World Health Organization in the US - Term Paper Example

number Health care in the United s Health care system of the United s occupies a world-leading position as far as resources it involves are concerned. Almost 14 million people are engaged in this sphere, which makes this industry one of the largest in the US. As stated by the World Health Organization, the US spends more on health care per capita than any other country in the world. In 2011, for example, the sum came to $8,508 (OECD, 2013). At the same time, a lot of people seem to be dissatisfied with current state of affairs. In practice American health care system possesses a number of drawbacks, that is why health care debate is one of the most acute issues of the recent years. One of the most urgent questions is whether all the Americans should be entitled to health care or not. The US is known to be one of few highly-developed nations which do not provide universal health care for its citizens. Together with Mexico, the US is the only member of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development that does not have this service (OECD, 2013). Thus, advocates of the reform insist that health care should be defined as a universal system, run by the government. In other words, this should be the government’s responsibility, but not one of the concerns of ordinary people. Nowadays, however, American people must work really hard in order to take care of their own health. The burden of all the medical expenses lies on the shoulders of ordinary citizens. According to the US Census Bureau, government programs cover only 27.8% of the population (83 million), including the elderly, disabled, children, veterans, and some of the poor (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013). In addition, national law provides public access to the services of emergency, without regard to paying capacity of a person. However, this does not seem to be right that all the other people have to take care about their health on their own. A couple of arguments may illustrate this. Despite the significant and really impressive advances in medical sciences, millions of Americans cannot afford themselves a number of modern services just because the price is too high. It seems to be a paradox that citizens of one of the riches countries in the world cannot afford qualitative health services. That is why medical health care, one of the unalienable human rights by the way, seems to be turned into a privilege. Advocates of the right for health care insist that no one in the richest nation on earth should go without it (Right to Health Care, 2014). The US seems to be wealthy enough to make health care available for the whole population, especially if to take into consideration the sums government spends on health care in general. It is possible to compare the situation with the one in Europe. Some of the European countries, such as Germany, France, Italy, and the UK provide the right for health care for all its citizens, though they have a lower Gross Domestic Product per capita (The World Bank, 2014). At the same time, it is predicted that about 31 million American people are not likely to have health insurance even in 2016 (Nardin et al, 2013). Thus, health care expenses may sometimes be a huge problem for ordinary people. It is actually the top financial problem for many families in the US, as assessed by Customer Reports in 2012 (Consumer Reports, 2012). Very few people can afford to defray all the costs and expenses of their own treatment. Health insurance is sometimes the way to deal with the problem. Although its annual cost is rather high, it gives people an opportunity to receive treatment without paying huge bills. At the same time, implementation of the right to health care could make medical services affordable for all the ordinary people. According to the statistics, it could help 98 percent of the ordinary American families save their money and gain access to government-financed health care services. What is more, implementation of the right to health care could be beneficial for economics of the country. Healthy people are likely to demonstrate higher productivity and, consequently, contribute much more to the economy. Besides, people would not miss their work so often. It is necessary to cite World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, who insists that the right to health care should be provided worldwide in order to ‘help foster economic growth’ (Peralta, 2014). According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2012 more than 15% of the US population did not have health insurance (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013). Approximately 50 million people could afford only minimum amount of medical insurance, which means that it does not cover costs of expensive medicines and complicated operations. At the same time, health care costs are constantly rising. A lot of ordinary people in the US doubt the efficiency of medical insurance companies. There is a widespread opinion that they are actually unnecessary, just because they seem to do much more harm than good. As practice shows, many insurance companies just try to make money off their clients. The prices are really high (very few people can afford all inclusive medical insurance), while payout amounts are often miserable. Besides, medical insurance does not usually cover quite