Challenges and Solutions in the U.S. Health Care System: Evaluating Costs, Access, and Equity

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Challenges and Solutions in the U.S. Health Care System: Evaluating Costs,Access, and EquityHealth Care System in Turmoil Discuss why the current health care system is in turmoil. Identifytwo major problems of health care and analyze the impact ofeach of the chosen problems onconsumers and the community. Describe the benefits and risks of national health insurance.IntroductionThere isminimalargument the American healthcare system, as it now operates, does notadequately provide quality care for Americans. In addition, the system falls short in providinguniversal care for its citizens. The American system is two-tiered, with the governmentproviding care for a population based on income and age while other citizens pay for carethrough privately managed, premium care insurance providers. Although different in conceptand practice, both are plagued by the same problems which include inadequate treatment forpatients, diminishing quality of patient care, rising costs, inefficient management,andinadequatepay for medical professionals.DiscussionThe costly American health care system, allegedly, has overpromised and underperformed,and, as such, a reduction in public and private funding for research and physiciancompensation seems, to some, justified. This perspective, the focus of intense politicaldebate, has been erroneously advanced citing the US's poor WHO (World HealthOrganization) mortality rankings and that higher ranking countries spend considerably lessper capita for health care.This mistaken allegation, by aligning flawed WHO mortalitystatistics and country rankings, and per capita country health care expenditures, should beseen as prima facie evidence of American health care inferiority and incompetence, and, byinference, poor physician performance.These unfortunate statements, pegged to blemisheddata andinvalidcomparisons, have only fomented confusion, tension, turmoil, and angst

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among Americans toward health care providers, and have diverted focus and energy awayfrom the crucial issues necessary to be addressed in the attainment of improved health caredelivery.Our health care system is unstable because, our national economy and environmentthemselves are unsettled because of the constant rise in unemployment and ongoing politicaltug of war. Our health system is broken because we continue to spend more on health care,than any other nation.Point two------------Insurance companies are middlemen between the hospital and or your doctor and you. Theyod nothing but try to make yo pay the most for the least amount of service so they can take abig cut of the cost as profit.Also, in this country as opposed to most developed countries and some not so developedcounmtries, profit has become our number one motive. Therefore a doctor and/or a hospitalmight want to help people, but they also wnat to make big money. If you need a heartoperation in order to live, they can charge whatever they want thinking you will pay it.In Europe and Cuba, Venizala and more countries, their thinking is that good health is the jobof all citizens to each other. Therefore in England if you need a heart operation, or in Canadayou have a serious disease, or in Germany you suffer a bad accident, or in Norway you aregoing to have a baby, or in Cuba if you're loosing your eyesight, your doctor recommends theproper treatment and you have it and go about your life without the crushing debt.The insurance companies, who profit from your illness, spend millions trying to convince youthat an insurance run capitalistic health care system is in your best interest when it clearly isin their best interest,Analyze---------------------Abstract

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There is a significant gap between the quality of care the US health care system is capable ofachieving and the quality of care it currently delivers. Rather than being the consequence ofindividual providers' actions or inadequacies, gaps in the quality of care are largely due to thefailure of health care organizations to incorporate known improvement measures into theprocess of care. The 2001 Institute of Medicine (IOM) reportCrossing the Quality Chasm: ANew Health System for the 21st Century(1) asserts that the health care safety and qualityproblems exist because of limited infrastructure and outmoded care systems, which result in acycle of suboptimal care being repeated throughout the many levels of care.Crossing the Quality Chasmalso issued a challenge for health care system improvement inrecommending that all health care organizations, as well as professional groups andpurchasers of health care, pursue six major aims of health care:Safety:avoid injuries to patients from care that is intended to help them.Timeliness:reduce waits and sometimes harmful delays for both those who receivecare and those who give care.Effectiveness:provide services based onscientific knowledge to all who could benefitand refrain from providing services to those not likely to benefit (avoid underuse andoveruse, respectively).Efficiency:avoid waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy.Equity:provide care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristicssuch as gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and socioeconomic status (SES).Patient-centeredness:provide care that is respectful of and responsive to individualpatient preferences, needs, and values, ensuring that patient values guide all clinicaldecisions (1). Substantial improvements are achievable in all six dimensions of healthcare quality. The aim of equity is to ensure quality care benefits for all, based on

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