Question

WRITE A 1000 WORD ESSAY for "Health system reform".... This topic comes under Health Economics and plz make sure it has min 1000 words....Use the APA format you can search for it online....

Answer 1

You don't need a single player healthcare system. You DO need a universal healthcare system, where everyone is covered for all major medical costs, and this health care is affordable for everyone.

Actually, the universal declaration of human rights, (very much promoted by the USA) guarantees affordable healthcare for everyone. So this is the reference to which you should measure your system. Clearly, the current system in the USA is NOT supplying this, with a large number of people without insurance.

Europe has all different systems, from pure state financed healthcare in Great Britain and France, to state financed + private in Italy, to purely insurance financed system in Germany, the Netherlands etc. In the end, it doesn't really matter how exactly the financing works… these systems all perform pretty much equal in terms of quality and cost. They are all very good, and they are all much better than the healthcare system in the USA.

So what should be changed? First, it much be realized that healthcare cannot be treated as a regular free market like you do with consumer goods. You do not have a choice of not buying healthcare. Except for the size of the room, you typically do not have a choice of luxury or options. You either get treated for your conditions, or you don't. Half treatments don't work.

So even when you are using typical free market systems, using insurance companies and such, you do need to put limitations and checks into the system. A completely free market is not an option for health-care.

The first thing to remove is thus nonsense of “pre-existing conditions". By definition, this results in people not having access to healthcare. Insurance also should not be dependent on your employer. Leaving your company should not have any impact on healthcare situation. Anyone should be able to get insured with any company.

This will obviously have a huge impact. But it's for the better. Insurance companies should benefit from preventing disease. From getting early diagnosis, which leads to easy treatment. That will save them, and thus their customer, lots of money, and increase the health of the population.

The US health-care delivery system has to be improved as follows.

• Significant reforms to how Americans incentivize and pay for health care must be made. These reforms will ensure that people pay for innovation and quality care, managing health-care expenditures to produce the best outcomes at a lower cost. Health systems, employers, and insurance plans are driving experimentation with new payment and delivery models. The government should provide the regulatory flexibility that removes the barriers to these reforms and enables their adoption in publicly funded health programs.

• Insurance should be there when Americans need it most, with benefits designed to keep care accessible and affordable. Health insurance was created to help patients manage catastrophic events and unexpected expenses. However, health insurance benefit designs have begun to significantly discriminate against the sickest citizens – those with complex medical conditions such as cancer, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and HIV – by making them shoulder an unreasonable proportion of their health-care costs. This is not right, and it must be corrected. Patients with serious diseases need to be protected from discriminatorily high cost-sharing. Reasonable monthly out-of-pocket spending caps will help ensure that patients complete their treatment and avoid costly complications.

• Insurance design is only one part of the equation. Information technology has radically transformed major parts of the American economy and improved its standard of living. However, because of regulatory barriers and silos in the American system, Americans have failed to adequately capitalize on these advances to benefit health care. Payment incentives must be improved, transparency, interoperability and data security in order to bring about a technological revolution in the delivery of health care that will improve outcomes and reduce costs.

• For the Medicaid program, which delivers health care to lots of the most vulnerable in the society, there is a need to maintain the level of resources while allowing states to take more control, experiment and innovate. As for the Medicare program for older Americans, there is a need to ensure that it is preserved, protected and strengthened. It must be ensured that innovation, competition, and choice improve outcomes, lower costs and create more value for patients. American seniors deserve nothing less.

• There is also a need to focus less on acute care hospitals as the center of the American health-care system and develop more fully integrated clinical networks of care, from prevention and wellness to end of life care delivered with compassion and dignity. The American health-care system should reflect the principle that the most effective way to reduce health-care costs is to keep patients healthy, manage chronic conditions and ultimately cure disease.

• Perhaps most importantly, the USA needs bold experimentation and innovation. The recently announced Amazon/Berkshire Hathaway/JPMorgan alliance is encouraging, not because it presents immediate tools, but because those leaders are willing to be bold and courageous.