Healthcare in America

Introduction

The US healthcare system is undergoing some major transformations in its reforms in the history of the nation. It must have the ability to resolve the issues of the 32 million new patients when baby boomers are likely to demand more healthcares as they are aging. In order to facilitate the system of healthcare in America, various institutes and hospitals have been established to ensure that each and every patient of America is provided with the required treatment. The United States Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is the governmental agency that delivers social services to Americans, especially to the most vulnerable sector of the population. The department is responsible for the implementation of more than 300 programs that deal with the various health concerns of individuals including disease prevention, food and drug safety, infant health, child abuse, domestic violence, home care, nursing home care health services for the Native Americans and Native Alaskans. Also, it makes sure that there are sufficient arrangements for medical and emergency preparedness. (Purdy 16)

Problems Behind American Healthcare System

In order to find out the problems in the American healthcare system, a survey was conducted which showed that around 50 percent of the population feel that the system needs to be improved because it has some major issues. Around 47 million of Americans have no health insurance and the number is increasing by the time. Out of 47 million, the number of children uninsured is 8.7 million, an alarming situation for the country. Also, Americans feel that there is a need to reform the American healthcare system. (Purdy 18) One of the major reasons of problems is the lack of health literacy in the public which creates insufficient utilization of services. That results in higher costs. More than one-third of the population in America face problems in completing tasks related to health-care such as wrong interpretation of the drug label and misunderstanding of the prescription which, in turn, contributes to around $177.4 billion in annual costs as a result of medication noncompliance. In the year 2006, a large number of American women went bankrupt due to their huge healthcare bills. Nowadays, less than a quarter of the families can cope up financially with a typical medical emergency. It shows that the current healthcare system is based on cost and not on access. (Babbie 160) The system is facing few major challenges. It is moving ...