How Is Medical Care Financed? Research Paper Example

How is medical care financed? Do some people pay more or less than their fair share?

The discussion about financing of the medical care has been financed to ensure that health care services are accessed by individuals and families. Dorn, (2007) argues that in this context, the structure of payment has to be appropriate individuals payers, families, insurers and the government. There are different alternatives for administering payments for health cost. These include: people pay for insurance which undertakes to cover the cost of health services used, through publicly administered systems, by use of taxes and fees and through privately administered systems like contribution through payroll in the health insurance sponsored by employers. Health care is also financed through direct payment to insurance or health care providers.

Eichler, Kong, Gerth, et al., (2004) have argued that in an effort to generate revenue to pay for health coverage and care, there are people who pay more for health care than others. This is because of factors like the tax treatment of health insurance and difference in enrollment between the public and the private coverage. There are differences in terms of the cost sharing and the income that the payers have. The cost sharing has been defined as the amount people pay out of the pocket when they use the health care services. The subsidy given to low income families to pay for insurance is also considered as cost sharing. In this case, the low income families pay less for the health care services because they are supported by the government to meet the cost of the coverage. On the other hand, there are tax surcharges on the higher premiums and the co insurance taken by the high income people in the United States.

References

Dorn, S., (2007). “Administrative Costs for Advance Payment of Health Coverage Tax Credits: An Initial Analysis,” Issue Brief. The Commonwealth Fund.

Eichler, H., Kong, S., Gerth, W., et al., (2004) “Use of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health-  Care Resource Allocation Decision-Making: How Are Cost-Effectiveness Thresholds Expected to Emerge?” Value in Health 7 (5): 518-28.