U.S Healthcare System

U.S Healthcare System

Access to medical care in the U.S is among the significant problems facing its healthcare system. Access to medical care is usually associated with income and affordability, which means only those who can afford the medical care are the ones who will receive the care. Timely access to medical healthcare services may be affected by three attributes of the healthcare system. These factors include the cost of care and its affordability for people, the burden from the administration that individuals face when obtaining and receiving care, and disparities or inequalities in the delivery of care based on income, educational attainment, race or ethnic background, other non-clinical personal characteristics. Studies show cost, administrative burden, and disparities can demoralize an individual from seeking or continuing medical care (Schneider & Squires 901-904). Individuals with lower educational levels or minority status are significantly affected as they don't get the medical attention others get. However, provision of appropriate insurance and reduction of both administrative burden and disparities are essential strategies for achieving a high-performing healthcare system. 

In order to help all U.S citizens access medical care despite social disparities, the U.S health care system should provide affordable and comprehensive insurance. Usually, if individuals lack insurance, they tend to experience a delay in seeking medical care, where some may end up with serious health problems and die in some instances.  Also, the United States healthcare system lacks primary care as compared to other countries. Contrary to the U.S healthcare system, other countries' professional workforce concentrates more on primary care than on specialty care, and as a result, a more comprehensive range of delivery is offered at first contact; it doesn't matter if it's at night or a weekend.  

 Lastly, another challenge faced by the U.S healthcare system is the inefficiency of the system (Schneider & Squires 901-904). A lot of hours are spent doing paperwork to prove that insurance coverage is active, benefits and services are covered, services were delivered, and payment or reimbursement occurred. As a result, access to medical care for patients that get confusing benefit descriptions, insufficient information about doctors and hospitals, among other insurance coverage issues, will be hard and face delay getting attended to. 

In conclusion, in order to achieve a better healthcare system that all U.S citizens can access, the U.S reimbursement system should be changed and instead opt to use global payments, change fee schedules, formularies, and defined benefits. Such changes could help reduce delayed diagnosis and delayed ineffective treatment and ensure U.S citizens can be more effective at managing their own health. 

Work Cited 

Schneider, Eric C., and David Squires. "From last to first-could the US health care system become the best in the world?" The New England journal of medicine 377.10 (2017): 901-904.