Health care is important issue right now in America.  Why?  The number of Americans without health care is at 47 million.  What has gone wrong with our health care system?  Let’s start by looking at the obvioius problems in our health care system.  Then we can look at other countries and their health care systems for more perspective on this issue.

Problems with health care in America

Health Insurance

The health insurance system in America is nearing a monopoly status. ¹  It is this monopoly that has played a part in driving up health insurance costs and reducing the innovation of health care. ¹  Reported cases of health insurance fraud are also rising, putting an additional strain on our health care system. ²  Visit this web site for more information on health insurance fraud.

There’s no doubt our health insurance industry has problems, but is our current health insurance setup helping everyone?  When it comes to our current health insurance setup, the majority of people are not getting the help that they truly need.  One study stated: “three-quarters of the medically bankrupt had health insurance.” ³

An ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure

This old saying is true.  American health care needs to focus more on prevention.  Cancer treatment is expensive.  One cancer patient estimated it takes about $30,000 per month for treatment. ⁴  Coronary bypass surgery is not cheap either.  If American health care could prevent more of these instances, we could save a great deal of money!

Some very wise people have said that a good education in preventative medicine and the right nutritional supplements can prevent most of these high-cost epidemic diseases that we are faced with in America.  Knowledge is an important part of staying healthy.  Question everything and be proactive when it comes to your own health care.

Health care in Europe

Many countries throughout Europe are using a UHCS (Universal Health Care System).  Universal health care is simply a nationwide health care program.  Is a UHCS better than what we have here in America?  It depends on where you look.  Some European countries are making these systems work, while others are struggling.  Take for example, Britain and France: Britain’s health care system is struggling, while France is doing much better than Britain and America alike. ⁴

Why is France doing so well?  One key to the success of the French lies in their ability to keep insurance rates low. ⁴  French health care achieves lower rates by using price controls.  Another interesting fact is that the French system does not rely entirely on UHCS: they actually rely on a mixture of public and private funding.

Health care in Japan

Japan also operates primarily under a UHCS (Universal Health Care System).  Private health care plans do exist, but mostly for the employees of medium and large corporations. ⁵  Under the national health care plan, the insured pay 30% of in- or out-patient costs, as well as co-payments for prescription drugs. ⁵  There is also a national health care program for the elderly.

So how is the health care in Japan working out?  Well, spending on health care accounted for a mere 6.6 percent of Japan’s total gross domestic product versus 13.4 percent of America’s back in 1991. ⁶  But could it be that the citizens of Japan are just healthier than Americans?  Perhaps.

Where do we go from here?

So what is the future of health care in America?  We can’t copy another country’s health care system and expect it to work for us.  However, we need reform of some kind to solve the current problems.  We have been thinking about these issues, and these are our thoughts regarding the future of health care in America:

1. Break up the monopolies that exist in the private health insurance industry.  We feel that more competition is in the best interest of the people.  This should effectively drive health insurance costs down.
2. Move more in the direction of a UHCS.  Why move towards universal health care?  It provides a certain amount of coverage for those 47 million that have no coverage.  However, this move could prove to be a mistake if our government does not manage the program properly.
3. Focus more on prevention!!  This is the most important point we have to offer.  Our country needs focus more on the prevention of disease.  If we can keep more people well, we will take stress off the health care system, regardless of what plans we put into action.

Sources:

1. Health Insurance A Near-Monopoly, Study Finds.  ConsumerAffairs.com.  http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/04/ama_insurance_study.html
2. By the numbers: fraud stats.  Coalition Against Insurance Fraud.  http://www.insurancefraud.org/stats.htm
3. Sick and Broke.  Elizabeth Warren.  CommonDreams.org News Center.  http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0212-10.htm
4. Is Europe’s Health Care Better?  Kerry Capell.  BusinessWeek.  http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2007/gb20070613_921562.htm
5. Health Care in Japan.  National Coalition on Health Care.  http://www.nchc.org/facts/Japan.pdf
6. Japan’s Universal and Affordable Health Care: Lessons for the United States?  http://www.nyu.edu/projects/rodwin/lessons.html

This entry was posted on Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 3:27 pm and is filed under Health Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.