Perspective on Health Care Essay
There are a lot of issues that interested me in the health care. In the current essay I will review the positive and negative health outcomes linked to demographic indicators that intrigued me the most.
I can say that I am interested in pursuing different areas of health care. I have always wanted to work in the health care field. I feel like no matter what you job title is, as you are always helping someone. I would love to be a nurse some day but that is not an option right now so I searched the other fields and began a degree in Science and Health Administration.
United States have had a highly developed health care. “In 2008, U.S. health care spending was about $7,681 per resident and accounted for 16.2% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP); this is among the highest of all industrialized countries. Total health care expenditures grew at an annual rate of 4.4 percent in 2008, a slower rate than recent years, yet still outpacing inflation and the growth in national income. ”, according to Health care costs (2010).
The disadvantages of the health care in the United states are: “forced 32.5 million seniors and people with disabilities to pay higher premiums and other Medicare costs; dropped coverage for out-of-pocket expenses between $2,250 and $5,100; prevented the federal government from negotiating lower drug costs and does nothing to rein in soaring prescription drug prices; and threatened the employer-provided drug benefits of millions of retirees.”, according to What’s wrong with America’s health care (2003).
Medical state programs cover a large portion of the population, their influence is not confined within these programs. As a fact, 95% of workers are paying taxes for social insurance, including earning the right to public health programs in old age. State support makes it possible to operate the health care system for people not only in adulthood.
Health problems, including the organization of a system to provide health care, their financing, the development of medical science and technology are considered primarily in the context of human rights. Here are two important aspects:
• The right of citizens to a quality life, a priority component of which is health;
• The right of citizens to privacy.
State assumes responsibility for the health sector that is either unprofitable of private medicine, or objectively in need of nationwide support. In the state’s activities in this area is clearly expressed the tendency to respect the interests of society as a whole, while the activities of major components of health care are aimed at maximizing profits. Herein lays one of the major contradictions of the American health care crisis in the generating elements of the medical system.
Activities of States in the field of health management objective necessity, since there is, on the one hand, have the urgent need for compliance with national priorities in public health, and with another – the need to combine the real capacity of the state with the sometimes contradictory to each other the interests of individual layers and groups in society. Satisfying these objective needs of society is the essence of government in health care.
The U.S. experience shows that in a market economy it is optimal to move to the state health insurance system. Introduction of medical care based on national insurance, it is appropriate and necessary to objectively measure in any country with a market economy. The principle of social responsibility of employers for maintaining the health of hired labor – is an indispensable condition for medical insurance in a civilized society. Moreover, there is a limited capacity of government to solve the problems of medical support by simply increasing the scale of funds. There is the need of an efficient organization of the health system in which there is the actual payment for medical services. It is imperative that the real price is in the first place, based on that balance supply and demand, and secondly, there is no someone else at monopoly position, distorting the real price.
Public health insurance program Medicare – is an important mechanism to achieve social balance in society. Along with other government social programs, it serves as a stabilizer of society, the leveling of access to health care of different groups. Through this program not only improved access of aged and elderly to medical care, but also it improved its quality. Medicare – is the evidence of social responsibility of the U.S. government to its citizens. And although the state medical program Medicare does not solve all the problems in health care for the elderly, it has a great value: it provides Americans with a sense of confidence in the future and peace in the present.
The program of Medicaid, with the socio-economic point of view, has the function of redistributing income in the country, as it is a tool not only for the equalization of opportunities for different categories of the population, but also to maintain the relative balance of different startup opportunities for its economic potential and development of staff. The latter characteristic distinguishes it from the program “Medicare.” Such a program of medical welfare could only appear to be of sufficiently advanced material and financial resources of the state as a whole, interested in maintaining socio-political status quo in the country.
There are important social changes that have to be taken into consideration to create a high quality health care in the country. Today, life expectancy for women is 79 years and for men – 73 years, and it is predicted that persons whose age was 65 years old will live another 17 years. The most important issue of the health care in the United States – is the legal protection of the patient. All in all, health care has considerable perspectives for the successful development and improvements.