Philosophy of Healthcare in the USA - Essay Example

In 1946, the Hill-Burton Act was legislated to improve access to healthcare services. The result of this act was a substantial increase in healthcare facilities. Several other acts were enacted to improve the quality and subsidize the cost of healthcare services like the 1965 Public Health Service Act and 1974 National Health Planning and Resources Development Act (Sultz and Young, 2010). The target population includes the elderly especially the chronically ill older patients, children, and unemployed or underemployed people.

Much attention has been given to older people because of their poor health and it is estimated by 2050 thirty percent of the population in the USA will consist of elderly people. It is estimated that over 45 million people in the USA are either uninsured or underinsured (Papadimos, 2007). This means that access to quality healthcare is little or none. In some instances, political agendas have resulted in creating healthcare programs that are ineffective. This has downplayed the importance of better healthcare services to the population.

The quality and appropriateness of healthcare services impact heavily on costs. The insured have access to better healthcare services than those uninsured. This means the uninsured and those unemployed or underemployed access cheap healthcare services that may be poor in quality.