Health Care Blog

As many may know, healthcare in the United States is one of the most expensive compared to countries abroad like Europe or Korea. We hear about patients falling into the donut hole all the time and about all the uninsured people who have no access to healthcare. So what is contributing to the skyrocketing prices of United States healthcare? One contributing cause is skilled nursing facilities which many people don’t think about. When people with no insurance or a stable access to healthcare get really sick, their only choice is to get treated at the emergency department. But that’s not the final stop for patients who need further treatment and rehabilitation.The emergency rooms only have so many spaces for patients so once an immediate problem is fixed, the patients have to go somewhere, and that’s usually a skilled nursing facility if they require further temporary medical care. Besides the immediate costs of the emergency room visit, patients end up having to pay for their temporary ...

Currently the United states spends two to three times per capita on health care compared to other industrialized nations. While establishing a single payer system would be overall an amazing accomplishment for our country the switch may be too currently economically unstable. An attempt to dismantle the private payer system in the US would currently cause an economic catastrophe as over 800,000 people are employed by private insurance companies and thousands more by medical facilities just to deal with billing insurance. In order to combat this the US would need to enact a plan that would slowly change the industry from private payer to single payer. One example I can think of is when China transitioned to a Capitalist based economy. They achieved this role by slowly and closely managing different sectors of the economy in the transition and it was found to be tremendously successful. Switching to fast can cause to much economic instability and could leave drastic effects for future ge...

There is no question that the US healthcare system is one of the most complex systems in the world, riddled with disparities and inequities. It would be unfair, however, to overlook the significant impact the US has on medical innovation compared to any other country. Many would argue that what causes US healthcare to be so inaccessible to many, compared to residents of similar nations, is the very same reason the US is leading the world in medical research and innovation. What sets the US apart from other comparable countries is the extent of a free market, especially when it comes to the health field. Not many people would argue against money and profit being possibly the strongest driving force for progress and development. Companies and pharmaceuticals in the US are strongly motivated to continuously modernize and innovate in a market that promises huge financial gain for revolutionary ideas. This is not the case in most comparable countries, which may regulate this area of the...

          In the Untied States, it is no secret that there are vast health disparities among different cultural groups.   Specific populations in the United States are shown to have measured differences in incidence, prevalence, mortality, burden of disease, and other adverse health outcomes. Although cultural differences may play a role in different health outcomes, other factors may be indicating why certain groups have poorer outcomes. According to Healthy People 2020, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability status, socioeconomic status, and geographic location all determine health outcomes in addition to race and ethnicity.   I believe that slight differences in cultures may predispose one to certain health outcomes (i.e food, social drinking, religious beliefs interfering with medical care). However, it is our duty as a nation to ensure that health disparities do not stem from health inequalities, which are systematic differences in the he...

              As we discussed in class, the United States spends more per capita on healthcare than any other nation, including 10 high-income developed countries. Despite its higher spending on healthcare, the US continues to have underwhelming performance in areas such as healthcare coverage and outcomes. Increased resource allocation on healthcare without improved outcomes has become a national concern for the United States. The rising costs of US healthcare have been attributed to the US fee-for-service system, underinvestment in social services, and high prices for pharmaceuticals and medical devices. However, I argue that the direct medical costs associated with medication errors are a significant economic burden on the US healthcare system.              A medication error is defined as a preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm. Medica...

At present, one of the biggest debates in U.S. healthcare is the idea of universal healthcare. Should healthcare be a right that every citizen has? Are others obligated to pay the way for people to have healthcare? While most people will admit that children should have access to healthcare no matter what, they struggle with the idea that others may need the same help. If you are all grown up, why can’t you get a job to get healthcare? We forget that people get laid-off and lose coverage, or lack the ability to get a job to start with. While the government does its best to provide assistance to the disabled, that coverage can be difficult to get – it takes approval from doctors and a copious amount of supporting evidence to prove that you may need more help than you are getting. As a society, we are very protective and outspoken about what we consider to be our rights, even though we may not be in agreement on what that means. While people keep looking at healthcare as an...

In 2016, the US spent 17.8% of its GDP on healthcare compared to the 11.5% of 11 other high income countries. The per capita spending was double what the other countries spent.  The price of care services in the United States is not so much different than the other top countries in the world. Americans actually see the doctor less and spend less time in the hospital as compared to patients in other top countries in the world. One of the reasons that the US spends so much more on its healthcare system as compared to other countries is because the specialist, physicians, and other healthcare professionals all get paid more here than compared with other countries. According to an article, general physicians make around $220,000 in the United states as compared to about $90,000 in Sweden and about $150,000 in Germany. Healthcare Administrator pay makes up 8% of the total Healthcare spending as compared to 1 to 3% of the other top countries in the world. As we recently discussed in c...

In the United States today, we more for healthcare than any other country in the world. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, in 2015, U.S. healthcare spending increased 5.8% to reach a staggering $3.2 trillion, with $9,990 per person. However, they are no where close to providing the best healthcare in the world. There are many countries that provide much better healthcare than the U.S. yet they spend less than half of what the United States spends per person. One could argue many reasons of why this is the case but nothing can be 100% proven. Research has been done to study our healthcare system in comparison to other countries, however there are many variables making it difficult to find one specific cause for this, One example of the many issues with our healthcare system is the exaggerated cost of medications. In one instance, a child found that his insulin was a huge burden on his parents, being $800 a month due to a high deductible causing them difficult...

The importance of global healthcare becomes highlighted during disaster. Many hospitals currently operate at near or maximum capacity. When unexpected natural disasters strike an area, hospitals are flooded with critical patients in which staff, supplies, and room is crucial for the survival of patients. If a disaster occurs in low income countries, such countries usually do not have the ability to handle an immediate response in terms of treatment and shelter which can result in inadequate management of people as well as further disasters relating to spread of diseases. In 2010, Haiti suffered from a 7.0 magnitude earthquake and as a result, many were killed, injured, and homes were destroyed. Food became scarce and diseases such as cholera began to spread. Before the earthquake, Haiti was the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere in which 80% of the population lived below the poverty line. The country does not have a healthcare system in which facilities carry limi...

Maternal mortality is one of the key metrics used to assess healthcare quality in a country. The US has lagged considerably when compared to other countries when examining maternal mortality reduction. The US is not on track to reach the Healthy People 2020 goal of 10% reduction in maternal mortality between 2007 and 2020. The maternal mortality rate in the United States was 26 deaths per 100,000 live births. Considering that 99% of all live births are performed by skilled health care professionals, this is an astonishingly high number. There are racial disparities when looking at maternal mortalities as African American women are three to four times as likely to die during child birth than their Caucasian counterparts. As the UN defines health and well-being for each person and their family a human right, racial disparities in maternal healthcare is depriving social classes from human rights. One of the major reasons why there is little decline of maternal mortal...