a wide range of services, such as those of dentist, ophthalmologist, pediatrician, psychiatrist, and so on. At the same time, health insurance market still remains one of the largest business sectors in the country. If to take into consideration all the resources it involves, it is possible to say that it is absolutely unproductive and even wasteful, at least in percentage correlation. Thus, the number of uninsured citizens is really high. One more negative effect of this fact is that there is a kind of hidden tax, which is yearly paid for the uninsured. According to the study by an advocacy group for health care consumers, the sum of approximately $1,017 is annually paid to compensate for the uninsured population by an average American family (Seung Min Kim, 2015). Ron Pollack, the groups executive director, says ‘I dont think anybody has any idea about how much they are paying because of the need to cover the health care costs of the uninsured’. According to his words, ordinary families pay this tax on all insurance premiums when purchasing their own coverage (Seung Min Kim, 2015). Such an approach makes all the citizens responsible for each other. A lot of people in the US do not have health insurance. Consequently, the price is paid by those who have it. Uninsured people, whose income level is usually low, are supposed to pay for medical services they require as much as they can. Very often, however, low-income families cannot pay the whole bill, that is why certain sum remains uncompensated. In order to compensate this sum hospitals level up prices of medical services which insurance companies provide to their clients. As a result, people who are insured pay the so called hidden health tax in compensation for the uninsured. That is why the level of responsibilities American people have for each other is really high. In practice, however, this system is far from being perfect. A lot of people are still deprived of an access to many medical services they require. There is a widespread opinion that health insurance companies should not exist at all. Health insurance market should not be driven by profits. In this case, of course, it is necessary to provide a worthy alternative. Now it is possible to distinguish a couple of variants, though a number of projects are still under development. Firstly, government programs. A lot of people doubt their efficiency as well, but still it is vitally important to continue working on them. It is possible to start with preventive services. It would be a significant contribution towards public health if the government paid for them. It is necessary to mention the right for health care once again – broader health coverage would certainly provide public access to the required medical services. Consequently, American people would become healthier, especially if to talk about low-income households. Besides, it would help solve one of the issues of social discrimination – poor people cannot afford medical services, available for those with higher income. This emphasizes inequality among different social classes, which may give rise to conflicts and public outcries. That is why government-financed health care services could sufficiently improve public health and well-being. Thus, income level should not be a predetermining criterion when it comes to human health. This opinion may be called a basic principle of Medicaid, a social health care program for people with insufficient income. This program is especially good as it provides medical care for children from poor families, people with disabilities, and retirement home residents. Of course it is possible to enumerate a number of drawbacks this program has, but still it seems to be a worthy area of focus. It is also necessary to mention Obama’s proposal of the public insurance option. The idea is to create a health insurance agency, run by government, which would become one more alternative plan of health insurance. This seems to be quite a good idea as it would give an opportunity to bring down medical cost. The public option would also become a worthy business competitor for private health insurance companies of the US. As it is possible to notice, high competition makes entrepreneurs provide more qualitative services for quite moderate sums of money. That is why the idea of public option is worthy of attention as well. Finally, it is necessary that all the citizens have high deductible, catastrophic policies in case of unexpected situations (Brady, 2015). Among such emergencies there may be breaking a leg, a stroke, a heart attack, a cancer diagnosis, and so on. A monthly fee for catastrophic health insurance could guarantee an ability to pay medical bills in case of an accident and, what is important, feeling of calm. Thus, this kind of insurances, provided by many health insurance companies, should not be neglected. The right to health care and high percentage of residents without health insurance are not the only challenging issues of the US health care system. Most families of the US face the dilemma whether their children should be vaccinated. A lot of parents refuse from vaccination as they believe that it may do only harm to their child’s health. It is true that statistics know a number of cases when a child’s life was endangered as a result of vaccination. At the same time, the number of cases when vaccination helped children cope with the