United States Healthcare Problems

United States Healthcare Problems

Introduction

The health system in the United States is characterized by its contradictions and complexity. On one hand, U.S. has a lot of the latest technology, including many of the best medical schools, clinics, hospitals and research centers worldwide. However, many of the U.S. health resources are never available for much of the population (Garson, 2010). The great American contradiction is having one of the large, expensive and complicated health systems in the world. The country is not only the industrialized one which does not offer its citizen the universal healthcare but it also has one of the highest healthcare expenditures. 28% of middle class families who have annual income of $30,000 to $75,000 stated in a poll conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation that they are in a critical stage to pay for health insurance or healthcare (Healthcareproblems.org).

Thesis Statement

“The lives of American people are impacted by the increasing cost of medical care and health insurance in one way or another. They are facing many healthcare problems which vary from lack of access to the preventive care to the high cost of medical treatments.”

Discussion

In U.S., the health system is seen as another business, subject to the laws of the free market and political manipulation. Lately, most Americans are dissatisfied with the health system in their country, and many interest groups have pressured politicians to change the system to one that guarantees universal coverage by health insurance for all citizens. However, as in all countries of the world, many of the proposed reforms have been lost as political promises, and meanwhile the U.S. health system is deteriorating more each year according to public opinion (Garson, 2010). In this regard, there are three points of interest that make the daily debate on the health system in America: 

The high costs of the social security system and Medicare in the United States. 

The political battle between Republicans and Democrats on how to improve the health system

Inequality of health system across different social groups, particularly ethnic minorities in America. 

The first point deserves some explanation of the social security system in the United States. Its purpose is to supplement the income of a person when removed from work, when incapacitated, or income of the family to which it belongs if the individual dies. However, as of the U.S. population ages, the monetary resources of social security are used more quickly, while the new wave of employees does not provide sufficient funds to support these payments. According to an Urban Institute study, "the withdrawal of the Baby Boom generation and increasing elderly population will create economic and fiscal pressure in the second decade of the century” (Urban Institute, 2000).

The battle between Republicans and Democrats also contributed to this debate even bitterer and slower than it should be. On the one hand, American politicians have rarely considered a system offering a solution for all parties involved.  In contrast, American politicians have been divided into two bands, protecting the interest groups that support their political parties. Democrats argue that the health system has an obligation to ...