The US healthcare system is a mix of private and public health insurance,
with costs shared between the government, employers, and private citizens.
The government subsidies employer-sponsored healthcare insurance for
employees through the internal revenue service (Supanick, 2021). Employers
are incentivized to offer their employees affordable group insurance, or the
Affordable Care Act charges employers penalties (Supanick, 2021).(
To reduce the number of uninsured people, we can offer healthcare
universally at the government or state level. The government can offer yearly
bidding for private insurers chosen annually. Whichever insurer provides the
best benefit for the most affordable price, those insurers can be offered as
options to the citizens. This will help maintain competition which will help to
reduce the cost of health insurance overall.(Additionally, health care systems,
like hospitals and clinics, can offer health insurance to patients as opposed to
employers, and these insurances can be offered according to need and at an
affordable price point.
The rising cost of health care is having a significant impact on lower-wage
individuals. The price point is 28 percent higher in the United States
compared to healthcare systems in economically equivalent countries
(Supanick, 2021). With rising insurance costs, many are forgoing health
insurance coverage and for those who don't have health insurance; when they
become sick, the burden of those paying for the cost of health care increases.
This is due to expenses relegated to be covered by CMS, whose funding is
provided by taxpayers. Health insurance helps to cover the cost of services
provided to the individual. Health care helps to subsidize the total cost of
service through a minimum-maximum cost regulator. These(prices are
calculated by combining records for patients receiving a particular treatment
or service at a facility (Supanick, 2021). These prices are then submitted to
health insurers, who then determine the average procedure cost, helping to
maintain affordability in the health delivery cost overall (Supanick, 2021).(
References:
Supanick, M. (2021). Private Insurance and Universal Healthcare: How Can
Private Insurance Be Utilized within a Universal Healthcare System in the
United States?(Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal,(30(2),
551–586.
