America Needs a National Health Care System - Research Paper Example

America Needs a National Health Care System or Insurance Program Introduction America is falling in two major parts; first, it has to recognize health care as a right and not just a privilege. Subjection of everyone to equal rights and medical treatment is essential. Whether poor or rich, children, women, and men have a right to fair treatment. Secondly, America must create national health care system to provide quality health services to be very effective to everyone. It is very ironical that this happens in one of the most advanced countries (Simmons 76). Almost fifty million people lack health insurance, another one more million have problems in their payments, and they are deducted .Almost 45000 die each year for lack of treatment. The infant mortality rates and general death rates rise dangerously each year. This the main reason for the need for a national health care service. Americas lower life expectancy America has thus achieved lower life expectancy, it is evident because of unstable security because of use of lax gun and poor healthcare planning, the ranking of the American men is the lowest with 75.6years and their women 80.7 years, and many reports come from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. The major contributor to the lower lifespan in America is the lax gun rules (Lewis 83). The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school made the lax guns to cater for the blame. The many violent deaths that America experiences have led to the shorter life span in America. Another reason for the lowering of the lifespan of Americans is the violent deaths that they experience. In every 100000 residents, the United States of America has six violent deaths. The report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine says that the united state should not ignore the deaths because they own a lot of money. According to researchers, America is the leading state in violent deaths. This may be because of ownership of guns by citizens. So many citizens own guns illegally. Despite the short lifespan caused by the violent deaths and lax guns security, the consumption of large amounts of calories by the Americans that causes diabetes and involvement in alcohol and many accidents also cause deaths. Consumption of many calories results to diabetes hence early deaths in the United States (Uradnik, Lori, and Sara 109). With the invention ARV’s, AIDS still shorten the lifespan of people, because ARV’S do not eliminate the disease, it just reduces. There are three major causes summed together. This includes the health care system, bad behavior and social and economic factors. Results of American fragmented health care The keeping busy of the emergency rooms is a challenge that has taken long. A report has said that Americans that are un-insured, visit the hospital many times compared to the patients who are insured (Lewis 54). Out of the 354 million, only 42% doctors are there to attend to them, this concludes the fact that there is shortage of the doctors. Another study was in spite of having an increase in the use of MRI in the ER and CT. There is no any increase in the diagnosis of the life-threatening conditions. Doctors have reduced the use of hospitals by eliminating surgery, reducing high-priced diagnostic tests with no improving of the results, removing admissions for episodes that are a cute in chronic diseases and stopping the routine of using emergency rooms for primary care. Field argues that in the time when the admissions of patients will stabilize and the hospitals financed, the hospital must attain value of importance (Simmons 76). That will be time that the medical department will take its role to ensure the practice of provision of quality services, they will also locate niches where the hospital can also make savings and to work out ways in which virtual care is delivered. They would also invent organizations accountable for care and many more organizations that will help connect patients, payers, and the sponsors. It calls for the address of the real issues in the medical fields in the United States. Ensuring the opening of clinics for more hours and extending to the weekends to attend to the problems of citizens is the only solution. More than 45 million people are uninsured, and a few millions are under insured 45 million Americans do not possess the health insurance. Moreover, worst of it all the ones lacking the medical insurance are from the poor families and are there health outcome is terrible (Lewis 19). The death rate of un- insured young adults of dying is very high, about 18000 die each year. The un- insured do not get the professional medication given to the insured. The insured always get standard care recommended. Most insurance firms do not include some specified services from the service lists. Such services include maternity and mental services. Lists from contracted physicians and hospitals are used nowadays by most of the insurance firms and they charge extra charges for patients using the hospitals and physicians not contracted (Uradnik, Lori, and Sara 261). These factors then reduce the essence of insurance and thus the shifting of the costs from the insurance program to the patients national care service for patients who may need care, should be done. The average income of America is reducing because of the less coverage of insurance. In the most recent study, 29% of the continually insured people earning average or slightly more than average experience many challenges in their finances because of the medical bills (Lewis 19). The ones who are not continually insured, their bills were higher. The barriers of finances therefore block their ways to enjoy beneficial services. The insurance market in the United States is thus incurring no benefits for very high expenditures. The cost of health care is rising up unusual Rising cost of health care in the United States of America is a major challenge. Rising costs in the health care of course results to low income that means many financial strains for family men in balancing over food, rent and the general care (Uradnik, Lori, and Sara 125). It becomes very difficult for small enterprises with few employers to add on employees, which is an automatic expenditure. This is because management becomes difficult and competition in the economy, there ruling out becomes easy. Among many causes of rising costs of health care and spending is the prices of the medical services are high, quantity payment instead of quality, use of defensive medicine, the using of new treatments and technologies without any considerations of its effectiveness, and transparency of information on quality and prices is lacking (Lewis 20). Provider consolidation is exerting a rising pressure on the cost of the health care services. Failure to solve these challenges, they have severe impacts. Health costs need very complicated strategies of lowering it down. There are health plans that play a very essential part in lowering the cost. Partnership between the health planners and the providers come up with innovative high quality payments to reward quality, and quality instead of volume. Consideration of providing an alternative way regarding effective providers and essential matters such as management of cases of individuals having chronic conditions and coordination of care (Uradnik, Lori, and Sara 370). This ways have helped the United States to get rid of the insurance services to the health care services. The Board of Director of AHIP outlined three key strategies of reducing health care cost. This includes tackling transparency barriers, facilitation of benefit modernization, and advancing bold, structural reforms. The cost of prescription drugs is going up more than the general increase health care cost Prescription drugs in the United States are the worlds’ highest. The pharmaceutical industry has been the major beneficiary in the United States since the citizens of America pay large sums of money on drugs compared to other citizens in the world (Lewis 22). The cost of manufacturing drugs is low and the united states have allowed the pharmaceutical industry to take the large share. There are factors, which increase the prices of drugs. These factors include advances treatment from research and development, the population that is ageing needs more prescription drugs, new ways of promotion of traditional products, and the increase of coverage for prescription in insurance (Lewis 49). These factors therefore result into change utilization and price of the prescription drugs. Several attempts to fix the problem of the high cost of drug prescription have been tried (Simmons 40). Among the many trials, the providers and the policy makers attempted to reduce the cost by increasing the supply of drugs for three months instead of one month. After the report, which showed a decrease of 29% out of pocket, cost and a decrease of 18% in total prescription cost. This has greatly helped Conclusion To conclude, the United States of America needs a national health care system rather than an insurance program. This because of the many disadvantages of the insurance program and the many advantages of the national health care system (Simmons 69). The insurance program does not fully cater for every citizen; it does not offer rights equally to all citizens. Those insured are offered recommended treatment, which is standard while those who are not insured are offered undertreated. Most violent deaths are thus associated with those who are not insured. In addition, the insurance firm in the United States is costly and inefficient. They exclude maternity services and they sign contracts with specific hospitals and specific physicians. On the other hand, national health care services incorporate all citizens including ones who are poor or rich, young and old, all at a fair cost. There is a great need for the United States to adopt the national health care system. Work cited Lewis, Carolyn H. Prescription for Heterosexuality: Sexual Citizenship in the Cold War Era. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. Print. Simmons, Paul D. Faith and Health: Religion, Science, and Public Policy. Macon, Ga: Mercer University Press, 2008. Print. Uradnik, Kathleen A, Lori A. Johnson, and Sara Hower. Battleground: Government and Politics. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood, 2011. Print. Read More