health

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Health care Issues

The history of the U.S healthcare is important for the consumer to understand it based on how the industry operates, how the delivery system is also developed, the consumer should also be part of the system, understand the underlying legal and ethical issues and also understand the problems that have continuously affected the health care system. For this to be successful, there should be consumer awareness that will help protect the general aspects of human life. It is also important to understand the health care system from the consumer point of view to help enhance the most informed decisions on health care matters. The federal government has been considering this scenario such that health care centers such as Medicare and Medicaid have been used to publish data about different treatment across the country. This is critical based on the fact the U.S life expectancy will increase because of more prevalence in chronic issues developing across the population.

The U.S system is one of the most expensive systems globally thus the healthcare system takes a great hunk of the country’s GDP. The industry is struggling to meet the needs of the citizens with $4.6 trillion expected to spend by the year 2020 which is close to 20% of the country’s GDP. Although there are efforts to improve the quality of the healthcare delivery and patient safety, there is still exists issues affecting the industry. The employers in the U.S are offering their employees limited health care benefits, but this seems not enough based on the other developed country service provision such as universal health care programs. This program means that all the citizens will have access to quality healthcare.

The major aspects of healthcare delivery include primary, secondary and tertiary prevention mechanisms. Based on the American Heritage Dictionary (2001) primary prevention of a disease helps avoid its development. Such programs would include smoking cessation initiatives, immunization, and educational programs. Secondary prevention activities are focused on detection of diseases early thus prevention its advancement. Lastly, tertiary prevention mechanism is meant to reduce the effects of the already existing disease thus minimizing the complications of the disease. As consumers it is clear that we need primary prevention to prevent the disease, secondary prevention to help manage the effects of the disease and tertiary prevention to by visiting physicians for a correct prescription.

So far the milestones made by made in medicine and its education programs over the years has been critical in developing healthcare systems. In the ancient medical practice there existed no regulations and the competition among the physicians was more intense. At the time physicians relied most of the time on common sense to diagnose and at there was no insurance thus the consumers choose which physician to visit. In 1847, the establishment of AMA was one the concepts that developed private medicine in the U.S. the association was responsible for the development of standardized medical education. At the time physicians managed to establish medical schools to enhance their profession and incomes. Although at the time the quality of education was questionable the education becomes more of standard for one to practice medicine. Furthermore, in 1910, the publishing of the Flexner report evaluated this schools in both the U.S and Canada thus forcing the schools to develop curriculums.

The milestones reached on the hospital system were first established in the 19th century to house the sick while undergoing treatment. The government also established pesthouses to avoid the spread of the diseases. At first, the wealth avoided the hospitals due to the bad conditions but the growth of urbanization the conditions were bettered. In the 20th century with standardization of education and hospitals, it had become a symbol of providing medicine. The establishment of AMA also enhanced the practice. Following to this a Patient Bill of Rights was also established in 1973 to protect the consumers in hospitals. In the year 1985, EMTALA was established to help consumers to receive care in times of emergency.

The development of public healthcare was also to separate it from the development of the private practice. At first, the physicians were worried about the effects of the enactment of public practice. This established the assessment and policy development as part of the public health intention due to the poor coordination between the private and public health care. The assessment was focused on continued collection data on health care issues while policy development was focused on the planning of the health care levels.

The rise in the healthcare insurance was developed to protect a covered individual if needs medical attention. In the 19th century, corporates managed to offer sickness insurance to their employees. In the 1950s 60% of the U.S population was on insurance with both the social security with Medicare and Medicaid being signed into the law in 1960s which protected the aged and disabled. Today employers still play a great role in health care insurance with critical improvements in enhancing citizen’s care. The evaluation of the health care system in the U.S is evaluated by use of Iron Triangle as a concept that focuses on cost, quality, and health care access.