healthcare

= __Table Of Contents__ =


 * 1) Causes
 * 2) Effects
 * 3) Positive Outcome
 * 4) Solutions
 * 5) Where Healthcare Stands If Unattended
 * 6) Works Cited

**Causes: Why do we need healthcare?**

The cost and access of health care is an infinite crisis in America. Health care reform is necessary because no one should be turned away from receiving the medical care that he or she needs because of his or her inability to pay. Our present system needs to expand coverage to those who are uninsured. The objective of reform is to improve by omitting errors. Solutions can be prepared and issues can be altered to assist the reform of America’s health care system. Although the transformation of health care may take an extensive amount of time and effort, transformation is mandatory because the cost of insurance is proliferating making it difficult for people to afford coverage.

Main Causes:


 * Healthcare costs are soaring


 * Many Americans lack insurance


 * Medical bankruptcy is one of the major causes of bankruptcy


 * Many die due to not having healthcare insurance

The purpose of health insurance is to provide protection against loss of income and to cover the expenses of hospitalization and some of its associated cost (Health Insurance). However, there are about forty million American without medical insurance, many of whom have low-paying jobs without benefits and do not qualify for the government-funded plans.



These people can usually receive emergency treatment. However, they are unlikely to have access to preventive medical care, such as screening programs and immunization, or access to nonemergency care, unless they are able to pay for it (Paying). In dire situations where medical care is needed, individuals depend on his or her health insurance to aid compensation for his or her expenses, which was the case for forty-nine year old Eric Glassford. Eric Glassford was a successful pool designer and project manager, until the housing market went down. Eric lost his job as well as his health insurance. Eric started to develop abdominal pains but could not afford to see a doctor. The pain was so severe he had to go to the emergency room several times which was his only source of health care. Eric was diagnosed with pancreatitis but was sent home with a mass that was discovered on his pancreas, and a few months after enduring extreme pain, chemotherapy, and radiation, Eric lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on September 14, 2009 (Glassford). If the proper care had been available for Eric although he did not have health insurance to cover his expenses, he could have been diagnosed sooner and may have lived. Eric Glassford is a primary example of why health care reform is obligatory. According to the Complete Home Medical Guide there are about forty million Americans who are uninsured, and of those forty million American, about forty-five thousand people die every year because they are uninsured (Paying). Thousands of Americans suffer adverse health conditions because the system is enmeshed with demanding and inadequate funds. What needs to be done about our current health care system? Although it is clear that reform is required, it is not clear how to implement it, or to decide who receives medical care.

Effects: What Happens when we don't have healthcare **

Not dealing with expensive healthcare has had its various effects, including rising health costs, death, and medical bankruptcy. For example: “Between 1999 and 2009, the average annual premium for employer-sponsored family insurance coverage rose from $5,800 to $13,400, and the average cost per Medicare beneficiary went from $5,500 to $11,900.” (Gawande) This rise in health care expenses shows an increase greater than double the original cost. The climb in expenses shows that Americans are unable to afford health care: “ More than 45 million Americans lack health insurance” (Feder) and “The Urban Institute has estimated that 22,000 people die each year because they lack coverage. “(Feder) In addition to not being able to pay for healthcare, those who are able to are also unlucky: “In 2007, 57 million Americans had problems paying medical bills. At the most extreme, health expenses are a factor in half of all personal bankruptcies, with nearly half of people in foreclosure naming such costs as a cause.” (Feder)

** Positives of Healthcare so far **  While medical expenses have been rising, the money has been put to good use. First, insurance must be defined:  “ Insurance is a purchase designed to prevent bad things from having terrible consequence.” ( Prevor) Bankruptcy is a big problem, but insurance can be bought to prevent outrageous medical expenses. Not everyone can afford insurance that is exceedingly expensive; however, the money collected from insurance shows positive results: “The WHO (World Health Organization) does rank the U.S. No. 1 of 191 countries for "responsiveness to the needs and choices of the individual patient." While medical insurance is costly, the U.S. does have the best response and choices for the patient, unlike countries such as Canada: “ In Canada, a country of 35 million citizens, 1 million patients now wait for surgery and another million wait to see specialists.” (Constantian ) In Canada, where the government takes full control of health care, care is provided, but it takes an unreasonably long time to be treated. This helps support that: “Perhaps it's not that America spends too much on health care, but that other nations don't spend enough.” (Constantian) Preventive care is available because of the health care strides and in preventing diseases; people may not have to spend money to go to the hospital in the near future. U.S. medical care is costly, however, in comparison to other countries, overall, it is successful.

