Problems of the Health Care System in the United States - Essay Example

Better health for the American population Affiliation: Introduction Health care in America has been increasingly expensive and many Americans are failing to meet the highly expensive heath demands and insurance and are living without any health cover. The lifestyle has also been on the detrimental lane with obesity being recorded highest in US and especially for the younger generation. Chronic diseases like cancer and hypertension have also been on the increase and are affecting millions of Americans according to statistics from Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) (Smith, Wertheimer and Fincham, 2013). Health care is a serious issue that needs to be addressed quickly if the current health care statistics are anything to go by. The health care in this country can however be made better through measures such as prevention, empowerment, telemedicine as the main ones among others which will be described below in detail. Prevention Prevention is the best solution to prevent the numbers and statistics of the people with poor health from continuing with this increasing trend. Prevention will ensure that those people with better health remain so as well as protect the future generation from falling into the bad health trend of this day and era. There are many preventive techniques that the government, the private sector and more so the individuals must undertake to better their health. Some of these include: exercises, eating healthy and nutritious food and living in safe environment among other (Jenkins, 2003). America is renowned for its fast food economy and eating behavior. People are simply too busy and others too idle to cook healthy food and they rely on unhealthy food such as fries, hot dogs among others. What then happens is that they start increasing their fat contents leading to hypertension and heart problems. Hypertension is the disease that claims most of the American lives. These people must change their eating habits and start eating healthy food with a lot of vegetables. Exercising is the also the best way to ensure people prevent themselves from becoming sick due to accumulation of fat in their bodies as well as help them fight diseases. People would not be obese if they exercise. Exercises do not have to be rigorous but they should be done regularly. People fear exercises due to them being rigorous but if they are mild, they will still work and aid in bettering the health of many people. Cleanliness and living in a safe environment is another way to better health. If people live in a clean and violence free environment, they can avoid unhealthy conditions that disrupt the health of people causing increases in medical bills and unaffordability in healthcare. It is also a way to prevent infections as well as infectious diseases brought about by dirt and germs. Empowerment Empowerment is possible through health education as well as people making life choices to change their health lifestyles. Communities can empower each other through health programs by coming together and supporting healthy decision making. They can clean their environment in social groups; they can support each other in exercises or in having healthy diets as well as teaching their children the same healthy tips and making healthy choices (Jenkins, 2003). The most important aspect of empowerment is social connectedness and support on health initiatives. Empowerment can make people persevere in their healthy choices. The use of community in trying to better the health of Americans works in similar manner with the community security measures in that it requires people coming together and discussing in detail the way forward about their health in the community. It may even mean that people set up local exercise areas and recreational facilities that will ensure they prevent the locals from health problems as well as offer health advice especially in relation to healthy diet. This will also mean a reduction in the fast food joints and replacing them with healthy snacks joints within the neighborhood. Telemedicine Telemedicine is also another way to better the health of the millions of Americans in need. America and the world at large have taken to internet and social media more as a form of communication and the centerpiece of their lives. Research indicates that an average individual spends over 4 hours a day on the internet and more so the social media sites such as twitter and facebook (Benjamin, 2011). The medical experts should take advantage of this information and start administering medical advice on the internet and even more focus on social media. People who are simply too lazy or have no medical coverage or are curious can interact with these doctors and other healthcare experts on these social media sites and get information on how to better their health as well as other medical advice. This does not mean that these medical experts will be treating people online. It simply means that people will get medical information faster at lesser cost and time spent. Telemedicine can also provide various first aid measures as well as palliative care or even home based care for all types of patients. The advice is useful as it will mean saving the life of an individual as well as making the sick more comfortable and hence increasing their recovery time from the sickness. It will also save money, time and energy for nurses and community health workers whose population ratio compared to that of the citizens is simply too low. Conclusion People should embrace the above mentioned recommended health care measures if the health status of the Americans is to improve from its current state. The initiative to do so should be the responsibility of each individual. Campaigns should be carried out emphasizing preventive care as much as it does to curative care. With the government spending billions of dollars on curative health care measures in order to try and alleviate the health of its citizens, it is now the turn of citizens to take their own action in an far as bettering their health is concerned. Telemedicine, community empowerment and even the preventive measures are all very good measures to better the health in America but if individuals do not take the first action and embrace all these measures, then their health cannot improve and all the above measures will be nothing other than a waste of money in campaigns and time in the social media platforms and internet trying to offer advice to a non-receptive and non-responsive group. References Benjamin, R. (2011). National Prevention Strategy: America’s Plan for Better Health and Wellness. New York: DIANE Publishing. Jenkins, D. (2003). Building Better Health: A Handbook of Behavioral Change. Washington DC: Pan American Health Organization. Smith, M., Wertheimer, A. and Fincham, J. (2013). Pharmacy and the US Health Care System. New York: Pharmaceutical Press. Read More