The American Health Care Act

Posted: October 17th, 2013

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The American Health Care Act

America is the largest country and it has the most mixed race community on earth; medical records show that. The country spends almost US$2 trillion per year on healthcare, nearly one in every seven dollars of the economy. It is disappointing to many Americans because of the sub-standard health services offered by the government. Most of the American people have insurances on health cover because it is a job requirement or because the government has provided some health cover agencies for the people. Therefore, it is true to say that, there are problems in the implementation of the American health care system (Niles 29)

The American health care Act was first introduced in the year 2003. It was presented by John Conyers and supported by twenty-five members. It stated that all people should be entitled to free basic medical care. There would be no more need for buying insurance health covers (Sing & Liyu 22). They would only be needed to cover for non-basic medical care. It was rejected then and was re-introduced in 2009 but it still lacked assent. The health care bill, which was given support and approved by the president, is called patient protection and affordable care Act.

Health care in America is offered by several branches of the government, but most of the facilities are provided by the private entities. Policies in health are now being offered by the government. Today, more people have taken health insurance covers although others have not. This has been confirmed by a recent census. The records show that 16.7% of the population in the US does not have any insurance covers on health (Sing & Liyu 56). This therefore means that 83.3% of the population has acquired health insurance. These are sufficient results to conclude that the United States of America has more people covered health wise than those who are not.

There has been need for change about matters concerning health in the United States of America. In all the developed countries, it is the only country that has high charges on health covers, yet people do not get the value of the money they pay for the health policies. This is evident in the high rate of infant mortality and low life expectancy as compared to other developed countries. According to statistics, the US holds the forty-second position in health matters, when ranked among other developed countries. In addition, it has a lower life expectancy age as compared to the European Union countries. This figures support the fact that there is need for improvement in the healthcare department (Niles 34)

It is important for all citizens to have a health cover. Today, the nation requires citizens to have health policies. These policies should be made mandatory for all citizens. In fact, the United States of America is the only developed country, which has not made it mandatory for citizens to be covered health wise. The reason as to why this policy should be made compulsory is that there are too many deaths in the country, which would be avoided if the government would ensure everyone has a health cover. The census bureau came up with the figure of deaths brought by lack of health insurance. In 2004, there were about eighteen thousand deaths annually, which did not have to happen if the victims were insured health wise. They went ahead and collected the same data in 2009, and found out that the figure had shot to forty four thousand deaths annually. The figure had increased by more than half since the year 2004. This is reason enough to implement a policy that it is necessary and compulsory for all citizens to have a health cover. It will reduce deaths for many people and it is estimated that this reduction will almost be by half (Sultz & Young, 2010).

The health care system in America is considered restrictive. This is because the insurance industry does not allow flexibility of choosing the firm to buy a health cover from. This restrictive market is also the cause of other shortcoming in the health care system. For example, citizens cannot speak out their unsatisfaction to the insurance firms because they do not have the liberty to change their plans. It is apparent that many problems associated with the health care system can be solved by making the restricted market to be open. This way, the free markets will give consumers liberty to choose what they want. The restricted market makes the consumers seem as though they are being exploited because insurance firms are there to earn money and they could end up demanding a lot from the consumers. This is why the market should be made open and free for the well-being of the citizens.

Niles (56) states that the United States of America is the country that has the most advanced medical facilities. Unfortunately, it is not one of the countries with the healthiest citizens. However, unhealthy issues among the citizens cannot be fully blamed on the health system. Some of these problems originate from personal and social grounds. This has been proven by research about health issues like obesity and stress. The findings made from obesity cases show that approximately 33% of adults in this country are obese while the children’s rate is about 12.5%. Every state has not less than 20% obese adults. Obesity is a personal problem because an individual should have good eating habits and exercise daily to avoid obesity (Gumbiner 49). A third of Americans are said to be living with a lot of stress. Some express it through physical means while others show it via psychological means (Fontana 200). These statistics are enough evidence to show that the US citizens are indeed affected by social and personal issues. The health care system should initiate programs to help these people recover quickly and learn how to subdue their problems.

American healthcare experts understand perfectly how to guide citizens to live healthily. Unfortunately, they are not in a position to do so. This is because the health system acts as an obstacle to them. The American health care system is fragmented intensively, with complex regulations together with a long red tape from both the private and public sectors. These bureaucracies determine the patients and whatever treatment they will receive. A doctor has to be intelligent enough to know the protocols of administering treatment. He or she has to rationally judge and think critically enough to avoid mistakes, which would be pointed out by the insurance firms. It has been observed that Americans prefer fragmentation compared to other countries.

Health care insurance, which is a cultural component, is very expensive for the people. Many Americans are disappointed about the existing health care system. Despite the fact that most Americans are covered, they are not satisfied with the current medical system because it has such a big gap of improvement to make. Right now, there are not many options. The major challenges are how to formulate a way of giving health covers to the ones who do not have and getting a better value for the money used on the health system.

According to Sultz and Young (56), the most applicable solution to these matters is rationalizing this system. This term refers to economizing on the funds while at the same time providing quality and sufficient services to the citizens. The current statistics show that health care funds are spent 50% more than they should, which is a wastage. The solution to this problem will not be just as simple as receiving ready-made policies to be implemented. There also needs good governance or leadership to eliminate the wastage of resources in this system. The citizens are expecting far much better results from their leaders.

Works Cited

Fontana, David. Managing stress. New York, NY: Wiley Blackwell, 2004. Print

Gumbiner, Barry. Obese. Illinois: ACP press, 2001. Print.

Niles, Nancy. Basics of the USA health care system. California: Jones &Bartlett learning, 2010. Print.

Sing, Doughlas & Liyu She. Delivering health care in America: A system approach. New York, NY: Cengage learning, 2001. Print.

Sultz, Harry & Young Christina. Health care USA. Washington DC: Routledge, 2010. Print.