Insurance premiums are rising much faster than overall inflation & worker’s wages. Learning the history of our healthcare system is the only way for consumers to understand how the rising costs affects the system today. As demand has grown, so has technology which has steadily increased cost. Higher costs, as well as for-profit insurers have created a crack in the system through which many Americans fall. The need for healthcare reform is apparent. The solutions and responsibility of those solutions is not.
The early practice of medicine did not require doctors to have the knowledge and qualifications of today. Due to the lack of knowledge, doctors usually did not charge much for services. Some large employers offered health insurance. Everyone else paid out of their own pockets. As regulations for the practice of medicine were established and knowledge of diseases and their treatments grew, so did the cost for consumers. Patients were being treated in hospitals to utilize new technologies which raised the costs as well. The rising costs, coupled with the impact of the Great Depression created a major crisis for most people.
The nonprofit foundation, of Blue Cross began at Baylor hospital in Texas as a group hospital plan offered to teachers. The plans were originally formed in order to avoid infringement of physician’s incomes. In the beginning, Blue charged all consumers the same premium. Private insurers entered the picture wanting to only insure people who were employed and healthy, increasing their profits substantially. When supply and demand continued to rise, Blue Cross had no choice but to change as well.
The government’s freezing of wages caused a shortage of workers during World War II. As a result, companies were ...
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...re we a society willing to continue to place profit over life and health, or will we take control of our healthcare system to afford all the right to live healthy?
Works Cited
1. (http://mises.org/journals/jls/3_1/3_1_5.pdf)
2. (http://www.pnhp.org/facts/a-brief-history-universal-health-care-efforts-in-the-us)
3. (http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/03/medicares-rising-costsand-the-urgent-need-for-reform)
4. (http://www.staysmartstayhealthy.com/health_care_history_inthe_united_states)
5. (http://www.collaborationhealthcare.com/library-and-resources/the-world-of-health-care/history-of-health-care-how-we-got-to-where-we-are.php)
6. (http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2013/01/01/the-history-of-u-s-health-care-in-about-1000-words/)
7. (https://libertylegalfoundation.org/health-care/)
8. (http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2009/12/07/091207taco_talk_lepore)
For the last five years of my life I have worked in the healthcare industry. One of the biggest issues plaguing our nation today has been the ever rising cost of health care. If we don't get costs under control, we risk losing the entire system, as well as potentially crippling our economy. For the sake of our future, we must find a way to lower the cost of health care in this nation.
Healthcare has been a topic of discussion with the majority of the country. Issues with insurance coverage, rising costs, limited options to gain coverage, and the quality of healthcare have become concerns for law makers, healthcare providers and the general public. Some of those concerns were alleviated with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, but new concerns have developed with problems that have occurred in the implementation of the new law. The main concerns of the country are if the Affordable Care Act will be able to overcome the issues that plagued the old healthcare system, the cost of the program, and how will the new law affect the quality of the health delivery system.
In the business of drug production over the years, there have been astronomical gains in the technology of pharmaceutical drugs. More and more drugs are being made for diseases and viruses each day, and there are many more drugs still undergoing research and testing. These "miracle" drugs are expensive, however, and many Americans cannot afford these prices.
America is facing a healthcare crisis! In town hall meetings across America, brawls have broken out during speeches given in an attempt to promote government run healthcare. When looking at the big picture, healthcare is only a small portion of the current problems, but a very big one, in the eyes of Americans, considering how it affects every citizen. The healthcare system in the United States is experiencing hard times, but does that mean, we, as Americans, should just step aside and let government take over? Absolutely not! Government will claim that the numbers of uninsured Americans are high because of the prices insurance companies charge, but are these numbers correct and who makes up these numbers? What will a government run healthcare service provide as far as doctors and treatments are concerned? Where do we think the money to run government healthcare will come from? Americans can help turn the economy around by eliminating this healthcare crisis from the list of many. Americans should stop government from passing such a bill for government run healthcare, and let government know exactly what we need and how we need it done.
The first health insurance plans began during the Civil War in the mid 1800’s, with the earliest plans only covering against accidents related to travel via rail or steamboat. Eventually, plans became more elaborate, covering all illnesses and injuries. In 1929, the first modern group health insurance plan was formed. In Dallas, Texas a group of teachers contracted with Baylor Hospital for room, board, and medical services in exchange for a monthly fee. And in 1932, Blue Cross and Blue Shield offered group health insurance plans for the first time (Neurosurgical Medical Group, 2007).
Blue Cross and Blue Shield were created separately; Blue Cross provided coverage for hospital services, unlike Blue Shield that covered physician services. Blue cross was formed by Justin Ford Kimball in 1929; Justin Ford Kimball was also Vice President of Baylor University’s health care facilities. The first plan started in Dallas, Texas and guaranteed teachers hospital care for 21 days at the rate of $6 a year, Then later on the plan was extended to other employee groups in Dallas, and then nationally. Furthermore, Blue Shield was developed in the beginning of the 20th century.
