The History of the United States Healthcare System - Research Paper Example

23 November, The History of the United s Healthcare System The growth of industry in the United States over time required change; and that change brought about new information and technology and eventually cost more expensively. It did not only affect the manufacturing industry but the aspect of health and well-being of the people as well. As the demand for manpower to cope with the rapid development of society continues, the workforce also needs security in the only investment they have, their health. Health insurance in the United States is a relatively new phenomenon. The first insurance plans began during the Civil War from1861 until 1865. The earliest ones only offered coverage against accidents related from travel by rail or steamboat. The plans did, however, pave way for more comprehensive plans covering all illnesses and injuries. The first group policy giving comprehensive benefits was offered by Massachusetts Health Insurance of Boston in 1847. Insurance companies issued the first individual disability and illness policies in about 1890 (www.neurosurgical.com). What we recognize as modern medicine, Cohn writes, began in the 1920s, wherein doctors and hospitals, having only during the previous decade learned enough about disease that they could be reliably helpful in treating sick people, began charging more than most individuals could easily pay (qtd. in Noah). This demand on expensive medical and hospital assistance paved way for the first modern group health insurance plan in 1929. A group of teachers in Dallas, Texas, contracted with Baylor Hospital for room, board, and medical services in exchange for a monthly fee (www.neurosurgical.com). This was well known as the Blue Cross. The Blues were essentially non-profit health insurers who served local community organizations. In exchange for a tax break, Blue Cross organizations kept premiums reasonably low (Noah). As the modernization continued so did the sophistication of medical knowledge and technology. This led to healthcare assistance to cost more and for private insurers to be interested in the business of healthcare insurance. The competition between several insurers broke down the non-profit advantage of the Blues. Private insurers went to a direction where they go for healthier, less risk customers resulting to difficulty for people much in need of the services to afford getting healthcare insurance. There have been many attempts to solve the problems on the cost of healthcare assistance. One of which was the Committee on the Cost of Medical Care or the CMCC. Karen Palmer stated that the committee was funded by eight philanthropic organizations including the Rockefeller, Milbank, and Rosenwald foundations. They first met in 1926 and ceased meeting in 1932. The CCMC recommended that more national resources go to medical care and saw voluntary, not compulsory, health insurance as a means to covering these costs (qtd. Brown, et al.). Their views however were not supported by the American Medical Association or the AMA leading to a failure to implement a solution. According to Palmer, another attempt was Senator Wagner’s National Health Bill of 1939. This bill planned to give support for a national health program using federal grants to states which will be controlled by the states and localities (qtd. Brown, et al.). It did not push through because of other government concerns such as the New Deal and the World War II. The same bill was re-introduced in 1943 as the Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill. Palmer explained that the Wagner Bill evolved and shifted from a proposal for federal grants-in-aid to a proposal for national health insurance which also involved payroll tax (qtd. Brown, et al.). After creating two decades of national debates, the bill still did not pass to become a well-structured law on national healthcare insurance. Palmer introduced Henry Sigerist as a very influential medical historian at Johns Hopkins University who played a major role in medical politics during the 1930’s and 1940’s. He passionately believed in a national health program and compulsory health insurance. Several of Sigerist’s most devoted students went on to become key figures in the fields of public health, community and preventative medicine, and health care organization. Many of them, including Milton Romer and Milton Terris, were instrumental in forming the medical care section of the American Public Health Association, which then served as a national meeting ground for those committed to health care reform (qtd. Brown, et al.). One more effort to stabilize a universal health insurance came from President Truman in 1945. He proposed a single wide-ranged health insurance plan for all, not just the working individuals. Palmer stated that this compulsory health insurance became entangled in the Cold War and its opponents were able to make “socialized medicine” a symbolic issue in the growing crusade against Communist influence in America (qtd. Brown, et al.). His proposal was refused by the Congress as well as the American Medical Association and other medical organization. According to Palmer, the long debate on national healthcare insurance came to a hush after Rhode Island congressman Aime Forand introduced a new proposal in 1958 to cover hospital costs for the aged on social security (qtd. Brown, et al.). The difference made by this suggestion was the support it got from the elderly community. The demands of the people and the concerns of the medical practitioners gave way for the government to restructure the proposal leading to the birth of Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare is the provision of medical care and assistance to persons aged sixty-five and over in the USA. It was introduced in 1965 by President Johnson as one of a series of reform for his Great Society (Blake 215). Medicaid on the other hand is the US healthcare program which is specifically targeted at individuals and families on low incomes and with few resources. It is a means tested program which is funded by the state and federal governments and managed on an individual state-by-state basis (Benson). The government also provided for doctors’ usual charges as they treat the elderly and the poor. Although both Medicare and Medicaid started small, expenditures grew dramatically in the late 1960s as the programs began to gear up. Since then, Medicare has evolved into Original Medicare - provided by the government - and Medicare Advantage - provided by private insurance companies that contract with the government to provide this insurance to seniors (www.staysmartstayhealthy.com). The beneficial period of national health insurance started to backslide when the demand for latest technology and medical treatment started to go up and competition among hospitals and problems on managed-care systems became inevitable. At present, employers are reducing or even eliminating healthcare benefits for employees; hospitals are consolidating and becoming less accepting to low-income patients; and a decreasing portion of the population has any health insurance at all. The main purpose of the American people in pursuing a healthcare insurance is to provide the community with a secured assistance readily available for them as they undergo treatment until they recover from any form of infirmity. The government proposed various methods to provide the need of the people. Oppositions from different groups made it hard but not impossible to create a law that would support a well-structured universal healthcare insurance. Now that there are many healthcare insurers, the purpose is blurring. It became a source of business for many, if not all, healthcare insurance agencies around the country. According to Cohn, twelve percent of the market was served by for-profits in 1981 and by 1997 that was more like sixty-five percent. With their bottom-line orientation, the for-profit agencies were necessarily more aggressive about denying treatments (qtd. in Noah). The trend now is to focus more on younger, healthier and less at risk customers for healthcare insurance which would mean more gain than service on the part of the insurance company. It takes away the beneficial aspect of the healthcare system to those who are in great need; the elderly and the poor. Also, many insurance companies have introduced very tight and very restrictive small print into their various policies which are seeing many people, under the assumption they were covered by their insurance policy, hit with significant medical bills after the event (Benson). The very fact that many people in the US have no health insurance cover whatsoever has over the years led to a massive number of healthcare related bankruptcies where people have literally been dragged through the courts to pay for treatment which may well have saved their lives (Benson). This fact takes away the accessibility of healthcare assistance in the country. There is also a feeling that the current US healthcare system has wasted enormous amounts of money over the years and indeed cost savings and improved procedures could be instigated to attack this particular problem (Benson). It is now a serious challenge for the current government to offer a more public-friendly healthcare system. The cost of medical and hospital services have been increasing over the years therefore; reform in the healthcare system is a good step for the government if the sole purpose is of it is to enhance its services to the public; both working and retired, rich and poor. Works Cited Benson, Mark. Healthcare reforms in the US. 27 October, 2009. 21 November, 2010. Blake, Robert ed. “Medicare”. Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. Hong Kong. Oxford University Press, 1996. 215. Brown, Corinne S. and Brown, Ted. A Brief History: Universal Health Care Efforts in the US. 21 November, 2010. Noah, Timothy. A Short History of Health Care. 13 March, 2007. 21 November, 2010. . Read More