Do you ever wonder why despite the United States mass spending on healthcare doesn’t show up on its quality? Why is US healthcare so expensive, what justifies the expenses given some people may lack accessibility, how does this affect middle class income citizens?
General Issue of accessibility
Health care in the United States is known to be very expensive, even with the expenses our healthcare system tends to have undesirable outcomes. One of the biggest issues of the United States is the healthcare system specifically around healthcare costs and expenses. So what justifies the health care expenses and medical debts? An ambulance ride to the hospital costs around $500 – $3,500 depending on the distance. Sometimes our insurance plans don’t cover specific treatments or procedures leading the person to pay out of pocket themselves that alone costs over thousands. To put it simply, A 2017 survey of 11 developed countries found the US healthcare system the most expensive and worst-performing in terms of access, efficiency, and equity” (Does the United States Need a National Health and Insurance Scheme? Views, Facts, Challenges, and Potential Benefits). Even with the most expensive healthcare system you’d assume the healthcare would be amazing, yet it is one of the worst.
Health Insurance Statistics
Another significant issue with our health care system is health insurance. On many occasions insurances will deny claims. This would have a very significant impact on middle class citizens or lower. Health insurance is a huge problem in our society because there’s always a loophole whether or not it decides to cover expenses which can cause delays. The significant delays for basic procedures and operations is largely damaging to our society. About 8% of America is uninsured, approximately 27.1 million. Put simply, “The US has the highest spending on healthcare, even though 14% of the population was uninsured in 2002 (NCHS 2004), whereas other industrialized nations have comprehensive health insurance” (Why U.S. health care expenditure and ranking on healthcare indicators are so different from Canada’s). Even with the highest spending on healthcare the outcomes never speak to its funding, lacking in accessibility for low income citizens.
Health Insurance Accessibility Issue
Do you trust healthcare in the United States? The country spends $4.9 trillion on healthcare yet one third of the citizen population is not getting proper health coverage. The target audience in this case being people of low income and those who aren’t covered in healthcare. To put it simply, “We point out that insurance companies provide NO healthcare. They just handle the money and chop off one-third of every dollar (or 350 million dollars from every billion dollars) for their profits and multiple administrative costs including high advertising and lobbying costs.” (HEALTHCARE MOBILISATION: PRIVATISATION vs QUALITY HEALTHCARE FOR ALL). Many factors contribute to this rise, one of them being health insurance with its high cost, there’s a very large number of people who have to pay out of pocket.
Healthcare Reformation
Healthcare is one of the biggest problems in the United States simply within Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. These aimed to solve the nation’s biggest problem where millions of uninsured people were lacking healthcare. To put it simply, “By deploying a strategy that simultaneously combined a mandate to buy health insurance, tax credits, and Medicaid expansion” (TRICARE in Context of US Healthcare Reform). This solution played a significant role in expanding coverage for those who were uninsured. While this solution aimed to expand coverage, it simply couldn’t tackle another big problem. That being the rising cost of healthcare.
Healthcare Problems (Statistics)
The rising costs of healthcare needs no introduction as it is one of the most significant problems in the United States. Around 8% of people in the United States that is over millions of people who have limited access to healthcare. Here are the statistics of healthcare costs and medical expenses.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I strongly believe that the United States Healthcare system needs to be reformed. It should improve on its accessibility especially around health insurance, how expensive that may be. At least with insurance coverage and plans due to the fact they may not cover some expenses such as medicines or procedures etc. The United States houses over 300 million people which begs the question for a country that spends over trillions on healthcare why is healthcare in the United States so inadequate?
