The American Health Care Paradox - Essay Example

School: W 5 MARKETING Lecturer: W 5 MARKETING The United s is one of the countries in the world with the highest expenditure as a percentage of its total GDP as depicted in the graph below. Source: Bradley and Taylor (2013)Very unfortunately, the cost of healthcare has always been carried on to the consumer, making healthcare very expensive for the public. In a related study, it was found that the higher the cost of healthcare, the more withdrawn people become from seeking quality care (Cohen and Kirzinger, 2014).

By implication, marketers within the healthcare sector have roles to play in ensuring that the cost of healthcare is as minimal as possible. As far as the role that marketing can play in reducing healthcare pricing or cost is concerned, Bradley and Taylor (2013) pointed out that there is a need for prioritized pricing to be done. What this means is that the right people should be targeted to pay the right cost of service. When this happens, the system where there seems to be flat pricing of care for all categories of people will be done away with.

From the graph below, it would be noted that people of different demographic backgrounds have different economic needs for healthcare. As part of its role, marketing can help in identifying different demographic differences and the peculiar health and economic needs that face them, so that this form of prioritized pricing system can be offered according to people’s needs. Source: Cohen and Kirzinger (2014)The validity of using this approach to minimizing cost is that it will ensure that the burden of cost is taken from those who cannot afford it to those who have more than enough to afford.

But indeed, the marketer would also have more to do in educating the masses as to why such disparities would have to exist.