The Financial Aspects of Health Care - Assignment Example

Question Group What role should the U.S government play in financing health care services? As compared to almost every other developed nation throughout the world, the United States government currently plays and abysmally poor role with respect to providing healthcare services. Even after the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the overall amount of money and a percentage of income that the United States resident is responsible for paying towards their healthcare far exceeds that of any other nation.

Because of this, it is the understanding of this particular student that the United States government should place in much larger role with respect to financing health care services; due to the fact that it has a direct relation with regard to be productivity, efficiency, and happiness of the populace that resides within its borders. What role should the private sector play in financing health care services?With respect to the way that the above question is answered, it should not be understood that the government must be responsible for each and every aspect of healthcare payment.

Instead, issues relating to cosmetic surgery and medical issues that do not involve direct health and well-being of the patient must be supported by the private sector; ultimately the responsibility of either insurance companies and/or the individual patient themselves. The underlying reason for this has to do with the fact that the government was responsible for all types of healthcare services, the system would necessarily be abused.How do health insurers, employers, patients, provider organizations, health care workers, federal and state governments, and taxpayers affect health care delivery and its costs?

Health insurers affect the cost of healthcare with respect to the fact that they are able to set premiums that an individual will be required to pay as a function of having access to their services. Likewise, employers affect the cost of healthcare due to the fact that they seek to defray the overall cost that an individual employee must pay by paying a percentage of the salary that they would otherwise devote to the employee as a function of bringing down the cost of the premiums. Likewise, patients affect the overall cost of healthcare with respect to the issues of supply and demand.

Similarly, healthcare workers also affect the cost of health care in terms of issues of supply and demand as well as the overall salary that these individuals are responsible for receiving. Similarly, federal and state governments affect the cost of healthcare due to the fact that they oftentimes provide standardized cost of healthcare for those individuals that are able to afford it and therefore create an unnatural barrier that offsets the cost that other individuals are responsible for paying (Miller, 2012).

Similarly, taxpayers offset the cost of healthcare due to the fact that a certain percentage of their taxes are devoted towards seeking to impact upon price controls and provide healthcare to those important.Question Group 2:Why is it important for health care consumers and professionals to understand the term cost containment?The importance of healthcare consumers and professionals in understanding cost-containment has to do with the fact that without an understanding of this the overall cost of healthcare will only continue to rise exponentially in the future.

By seeking to contain the cost of healthcare and define it in terms of quality of service given/rendered per unit of payment provided, the overall utility of all parties involved will be maximized.What are some of the specific reasons for the rising cost of health care?Two of the most specific reasons with respect to the rising cost of healthcare include the issue of uninsured individuals and the increasing levels of technology that are being utilized and required as a function of research and development (Moon, 2005).

Firstly, with respect to uninsured individuals, rising cost of healthcare can be understood in terms of the fact that other individuals within the system are required to pay a higher percentage of money for the treatments and healthcare interventions they receive due to the fact that they are helping to defray the cost for those individuals that are uninsured similarly, with respect to the issue of technology, it can readily be understood that the increasing level of technology that utilizes a research and development and practice require a higher percentage of payment as compared to more rudimentary practices that were exhibited within the past.

What is your specific suggestion to address rising costs? Is cost containment working? Why or why not?In terms of a specific suggestion concerning addressing the rising cost of healthcare, cost-containment must be understood as a failed practice. The underlying reason for this is quite obvious due to the fact that cost-containment has not exhibited a positive impact with respect to the overall amount of money that individuals required paper their healthcare (Zhu, 2006). Ultimately, the end solution in seeking to legitimize the system and bring down the cost of healthcare is to engage with a single-payer system; one that does not lie on taxpayers, employers, employees, insurers, and a litany of other third parties as a function of providing healthcare to the end patient.

If this were practice and engaged, as it is in so many other developed nations, the overall cost of health care within the United States would precipitously drop in a matter of weeks.ReferencesMiller, D. W. (2012). Value-Based Pricing. Pharmaceutical Medicine, 26(4), 217-222.Moon, M. (2005). Confronting the Rising Costs of Healthcare in Medicare and Medicaid. Generations, 29(1), 59-64.Zhu, W. (2006). Sound Solutions for Rising Healthcare Costs. Vital Speeches of the Day, 72(25), 746-751.