The American healthcare system has undergone a considerable transformation since the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The healthcare system constitutes an important area of the U.S. economy, with emerging debates about the right way to improve the current limitations in the products and services offered (Ridic, Gleason & Ridic, 2012). The primary goal of the American health care system is to ensure that all Americans can access services and improve the affordability of diagnosis and treatment of health care problems such as cardiovascular and chronic diseases (Weissert & Weissert, 2019). This discussion presents a comparison of the performance of the U.S. health system compared to other countries, the successes of the ACA, and recommendations for improvement in the ACA to improve the quality of health services.

Discussion: The United States is the country that spends the most on the health system, with an average of 17% of gross domestic product (GDP) going to health services. This is twice the cost incurred in health services in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. Australia and New Zealand allocate approximately 9.3% (Weissert & Weissert, 2019). Despite massive spending on health care, the United States does not perform and other developed countries. It performs poorly on things like life expectancy, infant mortality rates, and uncontrolled diabetes. Life expectancy in the U.S. is 78 years compared to Japan which has a life expectancy of 84 years, Australia with 82 years, the United Kingdom (U.K.) with a life expectancy of 81 years, and Italy with a life expectancy of 83 years (Cleveland, Motter, and Smith, 2019). The United States has the highest burden of chronic disease and obesity compared to the OECD average. There are fewer doctor visits among Americans than in most peer countries, which is associated with a low supply of doctors in the U.S. However, the United States uses more expensive technologies, such as MRIs and special procedures in care activities, such as hip replacements and specialized procedures. However, the United States has made significant progress in reducing the death rate from diseases of the circulatory system. There has been a reduction in the death rate from 629 deaths per 100,000 people in 1980 to 255 per 100,000 people in 2017 (Choo & Carroll, 2020). Deaths resulting from diseases of the circulatory system have also accounted for a smaller percentage of the causes of death in 2017. Cancer death rates in the U.S. have dropped significantly compared to other countries in the past 37 years. There has been a reduction in the death rate in the U.S. due to cancer by 24% between 1980 and 2017.
Conclusion: The ACA has enabled the United States to effectively address the health insurance coverage needs of its citizens by devising frameworks that ensure access to affordable care for chronic diseases. Despite the low life expectancy of the United States compared with other countries, the healthcare system has performed well in terms of the quality of affordable care for all the population and technology in improving the quality of healthcare services. The suggestions for improvement of ACA, such as reducing penalties in insurance exchanges and the availability of “Medicare for all,” will ensure insurance coverage for people who do not have employer-sponsored insurance coverage.

References

Choo, E. K., & Carroll, A. E. (2020). Public health, pandemic response, and the 2020 US

election. The Lancet Public Health, 5(10), e515-e516.

Cleveland, K., Motter, T., & Smith, Y. (2019). Affordable care: Harnessing the power of

nurses. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 24(2).

Ridic, G., Gleason, S., & Ridic, O. (2012). Comparisons of health care systems in the

United States, Germany and Canada. Materia socio-medica, 24(2), 112.

Weissert, W. G., & Weissert, C. S. (2019). Governing Health: The Politics of Health Policy

(5th ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Two: Introduction

The U.S. has one of the most complex, expensive healthcare systems globally compared to other countries. (Weissert and Weissert, 2019). The U.S. spends more money on administrative costs, overuse of medical services, and underinvesting in social services. (Papanicolas, Woskie, and Jha, 2018). The U.S. healthcare system in the “U.S. between 2010 and 2019 went from 16.3% to 17.0%, which is more than half of the U.S. GDP”. (Peter Peterson Foundation, 2020). Political, economic, and social characteristics affect how much a country spends on healthcare. However, the wealthier the country, the tendency is to spend more on healthcare. For example, “The U.S. spends the United States spent about $11,100 per person on healthcare — the highest healthcare cost per capita across the OECD. For comparison, Switzerland was the second highest-spending country with about $7,700 in healthcare expenses per capita, in 2019.” (Peter Peterson Foundation, 2020). The average is $5,496.

Discussion

The U.S healthcare system has been reformed due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. The purpose of the ACA of 2010 was to reduce the cost of healthcare in the U.S. and ensure that everyone is covered under a healthcare plan that is affordable for everyone. (ACA of 2010, 2010). The question is if it is addressing the healthcare needs of the citizens? I can honestly say that it does not address all of the citizen’s needs in my real everyday life. I have many friends and family who cannot afford health insurance, even those listed in the Marketplace. On the other hand, I also have friends and family with the Marketplace insurance plan, and they do not cove very many services or lab tests. In other experiences, I have family members that we can obtain health care services and medical care that without the ACA of 2010, they would not normally be able to afford or receive. In some cases, like my mom, she would not qualify for Medicaid as it stands today without the ACA of 2010. So, I have experienced it meeting the needs and not meeting the needs. People with pre-existing conditions can not be denied healthcare, which is definitely a plus for the ACA of 2010. (ACA of 2010, 2010). In my opinion, keeping dependent children on the parent’s insurance until they are 26 is a benefit. The expansion of Medicaid is a benefit, and healthcare is offered to everyone is a benefit. Still, the program needs a little more tweaking.

Where do we as a country go from here? What do we need to do to improve the law? First, the U.S. as a country needs to work together and look at the average income of the citizens and find ways to cut back the cost of coverage and expensive lab tests. Second, we need to find ways to control pharmaceuticals’ substance abuse and high costs and hold accountable the pharmaceutical companies and doctors that overprescribe opioids and other strong drugs. Finally, let us go back to eating non-processed foods and exercise more to get healthier as a nation. We need to go back to playing baseball in the streets and other sports and exercise and set the right examples for the younger generation. The fast foods and unhealthy food businesses need to be higher in price, and we need to lower the price on the healthier foods and snacks and the healthier choices. There are just so many other things to go from here; we need to discuss and put them into action.

Conclusion

The U.S. needs to find different solutions to reduce healthcare spending for all involved and promote healthy eating and exercise. Reducing the prices on healthier things and what people need and raising prices on unhealthy things will be a great start. Healthy food and exercise is awesome. Eating farm to table food, and less processed food is even better.