Healthcare in America



Healthcare in America

How did healthcare change in America from 1900 to the present day?

American healthcare has changed dramatically in the last century. Since the 1900s, American life expectancy has been on a continuous increase. During the earlier periods of the 1900s the life expectancy was only 47 years of age (CDC, 2002). This shortened life was a result of disabilities and illnesses that are very much controlled in the current day and age. Most frequent causes of death in the earlier years of the 20th century; included acute injuries, enteritis, diarrhea, tuberculosis and pneumonia (CDC, 2002). Furthermore, the time span it took for an illness to lead to death during those days was also very short. People did not take years to die from their worsening medical conditions; rather it only took mere weeks for the calamity of death to occur, in serious medical cases.

The availability of healthcare facilitators and caregivers has also changed during the concerned century. Earlier family members mainly women such as daughters, wives and mothers used to take care of the ill. The suffering patients also died in their homes, being attended by the females in the house. Comparing this trend to today's healthcare provisioning it is very visible that the culture of care giving in the U.S. has changed drastically (USDHHS, 2000).

The new millennium has overseen a healthier America. Americans are healthier and livelier going into their old ages. The average life expectancy of Americans has increased to 75 years. Improvements in medical treatments and provision of public health have led to fewer death calamities, most notably during infections and childbirth (CDC, 2002). Today, the biggest medical problems in the U.S. have changed to diabetes, injury, respiratory diseases, strokes, cancer and heart disease. Older population mainly suffers multi-factorial frailty including Arthritis and Dementia. In the new world, an average America surrenders their lives not in their homes but rather in a hospital (Lynn & Adamson, 2003).

How might health disparities in America be addressed by our government through public policy initiatives? Provide and discuss at least one relevant example.

U.S. healthcare based public policy initiatives ought to be assessed with regards to their abilities to provide incremental value to the ill. There are various delivery systems reforms enacted, though it is most important to determine if some or all of these reforms are bringing along improvements in U.S. healthcare. Furthermore, it is also fundamental to assess the costs of these programs and how it would maintain a slow cost growth rate in the future too.

Some of the public policy initiatives such as the Health information Technology (HIT), Primary Care Coordination and Chronic Disease Management give ample evidences that these programs are improving both the healthcare outcomes as well as the quality of healthcare delivery services. Most specifically the HIT program is demonstrated to reduce total cost growth rates too. Nonetheless, critics argue that many of these healthcare initiatives are not bringing much improvement with regards to cost savings and value of care ...