Healthcare Spending
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Healthcare Spending
Healthcare has become a central government issue since the inception of elective politics in the United States. In particular, it is a fundamental right of the citizens designed to preserve the sanctity of life and facilitate the continuity of the population. With an average life expectancy of 78 years, most medical facilities are operated with the private sector with only 18% being handled by the national government. In addition, as the needs of patients have risen through the years, the cost of such services has become costly as well (Mason, Leavitt & Chaffee, 2007). In fact, America has the largest healthcare expenditure when compared to other global countries. Thus, the price of medical cover is too high especially through the Medicaid and Medicare programs. More than 100 million citizens are covered by this rationale which accounts for 23% of the federal expenditure. From the annual medical bill of $2.6 trillion, the government’s contribution is 45%. This is a significant amount of money that should be reduced and channeled to other developmental projects aimed at raising the standards of living. Furthermore, the introduction of Obamacare has produced a surge in the budget and this should be reduced due to the presence of several healthcare providers. Despite the universal coverage initiative, many more people are still left uninsured. Hence, the administration needs to leverage the expertise and available personnel in the private sector to outsource this service.
Furthermore, this commitment causes the national deficit to spiral thereby increasing the nation’s debt. Such a scenario is detrimental to the financial health of the nation and should be trimmed to avoid it reaching unsustainable levels. This would help to lower the burden placed on its repayment and enhance the country’s credit rating too. Moreover, it would be prudent to outsource this service due to the costly bureaucratic procedures involved when public entities are involved. The slow pace of making claims especially in the Veteran Affairs department jeopardizes the treatment of patients some of whom face life threatening ailments. As such, they are better off being attended to by private medical facilities rather than be subjected to the agony of making follow-ups in search of better treatment. Fundamentally, the system of making public payments illustrates the strain that is undergone by many people. For example, the single payer policy of national health insurance involves the use of a single public agency to organize financing while private enterprises are tasked with the delivery of healthcare. Hence, all Americans are covered for service s including doctoral visits, preventative issues, dental, visual, and prescription drugs, reproductive and mental healthcare costs. Similarly, funding of the programs is derived from personal savings obtained from insurance companies and taxes that are largely based on one’s ability to pay. According to the plan, doctors would still have an autonomous control over their patients thereby maintaining the confidentiality necessary under such circumstances. However, the law envisions the participation of middle and lower-income families in making these deductions. Overall, 4% of the healthcare expenditure is spent on dental activities, 7% on administrative costs, 21% on physicians, 10% on pharmaceuticals, 31% on hospital care and 6% on professional areas involving therapists and related works.
Consequently, the future economic needs of the healthcare
system include more investment in the research and development department in
order to acquire numerous preventative medicines. These undertaking will be
focused on the attainment of vaccines that would help to shield people from
being attacked by certain illnesses. Likewise, civic education will be a
priority to sensitize citizens on proper nutrition and dietary habits as a way
of educating the public on the dangers of adopting specific lifestyles that may
endanger their health. For example, the consumption of junk foods and
foodstuffs with high calorie contents results in obesity. In such instances, consumers
would be informed on the importance of eating natural foods that are rich in
proteins, carbohydrates and vitamins. The government will also have to make
budgetary provisions for consultancy services that are integral in determining
the diagnosis of various sicknesses. Such interventions are vital in the early
detection of ailments thereby placing the patients on medication early on to
avoid the deterioration of their conditions (Sloane, 2012). In particular,
diseases like cancer could be contained or even eliminated. Therefore, the
government will have to introduce public bonds to be used as instruments of
raising capital to finance such operations. By so doing, members of the public
and private sector will have the opportunity to chip in and help mitigate the
costs. In addition, it could offer tax incentives to the medical providers on
condition that they subsidize the costs of specific illnesses that are deemed
expensive when covered by public agencies. This would enhance the quality of
healthcare while making the concept profitable to the numerous bodies. In fact,
more enterprises would be engaged and the outcome will be positive thereby making
the industry robust in its quest to reduce the extent of infections. By so
doing, the United States would be a model of quality standards of living that
other countries can emulate.
References
Mason, D., Leavitt, J., & Chaffee, M. (2007). Policy & politics in nursing and health care. St. Louis, MO: Saunders/Elsevier.
Sloane, P. (2012). Essentials of family medicine. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.