Analysis of Health Care Reform - Assignment Example

Analysis of Health Care Reform Number: Introduction At the moment, the US healthcare system is heavily affected by politics, technology, economic development, demographic trends, the physical environment and social values. Other characteristics that necessitate the need to subject the US healthcare system to reforms are the absence of governing agency and coordination, high costs which only produce average outcomes, the domination of the market by private sector and the inability to harmonize market goals with social justice, among other perils. 1) Concerns about Cost, Quality, and Access to the Current U.S. Health Care System According to Dewar (2010), the principal concerns of healthcare sector which are cost quality and access must be reconsidered since they foster inequitable distribution of healthcare services.

Particularly, given that the private sector inordinately dominates the healthcare sector, cases of uninsured patients being turned away remain perennially preponderant. The gaps in healthcare coverage and the costly nature of healthcare services also bar many from realizing these sacrosanct services. This means that the uninsured who form the bulk of the American population are not able to access healthcare services. 2) Whether the Current Health Care System Is an Example of Market Failure That Requires Government Intervention That the US healthcare system exemplifies market failure that elicits the need for government’s intervention is a matter that is clearly underscored by statistics on health insurance.

Presently, there are 47 million uninsured Americans and 25 million under-insured Americans (Myers Jr., 2010). Despite America having the highest per capita in healthcare expenditure among other industrialized economies, American healthcare system remains unsatisfactory. The healthcare sector remains characterized by serious perennial problems which have undermined the much bragged about Pareto efficiency. Some of these problems that illustrate market failure include: unequal competition; inadequate information; persistence of many externalities; inaccessibility of healthcare services; and continuous disequilibrium in healthcare institution and staff. 3) Describing Different Proposals for Change from Both Political Parties There are several measures that can be put in place to decentralize the healthcare system and warding off excess burdens from the business.

To ensure this, there is the need to excise the licensing requirements that are binding on schools, pharmacies, hospitals and healthcare personnel. With the accordance of less emphasis on licensing, prices are bound to fall and diverse healthcare services packages are likely to emerge. In another wavelength, it would pay greatly if government restrictions on the production and sales of pharmaceuticals and other medical services are eliminated. This would mean that Food and Drug Administration act would have to be abrogated in order to give a wider threshold for innovation and lower costs (Parrill & Kennedy, 2011).

There is also the need to deregulate the healthcare insurance industry so that the scope of insurance firms can be widened. Presently, healthcare insurance companies do not cover events with outcomes which the insured can control. Finally, it would be helpful if the government and other stakeholders removed the provision of healthcare services subsidies. Kim and Keefe (2010) contend that eliminating these subsidies is likely to entrench health awareness and the culture of healthy living. Immediately subsidies are removed, sedentary lifestyles, dependency, carelessness and indigence are likely to be eradicated, as people become aware that they (not the government) will pay for their medical expenditure (Leigh & Wheatley, 2010). 4) Summarizing Key Elements of Reform That Are Needed From the Perspective of the Author of the Source Used The author proposes the liberalization of the healthcare services through deregulation, as the means by which America as a country can realize increased innovation in the production of pharmaceuticals and reduction in costs.

Likewise, the author calls for the removal of subsidies as a way of extirpating unhealthy lifestyles such as overeating, sedentary lifestyles, indulgence and general carelessness. This, therefore, may mean doing away with Medicaid and Medicare. References Dewar, D. M. (2010). Essentials of Health Economics. Boston: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Kim, W., & Keefe, R. H. (2010). Barriers to healthcare among Asian Americans. Social Work in Public Health, 25 (4), 286-95. Leigh, W., & Wheatley, A. (2010). U.S. healthcare reform, 2009-2010: Implications for African Americans.

Review of Black Political Economy, 37 (4), 191-201. Myers, S. L., Jr. (2010). Race-conscious policy analysis and the healthcare reform debate: Comments on “U.S. healthcare reform, 2009-2010: Implications for African Americans.” Review of Black Political Economy, 37 (4), 205. Parrill, R., & Kennedy, B. R. (2011). Partnerships for health in the African American community: Moving toward community-based participatory research. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 18 (4), 150-4.