BOS350: Is American Health System Really The Best In The World?

U.S Healthcare
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The healthcare sector is always a critical aspect of any country. It defines the entire nature of the nation’s health through its citizenry, which also goes a long way in determination of the nation’s economic productivity. When it comes to healthcare systems, there are various models bought about by various countries. Amongst the best include the French and Finnish healthcare systems. The U.S healthcare system has for long been a matter of contention, especially between the two leading parties. Their ideologies have always meant that the nation’s healthcare system swings between good, moderate and bad. The American healthcare system is not the best system in the world because of its affordability limitations, access barriers, average health outcomes, and gap of proper care between wealthy and lower-income citizens.
Affordability
The most vocal criticism about the United States’ healthcare system might well be its affordability. The Commonwealth Fund recently found that “Record growth in health care costs... are creating a crisis of affordability in the U.S. healthcare system.” While affordability is often referred as an obvious cause of debate about the efficacy of US healthcare, the problem has deeper roots. Health insurance affordability, rising premiums, many insurance companies pulling out of state markets, and health outcomes not matching costs have all contributed to a broken system. As the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute points out, total medical (insurance and out of pocket expenses) shouldn’t go above 10% of a family’s income.
The Institute’s report goes on to say that, today, 54% of middle class families can no longer afford health insurance. This problem is exasperated by the mandatory stature of the American Health Care Act requiring families to purchase health insurance. In many U.S states, health insurance providers are few and the relative premiums well exceed the 10% threshold of affordability. The reality, under the current system, is that the wealthy can afford better and faster services while the middle class and the poor do not receive proper care. The U.S health care system can be described as a hybrid one. It is unique among industrialized countries as it is not uniform. Currently, U.S health expenditure comes from a variety of parties: private funds, households, private businesses, federal government, and local governmental institutions.
I believe that such “hybrid” system is a major cause of disparities in insurance coverage across the country. For adults with low to moderate incomes, more than 50% have what are considered “high costs burdens.” Furthermore, worth of attention is the that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that the U.S has the highest per capita health expenditure of all countries in the world. Standing at $8,713 per person, or 16.4 percent of the national GDP, the U.S outspends any country in both public and private expenditure. Although Americans spend by far the most on health services, the U.S rank 11th in terms of performance. The study conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, World Health Org...