2. The twin problems of the health care industry as viewed by society are cost and access. First of all, the cost of getting health care is very high and it is getting higher each day. This has been mostly caused by the combination of high cost and an increase in quantity of services provided to the communities. The other problem involves access to health care. American enjoy limited or no access to health care. Many efforts have been done to reform this, but still but still many people are left without access to the care. These two problems are related due to the fact that if the health care industry gets to high off course people no longer will be able to have any access to it. The higher prices are, the lower access people have to it.
I agree with Moses et al. (2013) when they wrote “As long as health care is caught in a triangle between patients, clinicians, and public health, the problems that are plaguing health care in the United States will continue,” (Moses et al., 2013). I agree with the documentary, Money and Medicine, (2012) when it supported the idea that Americans will continue to have the “do more” attitude as long as they are not educated about the risk to the procedures (PBS, 2012). Warner (2014) wrote about disassociation between healthcare and clients; I believe that supports both of the sources (Warner,
Healthcare Policy has been through many ups and downs over the years. The first United States legislature to involve healthcare dates back to 1798, when “The Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen” was adopted. This approach is not very different in how healthcare works today. The act called for a 200 cent tax on seamen in order to pay for their health care. But it wasn’t until 1912, when President Theodore Roosevelt campaigned on a platform to adopt a single national health service. Finally a program called Medicaid was adopted to insure low income families, and in 1966, Medicare was adopted, guaranteeing health care for those over the age of 65 who paid into the system. Finally, The Affordable Health Care for America Act was introduced in 2009, and while it has changed and been revised a few times since then, it is th...
An issue that is widely discussed and debated concerning the United States’ economy is our health care system. The health care system in the United States is not public, meaning that the states does not offer free or affordable health care service. In Canada, France and Great Britain, for example, the government funds health care through taxes. The United States, on the other hand, opted for another direction and passed the burden of health care spending on individual consumers as well as employers and insurers. In July 2006, the issue was transparency: should the American people know the price of the health care service they use and the results doctors and hospitals achieve? The Wall Street Journal article revealed that “U.S. hospitals, most of them nonprofit, charged un-insured patients prices that vastly exceeded those they charged their insured patients. Driving their un-insured patients into bankruptcy." (p. B1) The most expensive health care system in the world is that of America. I will talk about the health insurance in U.S., the health care in other countries, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, and my solution to this problem.
However, during the long tradition of rising health care costs, there was a temporary break in the 1990’s. The period of this break actually corresponded with the time of the ‘managed care revolution’. The time, when special types of health care plans aiming to reduce health care costs (managed care) expanded with huge amounts. At the end of the 1990’s, almost 90% of the US population took part in some form of managed care. But the special features of managed care (restricted choice, fixed salaries, and lower prices) were not welcomed by everyone.
Rising medical costs are a worldwide problem, but nowhere are they higher than in the U.S. Although Americans with good health insurance coverage may get the best medical treatment in the world, the health of the average American, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality, is below the average of other major industrial countries. Inefficiency, fraud and the expense of malpractice suits are often blamed for high U.S. costs, but the major reason is overinvestment in technology and personnel.
What Seems To Be The Problem? A discussion of the current problems in the U.S. healthcare system.
It is hard to imagine life without health insurance. If you have any type of medical problem that requires attention, and you have appropriate health care insurance, you can be cared for in the finest of private hospitals. You can get great treatment and your ailments, depending on the severity, can be treated as soon as possible. Doctors, physicians and surgeons are willing to put out a big effort if they know that they are dealing with patients who are insured and have the money to go under extensive medical treatment. But imagine life without such luxuries. For example, what happens if a relative requires much needed surgery, but does not have health insurance to cover the procedure? What happens if a lack of medical insurance prevents you or your family from seeing a doctor, which could result in health problems that had not been identified but could have been treated before they became life threatening? These scenarios may seem far-fetched, but these types of situations happen to people who lack health coverage everyday. There is a true story about a patient who was insured and diagnosed with treatable cervical cancer. Unfortunately, she lost her job and with it her insurance. She was then unable to see her private doctor, and was turned away from other hospitals because ?cancer treatment is not considered an emergency in a patient who can?t pay? (?Help for D.C.?s Uninsured?). The woman later died at her home without ever being treated. This example raises the question, since when are people with less money less deserving of health care or appropriate treatment?
“Throughout the 18th and 19th century, the US federal government did not finance or otherwise provide healthcare to the public. [5]However, in the early 20th century, a debate over the right to health care began to emerge. In 1915, the American Association for Labor Legislation drafted a series of bills to provide state medical benefits to low-income workers.”