disease is much higher. There is a number of reasons why kids should be vaccinated. In order to demonstrate how effective modern vaccines are it is possible to mention polio. It used to be a dreadful disease which carried away lives of thousands of people around the whole country. Nowadays there are no reports of polio in the US. The disease was eliminated thanks to the vaccinations success. Thus, vaccination may save a child’s life and protect people from numerous diseases. What is more, vaccination does not only protect each concrete individual. It prevents the disease from spreading to other people. That is why it is possible to say that vaccination protects future generations of American people. It is also important that immunizations may help a family save their time and money. A person who suffers vaccine-preventable diseases is likely to face financial difficulties as a result of prolonged disabilities and huge medical bills. Vaccination seems to be quite a good investment from this perspective, especially if to take into consideration that it is usually covered by insurance companies. There is also a government-funded program – the Vaccines for Children. It provides free vaccination for kids from low-income families. Finally, parents should not worry that vaccines may be dangerous for their kids. Advances in medical science give doctors a ground to guarantee successful outcome of the procedure. Vaccines are only given to kids after a thorough review by experts. Vaccines sometimes involve pain, redness, and even allergic reactions. However, it cannot be compared to discomfort a person suffers when he or she catches a disease. At the same time, vaccination by no means should be mandatory. People must have an opportunity to choose, especially if to take into consideration that vaccines are not always risk-free and 100% effective. One more controversial issue of medical care is assisted suicide. This must certainly be the right of each individual. Everyone deserves compassion. Death sometimes is the only way to reduce a person’s sufferings. A lot of people suffer incurable diseases which cause intolerable pain on their last stages. The only thing doctors may do is to prolong a person’s agony. That is why assisted suicide should be available. Besides, medical science is developed enough to make the process of dying absolutely painless. One more thing, an individual’s autonomy. Every person should be given an opportunity to control his or her own body and destiny. Other people have no moral right to influence the process of making such decisions. Such an approach cannot actually be associated with assisted suicide only. It touches upon a customer’s opportunity to make decisions when it comes to their health plans in general. Vaccination may be a good example – it should always remain voluntary. However, it sometimes may be quite a controversial issue whether people should be given an opportunity to make decisions when it comes to their health. On the one hand, the answer is ‘yes’ just because it is a right of every person. On the other hand, a lot of people very often lack proper knowledge and information in order to make adequate decisions. What is more, the current health care system does not usually support informed decision making (Demchak, 2007). Knowledge and family support, however, are always key elements which enable a person to make the right decision. It is certainly wrong to neglect advices doctors give. At the same time, a person should always occupy active position when it comes to the treatment. Firstly, it is much better to be armed with knowledge. Secondly, it is necessary to remember that health care industry is usually driven by profit motive. There are cases when doctors prescribe patients a number of procedures and drugs they do not actually need. That is why to be aware of the process of personal treatment sometimes means to reduce medical expenses. People should remember that their own health always remains their own concern. It may be quite a bad idea to save money on health care. Consequences may be really sad. That is why it is unfair that some people cannot afford medical procedures they need. That is the reason why all the American people should be provided with the universal right to health care, like in many other countries. Works Cited Consumer Reports. Sluggish Economy Forces Americans to Cut Corners to Pay for Medications. Web. Sep. 2012. Cyanne Demchak. Choice in Medical Care: When Should the Consumer Decide? AcademyHealth. Web. Oct. 2007. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2012. U.S. Census Bureau. Web. Sep. 2013. Katherine Peralta. World Banks Kim Says Health Care Is a Right for Everyone. Web. Jan. 14, 2014 Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). OECD Health Data 2013. Web. June 27, 2013. Rachel Nardin, Leah Zallman, Danny McCormick, Steffie Woolhandler, and David Himmelstein. The Uninsured after Implementation of the Affordable Care Act: A Demographic and Geographic Analysis. Web. June 6, 2013. Seung Min Kim. Insured pay hidden tax for uninsured health care. USA Today. Web. 2015. Should All Americans Have the Right (Be Entitled) to Health Care? Right to Health Care: Pros and Cons. Web. Sep. 2014. Susan Brady. Top 5 Alternatives to Traditional Health Insurance. HealthNews. Web. Jan. 7, 2015. The World Bank. GDP Per Capita (Current US$). Web. Jan. 27, 2014. Read More