Oped revision

3/17/2020

Adopting Public Healthcare Systems to Improve the Health of American Citizens

Healthcare in the United States of America is a necessity for every citizen, but the same is not available to all citizens in the country. The United States healthcare is one of the most expensive and also one of the worst-performing in terms of efficiency, access, and equity. Public healthcare systems thus have an extraordinary role to play in the American community. The health of the country should never be put in the hands of private investors. Most private healthcare systems are less concerned with the health of the community and are more business-oriented, aimed at making a profit. The government should thus consider putting together a network of a public institution, personnel, and policies that will have the health interest of American citizens at heart. This paper will thus justify the importance of a public healthcare system.

The current state of healthcare in the country is alarming. Three years ago, a vast number of Americans were uninsured, meaning they would have no access to healthcare when they needed unless they could afford it. In the year 2019, the rate has decreased as more people adopt and join public healthcare systems. The decline is attributed to the development of public policies and systems such as Medicaid and Medicare. Such health support systems are useful in surpassing the realm of health insurers and providers through putting into effect standards of quality that protect the day to day health life of citizens. Public healthcare systems ensure that citizens live within a healthy environment and support citizens in their quest for healthier lives.

Public healthcare systems also play an essential role in protecting, improving, and maintaining the healthcare of populations that are considered vulnerable. Robust public healthcare system ensures that such societies have access to excellent healthcare services. The above is achievable through the development of health surveillance systems that gather data used to identify critical needs in the community and thus assisting in the development of healthcare programs that are appropriate. The importance of public healthcare systems leads to the development of healthcare policies that try to help protect the public's health status. Such policies include Medicaid and Medicare.

Medicaid was introduced in 1965 and is a public insurance program that covers families that have low incomes and individuals in society with disabilities. It is funded by the federal and state government. Medicare is another policy that the government has put in place, and it is a federal government health insurance program that subsidizes the cost of healthcare services to patients. The policy was developed in 1966 as part of the 1965 Social Security Act. The above public policies are aimed at benefiting the less fortunate communities within America and also help those that cannot fend for themselves. The policies ensure the above beneficiaries receive equitable access to proper healthcare. A study by Guth, Garfield, and Rudowitz (2020), shows that the effects of Medicaid expansion in the United States are positive. The coverage of such policies has increased in most states leading to less uninsured citizens.

Despite the benefits of public healthcare systems and policies such as Medicare and Medicaid, there are some tradeoffs to the same. Most private healthcare systems do not make efforts to support public healthcare policies in that they lower the levels of reimbursement to practitioners and also to private healthcare networks in society. The public healthcare system policies are also associated with high administrative costs. In 2018, $731 billion was used on the same, accounting for almost 15% of the total federal budget (Dickman et al., 2017).

Creating public healthcare systems is a way that the government can help revive the healthcare industry in the United States, putting it on the map as one of the best healthcare systems. However, it will take more effort than just setting up such systems. The government has to ensure constant monitoring of the public health system to ensure that it meets the health needs of the public. Only then can the nation benefit from pros of a public healthcare system.

References

Dickman, S. L., Himmelstein, D. U., & Woolhandler, S. (2017). Inequality and the health-care system in the USA. The Lancet, 389(10077), 1431-1441.