Health Care in the USA - Essay Example

"Health Care in the USA" is an excellent example of a paper on the health system. A human being is regarded as the most valuable entity of society. The life of human being is the most precious thing in the world. Being a human being everyone has a privilege to live a healthy life. Rather it is one of the basic and major privileges of a human being. Regardless of race, color, ethnicity, gender, everyone should be considered equal as far as medication and health care issue is concerned. It should be the primary objective of the government to prevent citizens from diseases, disorders, and disabilities. If unfortunately, the government cannot control the diseases, the immediate and standard treatment should be given to save the life of a person. It should not be forgotten that ultimately the progress of the nation depends upon the qualified and healthy citizens of the nation.

Those who are in employment can get access to health care through health care insurance plans arranged to them by the company. But there are many people, who are deprived of acquiring health care due to several social, economical and political reasons. There are different factors responsible for the accessibility of healthcare to individuals such as employment status, education, income, ethnicity, etc. The prejudiced and biased approach can also affect the accessibility of health care. It is very important to give prominence to the health of the person and not to his social or economical status.

The Efforts from Government

The US government is taking special initiatives. Even if the person is facing a financial crisis there are many alternatives available depending on their income. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is a primary Federal Agency for improving access to health care services. It has a free clinic. Some of the clinics give free health care or very low-cost health care. Special health programs for mothers and infants, children, old, disabled people as well as poor people are already there in the US.

Dealing with the accessibility of Health Care

Again the question arises what is low-cost health care? “The US definition of poverty is an annual income of $22,314 (£14,129), or less for a family of four, and $11,139 for a single person.” If low-cost health care is not affordable to those who come in this group, special medical facilities should be provided to them. Treatment is important. Even if the person is not insured or poor, life must be saved on a priority basis. The hospitals in such case can take support from the charitable organizations. The help can be taken by the donors also. The Government should encourage the donation scheme and a significant amount of tax exemption should be given to the health care donors.

One more major hurdle in the United States is the cost of drugs. In the United States, the medication is expensive than developing nations such as India. The United States government needs to regulate what pharmaceutical companies charge. It is necessary that the prices of medication should keep low so that the poor can afford the expenses. "The prices Americans pay for prescription drugs, which are far higher than those paid by citizens of any other developed country, help explain why the pharmaceutical industry is — and has been for years — the most profitable of all businesses in the U.S. In the annual Fortune 500 survey, the pharmaceutical industry topped the list of the most profitable industries, with a return of 17% on revenue."(Why We Pay So much –TIME magazine Feb 2, 2004) I think it is not at all encouraging.  It should always be kept in mind that the pharmaceutical industry is for the welfare of the people and not just generating money and profit.

As mentioned above, every individual’s life is precious and it must be saved and become healthier. Social discrimination should not be there while accessing health care to them. The people are discriminated against on the base of race, ethnicity.  It is the responsibility of the Government to eliminate racial disparities in health care status

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