Where will healthcare be in the next five years - Term Paper Example

HEALTH CARE Where Will Health Care Be in the Next Five Years? Word Count: 560 [115 words] The health care debate has come a long way, even such that the bill was just signed into law by the President recently that health care will be mandated for every man, woman, and child in the United States, regardless of income or pre-existing health condition. Now that the bill has been signed into law, many people are wondering, what will the future actually look like? Will sick people still be turned away from insurance companies?

Is the beginning of privatization of the health care industry going to shut down the competitiveness of insurance companies? What is the future of health care in America? This piece seeks to address some of those questions in detail.I. IntroductionI believe that health care reform in the United States is still going to be a hotly-contested issue, especially when it comes to the complaints that will be heard by: doctors; insurance companies; and small business owners, especially when it comes to issues like long-term care, walk-in clinics, hospitals, and health care reform bill issues.II. Doctors Doctors are not going to like the new health insurance plan.

Since doctors are going to have to treat everyone from now on, regardless of whether they can pay or not, obviously this is going to have a huge effect on how doctors do business. Doctors cannot now turn away patients. They must be willing to see anyone who comes to them with a problem because now everyone will have insurance in order to pay for their doctors’ visits. Doctors are going to most likely be upset with health care reform because of several reasons. Doctors are going to be more in demand now more than ever because they will have to treat so many new patients.

They can’t charge whatever they want—they are going to have to receive whatever payment the government gives them. This may upset many doctors because, before now doctors could control much of what their salary was when they regulated the prices for their visits. Since health care is going to be mandated, many doctors will have to receive subsidies from the government for seeing people on the public health care plan, and they are not going to like this establishment for long-term care.

Walk-in clinics are most likely going to be overwhelmed. Doctors in hospitals will have to treat whomever walks through their doors, for the most part. They must now treat everyone, regardless of people having had pre-existing conditions. Now doctors must treat whoever comes to them for help; they cannot pick and choose. “Like insurance companies, physicians and hospitals will benefit from healthcare reform, but the long-range impact on their financial health won’t necessarily be good” (Terry, 2010, p. 1). Doctors will even be forced to take pay cuts.

One expert “…lamented that the legislation does not repeal the Medicare physician payment formula that threatens to cut what doctors receive from the program” (Kavilanz, 2010, p. 1).III. Insurance Companies Insurance companies are not going to like the health care reform because they will have to actually pay out policies for people who are sick or have pre-existing conditions now. Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny people care. “The short-term changes that the legislation requires will have a negative impact on insurer profits” (Terry, 2010, p. 1). However, health care costs are skyrocketing.

"The high and rising cost of health care in America is just not sustainable” (Dayen, 2009, p. 1).IV. Small Business Owners Many small businesses may have a difficult time staying open because they will have to provide health care coverage for their workers. This is going to be a major setback for small businesses in America. “Starting in 2014, businesses with more than 50 employees will be required to either offer healthcare coverage or pay a penalty of $750 a year per full-time worker” (D’Aquanni, 2010, p. 1).V.

Conclusion Health care reform means change for doctors, insurance companies, and small business owners. Reform is good, but I believe these entities will be negatively affected. REFERENCESD’Aquanni, L. (2010). Health care reform and the small business owner. Available: http://blog.timesunion.com/microbusiness/724/health-care-reform-and-the-small-business-owner/.Dayen, D. (2010). The “insurance companies support health care reform” gambit. Available: http://www.huffingtonpost.

com/david-dayen/the-insurance-companies-s_b_276838.htmlKavilanz, P. (2010). Health care: patients, doctors, insurers react. Available: http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/22/news/economy/health_care_reform_industry_reactions/index.ht m.Terry, K. (2010). Big winner in healthcare reform? insurance companies, eventually. Available: http://industry.bnet.com/healthcare/10002208/insurance-companies-stand-to-benefit-from-reform- in-long-run/.Terry, K. (2010). Healthcare reform: good for doctors now, but the bite is coming.

Available: http://industry.bnet.com/healthcare/10002244/healthcare-reform-will-boost-providers-in-near- term-but-may-bite-them-later/.