** Solutions **

Healthcare should have some type of solution to make it more available or more affordable. The program in Canada makes it clear that a government dominated healthcare plan is illogical. Medical insurance plans designed to make profits spend almost fifty percent more on administration and profits, and correspondingly less on actual patient care (Cost). There are some alternatives to healthcare reform. One solution would be to: “build more medical schools and wreak havoc on the American Medical Association's efforts to restrain the supply of doctors.” (Prevor) In other words, expand medical service with more doctors to provide more care. Another solution would be preventive care, management of diseases, and electronic medical records. In managing or preventing diseases from occurring, trips to the hospital may be reduced, and using electronic medical records saves paper in not making paper duplicates. (Pipes) Trying to stop or manage diseases and saving paper could reduce costs. A single-payer health system would successfully control cost, and by controlling the obtainable resources can be used more adequately. A single-payer plan will reduce the billions of dollars that insurance companies spend annually. Single-payer plans work on reducing or eliminating the financial incentives that have lead to under treatment for patients. A single-payer plan may be a good approach to sustaining affordable cost (Norsigan). Another solution for health care reform is to cover the uninsured. The uninsured can be insured without increasing debt. Health care reform should be analyzed as American debt, and not federal deficit. A system of tax credits can help the uninsured gain coverage. An additional solution for health care reform is to let individuals purchase health insurance with pre-tax dollars. Although insurance companies are meant to aid the patient in certain expenses, it is not meant to serve the patient, but meant to serve the business. Businesses purchase employee health insurance with pre-tax dollars whereas individuals purchase health insurance with post-tax dollars making his or her insurance more expensive. This solution enables patients to purchase the products that they need and make insurers more liable to their patients (Gray). One other solution would be to allow students to go to medical school for free, in return for working several years in free clinics, thus providing medical care for free. A different resolution is to provide people the option of using tax credits to deduct from their health care. A last notable solution is to “allow people to purchase insurance from across state lines. When insurers compete for consumers, prices will fall and quality will improve.” (Gingrich) If the same insurance policy costs less in another state, people would logically buy that policy if they could, however, states currently restrict the buying of insurance from other states. When one insurer has the same policy for less, the other insurer will compete by lowering their prices without dampening the quality of healthcare.



** Where would healthcare stand if unattended? **

If healthcare stood unattended, medical expenses will only continue to rise and people will either die or go into medical bankruptcy. There is, however, a Healthcare bill expected to go through. Here are its expectations:


 * "It makes insurance more **affordable** by providing the largest middle class tax cut for health care in history, reducing premium costs for tens of millions of families and small business owners who are priced out of coverage today. This helps over 31 million Americans afford health care who do not get it today – and makes coverage more affordable for many more."
 * "It sets up a **new competitive health insurance market** giving tens of millions of Americans the exact same insurance choices that members of Congress will have."
 * "It brings **greater accountability** to health care by laying out commonsense rules of the road to keep premiums down and prevent insurance industry abuses and denial of care."
 * "It will **end discrimination** against Americans with pre-existing conditions."
 * "It puts our **budget and economy on a more stable path** by reducing the deficit by $100 billion over the next ten years – and about $1 trillion over the second decade – by cutting government overspending and reining in waste, fraud and abuse." (Health Care)

