U.S. Health Care System Essay
Christi Carter
Grand Canyon University: HCA-255
January 26th, 2020
Professor Catherine Doughty
This study source was downloaded by 100000831988016 from CourseHero.com on 12-31-2021 10:5
...
U.S. Health Care System Essay
Christi Carter
Grand Canyon University: HCA-255
January 26th, 2020
Professor Catherine Doughty
This study source was downloaded by 100000831988016 from CourseHero.com on 12-31-2021 10:55:09 GMT -06:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/53910759/US-Health-Care-System-Essay-CCdocx/
U.S. Health Care System Essay
While most people in the United States have health insurance, one of the main goals of the Affordable Care Act
was to decrease the number of uninsured people. (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2020, pg. 51). When President Obama
signed the Affordable Care Act, the uninsured rate was 16.3%. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011, pp. 22–23). The
Affordable Care Act did succeed in lowering the uninsured rate. In 2016 it was 8.8%. (U.S. Census Bureau). Most
other developed nations have universal health coverage. The United States does not. When the ACA passed in 2010
the United States continued the practice of insurance coverage through private insurance plans. In the United States
the federal, state, and local governments, institutions and individual providers are often not working together and
operate as individual entities. (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2020).
Most people in the United States have private insurance and receive it through their employer. This group makes up
47.3% of the population. Medicare covers 17.2%, Medicaid covers 15.2%, CHIP covers 7.3%, and ACA covers 2.9.
The remaining 1.2% are identified as other, and 9% are uninsured.
On average, the we spend over twice as much on health care per person when compared to other developed
countries (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2020). Although the United States healthcare
system does many things exceptionally well, it ranks at or near the end of the list with important health outcome
measures like life expectancy, infant mortality, and adult obesity rates. (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2020).The United
States has not been known for providing healthcare services in an efficient or cost-effective manner. (Wilensky &
Teitelbaum, 2020). The lack of universal health care makes it hard to provide a good overview of how healthcare is
financed. (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2020).
Canada has a national health insurance system that is funded by public taxes. The care provided is through private
practitioners. (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2020). Canada’s health care system called Medicare, but is a bit different that
Medicare in the United States. Medicare in the US covers people over the age of 65 and some people with chronic
disease like kidney failure. Medicare is free except it does not cover everything. One major thing that is not covered
is comprehensive prescription drug insurance. Therefore people on Medicare in the United States have the option of
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U.S. Health Care System Essay
enrolling in Medicare part D to cover prescription drugs. They also have the option of enrolling in Medicare part C
which helps also with prescriptions and some services they may not receive through their part A or part B plan. In
Canada, Medicare is basically universal health care. It was established through the Canadian Health Act of 1984. The
Canada Health Act states that “all residents of a province or territory to be accepted for health coverage” (Canadian
Health Care, 2007). There are five basic principles for this act. The principles are are public administration,
universality, comprehensive coverage, portability, and uniform and reasonable access to care (Wilensky &
Teitelbaum, 2020). According to the textbook, the majority of Canadians (two-thirds) purchase private health
insurance (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2020). Access to health care in Canada often reasonable and dependable,
especially in major cities or populated areas. The availability of physicians depends on the number of doctors as well
as the current demand for medical services. Medicare covers services such like hospital visits, primary care visits, and
public health services (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2020). Canada also has private insurance companies that fill the role
of offering coverage for services that Medicare does not cover. Some examples of non-covered services are
prescriptions, home health care, and institutional care (Wilensky & Teitelbaum, 2020).
Canada’s citizens rely on private health insurance to cover vision and dental care, prescription drugs, rehabilitation
care, home, and private hospitals rooms. In 2014, approximately 94 percent of premiums for private health plans were
paid through employers, or other organizations under a group contract or uninsured contract. This system is very
similar to how most Americans receive health insurance. (Allin & Rudoler, 2019). In contrast 67.5% of Americans are
covered by private health insurance. (AIMS, 2018).
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