Health Care Reform

One of the most pressing economical issues today is health care. Far too many Americans cannot afford reasonable health care when they become ill. Health care reform is a general rubric used for discussing major health policy creation or changes. Health care reform is needed to ensure Americans get the high-quality care that is needed and deserved. Health care reform is not only for the sick, but it also improves the health of the nation by investing in critical prevention and wellness initiatives that help keep Americans healthy.

The debate over health care reform in the United States centers on the questions of whether Americans have a right to health care, who should have access to health care and under what circumstances, the quality achieved for the high sums spent, and the sustainability of expenditures that have been rising faster than the level of general inflation and the growth of the economy. Americans spend more on health care than any other country in the world. Therefore, the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States is indeed medical debt. Even though Americans spend so much, the actual use of health care services in the U.S. by most measures of health services use is well below the average of the world's developed countries (Health Care).

According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Services, the U.S. is the "only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage" (IOM Home). Americans are divided along party lines in their views regarding the role of government in the health economy and especially whether a new public health plan should be created and administered by the federal government. Those is favor of universal health care argue that the large number of uninsured Americans creates direct and hidden costs shared by all, and that extending coverage to all would lower costs and improve quality. Opponents of law requiring people to have health insurance argue that this impinges on their personal freedom. Both sides of the political spectrum have also looked to more philosophical arguments, debating whether people have a fundamental right to have health care which needs to be protected by their government.

The current figures estimate that spending on health care in the U.S. is about 16% of its gross domestic profit (GDP). In 2007, an estimated $2.26 trillion was spent on health care in the U.S. Health care costs are rising faster than wages or inflation, and the health share of GDP is expected to continue its upward trend and should reached 19.5 percent of GDP by 2017. Government health care spending the U.S. is consistently greater than in Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom and Japan, and an even larger portion is paid by private insurances and the individuals themselves. These mentioned have mostly public health care (Bartlett).

The U.S. spends more on health care per capita than any other UN member nation. It also spends a greater fraction of its national budget on health care than Canada, Germany, France, or Japan. In 2004, the U.S. spent $6,102 per capita on health care. Although the U.S. Medicare coverage of prescription drugs began in 2006, most patented prescription drugs are more costly in the U.S. than in most other countries. Reasons behind this are possibly the absence of government price controls and the enforcement of intellectual property rights limiting the availability of generic drugs until after patent expiration. Some U.S. citizens obtain their medications from foreign sources to take advantage of lower prices (Bartlett).

The cost and quality of care in the United States are frequently the two major issues of discussion. The U.S pays twice as much for health care, but is way behind other nations in infant mortality and life expectancy. Compared to the Japanese, where the average lifespan is about 82 years, or the French, with an average lifespan of 79 years, Americans live a far shorter life despite the perceived better quality of life (Health Care). However, both males and females in the U.S. have better cancer survivor rates than their counterparts in Europe. In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked the U.S. health care system 37th in overall performance and 72nd by overall level of health, among the 191 member nations included in the study (WHO | World Health Organization).

The U.S. system is often compared with Canada's system. Canada's system is largely publicly funded. In 2006, Canadians spent US$3,678 compared to America's $6.714 as discussed earlier. This amounted to 15.3% of U.S. GDP in that year, while Canada spent 10% of GDP on health care. A 2007 review of all studies comparing health outcomes in Canada and the U.S. found that "health outcomes may be superior in patients cared for in Canada versus the U.S., but differences are not consistent (Bartlett).

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