A month ago Congress neared approval of Legislation to expand health insurance coverage to all Americans. However, today this initiative is in critical condition. The initial idea was logical: Cover nearly everyone and control the rising healh costs. What if this idea fails and healthcare remains the way it is? It is no longer a question of how health reform will work in practice, but about what happens if nothing happens? "Failure to enact health reform will result in increasing numbers of people without health insurance because fewer employers will offer it and many employees will not be able to pay the cost of plans that are available," predicts Stephen Zuckerman, a health economist at Washington's Urban Institute think tank. "For people not offered employer coverage, many will not be able to get coverage due to pre-existing conditions that insurers won't cover or because premiums simply won't be affordable. Even people with coverage will find costs becoming a greater financial burden," he said. The economy will grow again, of course, but health-care costs will rise even faster. Last spring, the Urban Institute ran the do-nothing outcome through its computers, and offered three scenarios. In the //best// case, the number of uninsured rises to 57 million, or 20.1% of the population, from 49.1 million, or 18.4%, in 2009, most of them middle-income adults. More employers drop coverage as it grows more costly. The fraction of Americans on the government's Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program, now at 16.5%, would rise sharply to between 16.5% and 18.3%—and that's without the much-derided "public option." All this will swell an already large budget deficit. The "fiscal course that we're on, out in 2020 and 2030 and 2040, is unsustainable and it needs to be addressed," White House budget director Peter Orszag said this week. "If we don't address rising health-care costs, there's nothing else that we're going to be able to do that will alter that basic fact," he said. If nothing changes, employers who still offer health insurance will pay more for it, and will pay lower wages as a result. And all of us—employers, workers and taxpayers—will spend ever more on health care. In the Urban Institute's best case, employer premiums per worker will rise 64% over the next decade. Helen Darling has been buying or thinking about health care her whole career, first as a Xerox Corp. executive, now as head of the National Business Group on Health, a coalition pushing for change. She says she was "absolutely inspired" by Mr. Obama's initial vow to finally act to slow health-care cost growth, and disappointed at how little of that survived Congress. In that sense, she says, legislation wouldn't have accomplished much to slow costs, and thus its death won't matter much. But she draws a more ominous conclusion. "The most depressing thing about it," Ms. Darling says, "is that it shows the failure of the political system. Have we lost the capacity to do certain things? Can we govern? That's the most frightening thing. I'm very depressed that we can't solve even parts of these problems."(Wessel) The best hope for healthcare is that lower rates will not compromise high quality.

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** Works Cited **

Constantian, Mark B. "Where U.S. Health Care Ranks Number One." Wall Street Journal 08 Jan 2010: A.15.//SIRS Researcher.// Web. 10 February 2010. Cost, quality, and choice: “Winning less expensive, better quality health care for America”. Health Letter. 01 Apr 2003: 1. eLibrary. Web 16 Feb 2010 Feder, Judy. "Federal Action Is Required." U.S. News & World Report Vol. 146, No. 1 Feb 2009: 6. //SIRS Researcher.// Web. 08 February 2010.

Gawande, Atul. "Testing, Testing." New Yorker Vol. 85, No. 41 14 Dec 2009: 34. //SIRS Researcher.// Web. 08 February 2010.

Gingrich, Newt, and John C. Goodman "Ten GOP Health Ideas for Obama." Wall Street Journal 10 Feb 2010: A.19. //SIRS Researcher.// Web. 18 February 2010. Glassford, Drew. “Names of the Dead.” Online Posting to Congressman Alan Grayson. Web. 18 Feb 2010.

Gray, C.L. “Five Healthcare Reform Solutions That Make Sense.” 21 January 2010. Web. 18 Feb 2010

“Health Care Compared." 27 Feb 2010. <[|http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//100227/photos_pl_afp/e0fcb6d28c17e21a0b9244fcbf7c36ed]>

“Health Care" <[]>

“Health Insurance”. Comptons’s by Britannica, v 6. 0. 27 Jan 2009. eLibrary. Web. Feb 2010.

“Health." //AARP Segunda Juvented//. Web. 24 Feb 2010. <  []>  "Insurance Companies Prosper, Families Suffer: Our Broken Health Insurance System." <[]>

//Is your local hospital, hospice, or care home operating the Liverpool Care Pathway//. Web. 1 Mar 2010. .

“Lets Get It Done." Associated Press. 27 Feb 2010. <[]>

“Living Without Health Coverage." //America's Uninsured Haven't Shown Collective Power//. Web. 25 Feb 2010. .

Norsigian, Judy. “A Singular Solution for Healthcare. “__The Boston Globe__ [Boston] 15 June2009

Paying for Healthcare.” Complete Home Medical Guide. 01 Nov 2004. E Library. Web. 16 Feb 2010

Pipes, Sally C. "Health 'Reformers' Ignore Facts." Wall Street Journal 06 Mar 2009: A15. // SIRS Researcher. // Web. 15 January 2010. Prevor, Jim. "Standing Up for Liberty." Weekly Standard Vol. 15, No. 14 21 Dec 2009: 13. //SIRS Researcher.//Web. 08 February 2010.

“Tapping the Power of EHRs" <[]>  Wessel, David. "What Happens If Nothing Happens to Health Care." //Dow Jones & Company// (2010): n. pag. Web. 2 Mar 2010. .