The U.S. Health Care System Concerns, Essay Example

Thesis:One of the major problems with the US healthcare system is its fragmentation. A historical record of futile attempts to set up a universal health insurance system has left Americans with a system in which the government pays higher, but the realdelivery of insurance is carried out by a wildtreatment of private insurance companies who add higher prices without adding a value.

The U.S. health care system is 2.3 trillion dollar industry and in 2010, is the richest in the world. This industry is the second largest industry next to the military industrialized complex.The U.S. is the richest and greatest country on earth and yet 52 million of its citizens have no health insurance (Alcena, 2011, p. 1). Sixteen percent (16%) of the U.S. population is uninsured. Twenty percent (20%) of African Americans and thirty-three percent (33%) of Hispanics are uninsured (p. 1). Additionally, 43.6 million U.S. citizens are living in absolute poverty (p. 1). Fourteen million American children sleepat night with nothing to eat (p. 2). There are 3.5 million peopleon the streets, including veterans mostly (p. 2). These rates are expected to increase because of the recent economic recession.

Solution:The U.S. should not wastea single day to adopt Japanese-style system. Japan ranks first in the OECD countries rankings (Benator, & Brock, 2011, p. 4). Like U.S., Japan’s insurance provides a large percentage of their health care. Like the U.S., the elderly use the healthcare system more than any other demographic and, but as a result of this, Japan’s healthcare spending is expected to triple over the next several years (p. 4). In the U.S., Medicare spending is getting out of control. A huge advantage to the Japanese system, unlike U.S., is that health insurance companies cannot deny a claim, which means that more Japanese will receive appropriate health care. That may be a possibility for the U.S. healthcare system to adopt Japanese model to reduce its cost.

References

Alcena, Valerie M.d. (2011). Health Care Disparity in the United States of America. Barnes & Noble.

Benator, Solomon, & Brock, Gillian. (2011). Global Health and Global Health Ethics. Cambridge University Press.