Healthcare In The United States, No Easy Fix

By: EconomyWatch Content Team   Date: 3 February 2010

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If you reside in the U.S. then healthcare in the United States should be of utmost importance to you. Even if you travel to the United States on business or visit it for pleasure every now and again your healthcare needs should be paramount to your very life.

In the United States health care is provided to citizens mainly through the private sector. It is the private sector that owns and operates most medical and health related facilities. Health insurance in most cases is also administered through the private sector. The exception to this is government-funded programs, which include Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Veterans Health Administration.

It is a sad but true fact the healthcare in the United States does not embrace every person. There are a great number of people who have no medical coverage whatsoever. These people are at risk of not receiving the medical care they need when they need it because they do not have the money to pay for it. Approximately 15 percent of the American population is uninsured. There is also a large faction of the population that has some medical coverage but is underinsured. This is to say that they are not as fully insured, as they should be if a medical emergency and costs related to it were to arise.

Despite the fact that many American citizens are uninsured or underinsured; more money is spent per person on healthcare in the United States than in any other country on the planet. A large percentage of the total income for this country is spent on health and medical costs. The U.S. has the third highest public healthcare expenditure per capita. One of the leading cases of personal bankruptcy in the United States every year is medical debt.

Healthcare reform in the United States is always a popular topic for active debate on the world stage. In particular, questions concerning the right to healthcare, access to healthcare, efficiency, cost, fairness and quality top the list. It has been argued that citizens do not get out of the healthcare system as much as they put into it.

The United States has a huge price tag on an annual basis for healthcare costs yet they fall behind other wealthy nations such as France, Germany, Japan and the UK when it comes to life expectancy and infant mortality. In terms of the rest of the world, the life expectancy of Americans is ranked 42nd in the world. As well at the present time the United States has a higher infant mortality rate than the majority of other industrialized nations.  
 


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