Health Care Alternatives in the U.S.

Within the pluralistic structure of the U.S. health system, most Americans under the age of 65 are covered by either the employment, or by that of their spouses. About 65 percent of Americans are also covered by private insurance, both group and individual. The remainder of the people either receives health care through Medicaid or does not have health care at all (Gold, 1999, p. 5). One of the problems that has emerged is that increasing numbers of people are uninsured and have no access to health care. A large share of these people includes increasing numbers of children from impoverished families who are either unaware of the programs or are ineligible for some reasons (Gold, 1999, p. 5). Even for the people who are covered by insurance, the quality of health care needs to be greatly improved. Patients are furious at their lack of access to adequate health care. In the case of Medicare, even though senior citizens are satisfied with the level of care, the federal government is confronted with the spiraling costs of funding Medicare.

In the past, the establishment of the market system of the health insurance industry was considered to be adequate in providing health care for most Americans. However, as the years go by, it became obvious that increasing numbers of Americans have fallen through the cracks of the system. The primary reason is that most people afford insurance through their employment. With the change in employment s

. . .
ly-stage breast cancer has to go to a diversity of health care providers in order to treat her condition. First, she goes to one place for her mammogram. Then she is referred to a surgeon who performs a lumpectomy. After the visit to the surgeon, she goes to another site for her radiation therapy. Finally, she sees a medical oncologist who treats her with multidrug chemotherapy in yet another location. Not only is it difficult for the patient to have to travel to 5 different locations just to treat the same condition, she cannot be certain that an accurate flow of information has occurred between all these specialists. Very likely, errors will happen during the transfer of information. In some cases, such errors can result in lethal consequences (Chassin 568). From the above description, it is evident that there are many players in the issue of health care. As the public becomes increasingly dissatisfied with the level of health care provided, health care has become a hot topic for politicians, which can make or unmake their election victory. Because of the clamor over patients' rights, the Department of Labor is also involved in assessing patient protection regulations (Roslokken, 1999, p. 36). Even the Supreme Court has become
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Bill Rights, CHIP Medicaid, Scope Severity, Policy Recommendations, Smith Rosenbaum, America's Health, Health Plan, Background Introduction, Salaried Practice, Furthermore Americans, health care, health insurance, gold 1999, managed care, chassin 1998, quality health care, health plans, quality care, 1999 5, quality health, senior citizens, gold 1999 5, health care system, health insurance industry, national health plan,
Approximate Word count = 3993
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Health Care Alternatives in the U.S.