Among sophisticated industrialised nations, the U.S. healthcare system is exceptional. The United States lacks a unified healthcare system, and universal health insurance, and just passed laws requiring healthcare coverage for the majority of the population. The U.S. healthcare system is best characterised as a hybrid system, as opposed to running a national health service. In 2014, private funding accounted for 48% of U.S. healthcare spending, with consumers contributing 28% and private employers contributing 20%. State and local governments contributed 17% of spending, compared to the federal government’s 28% share. Even though it is publicly funded, the majority of healthcare is provided privately.283.2 million Americans, or 89.6% of the country’s population, had health insurance in 2014, with 66 per cent of employees being covered by a private health insurance plan.
In 2014, the U.S. government provided health insurance to 115.4 million individuals, or 36.5 per cent of the population, through Medicaid (61.65 million), Medicare (50.5 million) and/or Veterans Administration or other military care (14.14 million). Nearly 32.9 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2014. With an emphasis on the issues of high healthcare costs and inequities in insurance coverage in the US, this fact sheet will compare the US healthcare system to other advanced industrialised nations. The article will then go through some typical strategies other nations employ to reduce healthcare costs, look at the German healthcare system as a model for non-centralized universal care, and situate the calibre of American healthcare from a global perspective.
Compared to other OECD nations
To “promote policies that will improve the economic & social well-being of people across the world,” the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international organisation dedicated to global development, gathers 34 member nations.
The nations that make up the OECD tend to have developed or rising economies. The governments of the US & Mexico contribute the least to the total financing of healthcare among the member states.
Drivers of U.S. Health Care Spending
The main justification offered by Americans for difficulty getting healthcare is its prohibitively high cost. Americans with below-average wages are far more likely than those in other nations to report not seeing a dentist, obtaining a recommended test, treatment, or follow-up care, visiting a doctor when they are unwell, or filling a prescription.
In the United States, 59% of doctors admit that their patients struggle to pay for care.
In 2013, 31 per cent of persons without health insurance reported postponing or forgoing medical care due to cost, compared to 5 per cent of adults with private insurance and 27 per cent of those with public insurance, such as Medicaid/CHIP and Medicare. While experts cannot agree on a single reason that is to blame for the growing expense of healthcare in the United States, they have identified three such variables.
The first is the price of modern technology and pharmaceuticals. The availability of more expensive, cutting-edge medical treatments and medications, according to some experts, “fuels health care spending for development expenses and because they fuel demand for more intensive, expensive services even if they are not always cost-effective.”
Major Issues with the American Healthcare System
Although not a complete list, these are some of the most pressing problems that upcoming healthcare professionals will need to address in order to advance the American healthcare system.
Governmental Modifications to Healthcare Regulations
As competing political parties fight to pass laws that would sway the system in favour of their political ideologies and hold divergent views on how the system should be handled, health care has emerged as a major point of contention in the United States. The insurance and pharmaceutical companies, for example, spend millions of dollars annually on lobbying activities that may also affect prospective legislation. As a result, finding long-term solutions to the issues with our healthcare system can be challenging since ideologies change during the execution of any given remedy.
Bad Patient Results
Although death rates have decreased in the United States over the past few decades in line with those of similar nations, the rates of attributable mortality are still high across the board. This index analyses mortality as it pertains to avoidable and curable conditions and is closely related to access to healthcare. In addition, the illness burden in the United States is higher than in comparable nations when years lost to disability and early death are taken into account.
The Physician and Nursing Shortage
The American Association of Colleges of Nursing estimates that until 2026, we will require more than 200,000 registered nurses annually. This will be the outcome of population increase and ageing; older patients require greater access to medical resources than younger patients, and the supply is impacted by the ageing of physicians and nurses. As hospitals struggle to meet clinical demand, these shortfalls may be problematic for service access.
The Opioid Epidemic
One of the biggest issues facing the American healthcare system is opioid addiction. As per the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 130 Americans pass away in the United States each day from an opioid overdose. This includes heroin, fentanyl, and other synthetic opioids as well as prescription medications. This dilemma now has an annual cost to the economy of $78.5 billion. The 1990s saw the emergence of this problem because doctors were increasingly prescribing opiate medications at a time when they were less aware of its addictive adverse effects. Opioid medications were prescribed to twenty-one to two9% of patients with persistent pain.
There is no universal healthcare coverage or a unified health system in the United States. Health inequalities in health services are the United States health disadvantage in comparison to other high-income countries. There is no universal healthcare coverage or a unified health system in the United States. Health inequalities in health services are the United States health disadvantage in comparison to other high-income countries.
Even though the U.S. is regarded as a pioneer in biomedical research and cutting-edge medical technology, our healthcare system has serious problems, including avoidable medical mistakes, low rates of attributable mortality, and a lack of openness in treatment. Finding a decent doctor is another issue that Americans deal with. Healthcare services now discriminate on the basis of social and economic status due to high expenses of treatment and lack of insurance coverage for low- and middle-class families.