Healthcare Insurance and the Military - Thesis Example

The report adopts a methodology of conducting a study of two or three major documents to perceive beneficiary satisfaction and enrolled risk across regions and beneficiary categories.

The report primarily finds that satisfaction levels are high among military healthcare beneficiaries and risk of enrollment, though different among regions and groups are nevertheless manageable within acceptable limits. It finds that satisfaction and risk for certain groups of beneficiaries are rather low and high respectively and it thus recommends that more studies be conducted on these particularly underserved groups to determine why they are becoming neglected within the larger satisfied military healthcare beneficiary community.

Chapter 1: IntroductionSoldiers, retirees, and their family members are facing tough decisions on procuring appropriate healthcare insurance that suits their specific needs. The healthcare system is always in a continuous process of evolution. As a result, existing and prospective beneficiaries often feel they are being left behind by the fast-paced often seemingly uncaring system. The military healthcare system has gone through many changes and will undoubtedly go through many more. Healthcare service is an institution that the military will and must always maintain for the varied needs of its personnel, whatever category they may belong to.

This need is an old one and, as such, a military healthcare system has been in place for a long time, almost as long as the military itself in the US and it has a long and winding history. At minimum levels healthcare for the military is controversial while in more complicated cases it is devastatingly sensitive. As far as public opinion is concerned there are those who highly appreciate the military’s role in national defence while there are others who, in the name of pacifism, would not have the military there or would prefer that they are not involved in what they perceive as meaningless wars.

The latter would not care much to burden the national exchequer with military healthcare expenses that are well-known to be quite high. Caught between these two radically opposite opinions the authorities have been trying to tread the middle path. They are trying to put together a system where expenses are at a utilitarian minimum. As a result, again, there is much scope for improvement in the system if one is to view the military are a body of people exposed to above normal risks and, thus, prone to many health problems.

This specific healthcare system thus fluctuates between whether to focus on cost-related issues or on health-related issues. At present, it appears to be focusing more on the cost associated with providing services to members, veterans and their family’s healthcare in such a manner that the burden on the taxpayer will be reduced. There are several factors that have influenced the adoption of this strategy, including those already mentioned, and the primary one being the fact that the nation is at present involved in combative situations in a number of countries across the world. When speaking of beneficiaries of military healthcare products it must be noted that active-duty soldiers are not very concerned with healthcare availability and remain unburdened by the usual problems associated with visiting their primary care providers. They have no problems with the availability of sufficient finance for either making a visit to the doctor or getting a physical.