires service providers to abide by (Healthcare NOW 2010). This has led to the creation of an entire medical billing industry, which of course takes a lot of revenue to keep going. This revenue ultimately comes from patients in the form of higher costs; billing offices that handle the actual billing of insurance companies, individuals, employers, and other payers are paid for their services by service providers, which charge consumers more to make up the difference.

This is one reason why a single-payer healthcare system such as what exists in many European countries would be an ideal shift in healthcare policy in the United States. In a single-payer system, a government entity is responsible for reimbursing all service providers for their costs and expenses, meaning that billing takes place in exactly the same manner for all patients and all providers (Healthcare NOW 2010). This means that instead of tens of thousands of different insurance companies, employers, and individuals that need to be contacted in order to receive payment, there is only one, and in making this move healthcare costs could be dramatically -- possibly by as much as half in some circumstances (Healthcare NOW 2010). In addition to providing far cheaper healthcare, a single-payer system operated by the government could guarantee payment for all medical services rendered, which does not actually occur in the present system. Instead, many people without health insurance receive emergency care when it is needed -- almost always at greater expense than regular preventative care would create -- and are then unable to pay for their services; the costs of these unpaid for services are passed on to insured individuals in the form of higher costs (BLE 2001). This means that healthcare costs are already basically distributed on a payment-ability basis, but in a highly inefficient manner that reduces the quality of care provided to many individuals and increases the cost of healthcare for everyone.