Access to Health Care in the United States of America - Research Paper Example

Access to health care in the United s of America Access to health care in the United s of America Background of the study This research paper is based on the topic “Access to health care in United states of America”. The concept of access to healthcare is a fundamental pillar of health policies. However, on contrary to what one might think, it is a complex and multi-faceted idea. At the most basic level, access depends only on the provision of care, i.e. its availability. With the help of adequate supply the population has the opportunity to use the services and will be possible to say that has access to health care. However, effective access to health care also depends on possible barriers to appropriate use of health care, whether economic, social, organizational or cultural (Wendt, 2009). In this sense, access to health care is essentially a matter of people to allow access to their health potential and therefore should be analyzed in the light of the health needs and economic and cultural contexts of different groups of society. In short, the issue of access to health care is inseparable from the equity question of the health system. Research questions This research paper is based on following research questions: 1. What is the concept of access to health care in U.S.? 2. What policies are in place? 3. What is the current structure of the system? 4. What is the outcome of the current system? 5. What are the different Health outcome indicators? 6. Has the country tried something to improve or change the system? If so, what is the impact? Scope of the study The scope of this research study is to analyze the concept of access to health care mainly in the U.S. With the help of this research paper, researcher will cover different areas like different policies related to access to health care; current and present structure system; outcome of the current system of access to health care in USA; different indicators of health outcome; satisfaction of the patients; and the struggle of country in order to improve or change the system and the influence of this form of change. Research methodology Saunders et al (2009) stated that research methodology of any research study is the organized technique in which specific data or information is collected so that the research questions and hypothesis are proved and justified (p.55). However, in this particular research study, the research adopted qualitative secondary research method. Secondary data for this study has been gathered by the researcher by accessing various public and private libraries easily accessible over the internet. Only those authentic and reliable information and findings have been accessed by the researcher that was similar to the study under discussion. Private and public libraries that have been accessed for this study are ProQuest, Jstor, Emerald, Oxford and Phoenix. However, it is important for the researcher to assess the validity and reliability of the secondary that has been collected from various authentic sources. Discussion The concept of access is a vital and significant in the policy of health and the research of health services, yet it is the one which has been employed specially. According to different researchers, the concept of access refers to the use or entry into the system of health care, while to other authors it is characterize different form of factors manipulating use or entry. The purpose of this research paper is to analyze the concept of access to health care in the United States of America. Access to quality and comprehensive services of health care is significant and vital for the attainment of health equity and for enhancing the health life quality for everyone (Gulliford and Morgan, 2013). According to Laditka, Laditka, and Probst (2009), the most important and vital element in the realization of the access to health care is the question of distributive justice in the system. Equity is the most important objectives followed by the modern health systems. There are several principles of equity in health, each appealing to notions of justice in distribution. Health inequities arise from the social inequalities of populations, such as inequalities in education, work, income, etc. In addition to the social determinants there are other factors that affect health, such as access to health care, the lifestyles of populations or attitudes towards health services. The reduction of health inequalities is obtained by acting on the key factors, including the access to health care. That is, equity in access to health care is just one of factors that promote equity in health status (Laditka, Laditka, and Probst, 2009). Access to the health care services in the USA is viewed as unpredictable and variable, most of the individuals do not get the timely and proper care they actually need. The health care system of United States, which is already stressed, will encounter an arrival of patients in the year of 2014, when around thirty two million of Americans will have the insurance of health for the first instant. All of these concerns and issues make the development and measurement of innovative form of important models and strategies (Wilper and Woolhandler, et al., 2009). According to different researches, it is mentioned that in the United States around 4.7 million people, that is one sixth of the population of U.S has no health coverage. This form of situation is disastrous not only from a social point of view but as well as from economic point of view. Some of the preventive measures are required like a greater utilization of curative care and consequently an increase in health costs (and insurance premium) (Shi and Singh, 2009). The Supreme Court of the United States has just endorsed the June 28, 2012 the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the law should provide access to health care to nearly 50 million Americans who now do not have to health insurance. The social security system of U.S is among the most effective and efficient and should not dream to leave the 1/6th of the population without any form of health coverage. Yet the health care system suffers from high cost in time will make access to care for all is increasing difficult. In the U. S, the traditional fight against rising costs mainly utilizes budgetary restrictions like attempts to limit the access to medicines, delaying their provision, reduce the number of doctors (Thompson, Perz, Moorman and Holmberg, 2009). The approach advocated in the Obama plan to reduce costs is a real paradigm shift based on prevention and quality policy. Some key points of the Obama plan: 1. Hospitals and health care providers should use proven care programs. 2. The implementation of programs to improve the coordination and integration of care for patients suffering from chronic diseases will be supported. 3. Full transparency about quality and costs will be required. It will also require hospitals and providers collect and publicly report the measures taken in health care cost and quality, including data on the prevention of medical errors, the degree of disparity between hospitals, and the percentage of insurance coverage that goes to administrative costs. 4. An independent institute in charge of analysis cost / benefit will be implemented. 5. Electronic medical records will be used. They allow for better coordination of care, quality measurement and reduction of medical errors. In general one could say that medicine, a quality policy is the establishment of procedures (guidelines, recommendations) to ensure the overall management of a person including prevention, screening and treatment-major benefits such as reducing the risk of disease, diagnosed at an early stage easy to care and treatment, regardless of the stage at a level of efficiency and optimal security. The concept of quality also implies that knowledge to the development of procedures resulting assessments (studies) and permanent modifications (Gulliford and Morgan, 2013). Research of Wilper and Woolhandler, et al. (2009) that some amazing indicators of the U.S. healthcare system: 44-98 thousand annual deaths due to medical error; 90,000 annual deaths from hospital infections, infections acquired through blood transfusions, is the eighth leading cause of death, emergency room waiting times high, translated into painful suffering for users due to the delay in the conduct of the diagnosis and treatment. Between us, recent measures such as the creation of user fees, gradually reducing the reimbursement of medicines, other measures are under study, such as updating user fees above inflation, creation of voluntary insurance, may pose serious obstacles to access of people health care in U.S (Wilper and Woolhandler, et al., 2009). However, rising costs have become increasingly serious threat not only to financial security of families, but also for the U.S. economy itself. In relation to its gross domestic product, the U.S. spends on health care more than any other nation. Yet still failed to buy the only thing that health insurance are supposedly able to provide: efficient health. There, access to health care is primarily done via health insurance system, existing subsidiary- mind three state systems: Medicare, Medicaid and the VA system. In this situation, President Obama in the U.S. Congress approved a project of reform that seeks to extend coverage the health of the population excluded by system (Thompson, Perz, Moorman and Holmberg, 2009). The reform ensures a health plan 32 million Americans today, expands the federal health program for the poor, imposes new taxes for the rich and prohibits insurers from practices such as reject coverage to customers with diseases pre existing ones. It is the biggest change in policy social of the country in recent decades (Wendt, 2009). Despite of some of the good and effective news, American citizens still disappointed with the health care services due to high costs and poor performance. The U.S spends twice per capita on health care relative to European countries and their outcomes such as infant mortality and life expectancy are in line with the European average. The poor performance of the U.S. health system is explained by most authors because of problems in relation to competitiveness: "Competition in health care takes place along the wrong dimensions (Gulliford and Morgan, 2013). Today, competition is structured to shift costs, to leverage purchasing power, and to restrict choice and services - none of which are designed to Increase the value of the health care That We purchase’. Conclusion In the nut shell, this research paper is based on the concept of the access to the health care in the untied states of the America. Access to health care is important in the health related policy and different services of health in the region of United States of America. The concept of access refers to the use or entry into the system of health care, while to other authors it is characterize different form of factors manipulating use or entry. This research discussed the related policies and actions of the authorities of United States of America towards access to health care. REFERENCES Gulliford, M., & Morgan, M. (Eds.). (2013). Access to health care. Routledge. Laditka, J. N., Laditka, S. B., & Probst, J. C. (2009). Health care access in rural areas: evidence that hospitalization for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions in the United States may increase with the level of rurality. Health & place, 15(3), 761-770. Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2009). Delivering health care in America. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Thompson, N. D., Perz, J. F., Moorman, A. C., & Holmberg, S. D. (2009). Nonhospital health care–associated hepatitis B and C virus transmission: United States, 1998–2008. Annals of Internal Medicine, 150(1), 33-39. Wendt, C. (2009). Mapping European healthcare systems: a comparative analysis of financing, service provision and access to healthcare. Journal of European Social Policy, 19(5), 432-445. Wilper, A. P., Woolhandler, S., Boyd, J. W., Lasser, K. E., McCormick, D., Bor, D. H., & Himmelstein, D. U. (2009). The health and health care of US prisoners: results of a nationwide survey. American journal of public health, 99(4), 666. Read More