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How can the government provide medical insurance to all United States citizens? Following the steps closely. STEP 1. IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM: The healthcare has been of the greatest interest to the government around the world throughout the human history.
The age dynamics, death expectations, and fertility rates are the facts that matter when the government ponders some social program. The fact that even the government of the worlds largest economy still has limited resources means that every program or problem has to be analyzed and the reasonable solution has to be crafted to assure the positive outcome that would benefit the greatest number of people. I should note here that if the US government managed to provide the health care to every US citizen, it would probably be re-elected milliard times, because health issues, government support and aid can be used as a competitive leverage against the political rivals. Who does the problem affect? (State every possible person, group, etc... ) The medical insurance is directly related to the health issues and the age groups of the US population. Currently, every single person of the middle and low class is affected by the possibility of the government provision of the medical insurance. Here one has to assume that the upper class is going to remain indifferent to the government initiatives but rather will stick to the upper-class medical institutions and medical insurance programs.
B. ) How does this problem affect them? It is a common knowledge that the US medicine is rather expensive. One should remember that it is one of the worlds best, too. Yet for some low-income people, it does not matter whether the US provides the top medical service or not-these people still find it unaffordable and therefore are disadvantaged.
Therefore, the people who cannot afford medical treatment in the USA are directly affected by the insurance programs, while everyone in the society is indirectly influenced by such issues. The fact that a person is sick makes them less productive (if productive at all) and that does not benefit the general economic state. In other words, the problem affects everyone in the society directly or indirectly, while the effect can be measured economical and monetarily. STEP 2. THE HISTORY OF THE PROBLEM: When did the problem start? The problem with expensive medical care has been present in the USA since the time of this countrys creation.
Still, it was not until the late 1980 s that this problem was addressed by the Congress and the US presidents. B. ) Where did the problem start? The problem originally started in the Department of Statistics that estimated that by the year 2010 in the USA the number of pensioners will surpass the number of the working people. The fact that over 50 % of those retired rely on the US government and medicare fully or partly made the US government understand that soon, the country will face serious economic problems that together with the increasing government debt could suppress the US economic growth after 2010. C. ) How did problem start?
The problem started when the baby boom generation started to gradually approach the retirement age in the USA while the majority of them was considered to rely on the government support, thus aggravating the situation. The necessity for developing the program that would benefit all the US citizen was apparent at that point of time. The problem started when the US government understood that Americans do not properly receive medical treatment and oftentimes are unable to finance health-related expenditures on their own and rely on the government or corporate support already. D. ) Why did the problem start when it did? The problem started naturally and it was expected to start at the time when the baby boom generation was about to retire. After the WWII the baby boom generation was formed and ever since the group of people born somewhere 1944 - 1948 had greatly influence the US economy and politics both positively and negatively E. ) How has it been dealt with up to now?
Up until now the problem has been dealt with thanks to Medicare. The Original Medicare Plan (sometimes called fee-for-service) was and is available nationwide. Many people in the Original Medicare Plan also have a Medigap (Medicare Supplemental Insurance) policy or supplemental coverage provided by their former employer to help pay health care costs that this plan does not cover. Still today many use Medicare + Choice plans (which include Medicare managed care plans (like HMOs), and Medicare Private Fee-for-Service plans).
Medicare + Choice plans provide care under contract to Medicare. They may provide benefits like coordination of care or reducing out-of-pocket expenses. Some plans may offer additional benefits, such as prescription drugs. There are two types of Medicare + Choice plans. They are available in many parts of the country. Generally, people like you may join a Medicare + Choice plan at any time.
However, some Medicare + Choice plans limit the number of members in their plans. These plans may not accept new members when they reach their limit. A plan can tell you if it is signing up new members. Also, if you are in an institution (like a nursing home), check with the plan to see if you may be able to join at other times. -STEP 3. THE CAUSES OF THE PROBLEM: A. ) Immediate causes of the problem.
After the 1990 census, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that approximately a quarter of American children are not up-to-date on basic immunizations. A staggering 40 % of children entering kindergarten in California are not up-to-date. To reach this program's goal, it has been recommended that pediatrics receive a larger proportion of the health care budget. However, with the "graying" of America, proponents for the rights of the elderly maintain that more money be spent in geriatrics.
The controversial issue of resource allocation between pediatrics and geriatrics seeps through the government's hands and into other areas as well. Currently, hospital, hospice and short nursing home stays are paid for by Medicare's trust fund. Trust fund expenditures come from "Part A" of the program. The trust fund is replenished by a 1. 45 percent tax on income paid by workers and another 1. 45 percent paid by employers. The fact that the fund will be depleted by 2001 or even 2000 is what makes changing Medicare so urgent. Raising taxes might seem like an obvious solution to the problem.
But with both Congress and the White House averse to the idea, it's an unlikely solution, at least for now. Plus, raising taxes will place additional burden on the economy making the US goods expensive and uncompetitive and therefore indirectly benefiting the foreign goods and the foreign countries who would be able to use the extra funding for the formation of the insurance packages for their own employees and their families. And it certainly is unlikely to be the only solution. To make the fund solvent through 2010, taxes would have to be raised 40 percent, on top of general revenue spending increases for Part B, according to Ms. Moon. B. ) Long Range causes of the problem.
The situation in the USA today As a consequence of the practices of companies like NME the US system is tightly controlled and intensively monitored. There is a massive and expensive bureaucracy involved in health care regulation and control. Vast sums are spent by the FBI in investigating and prosecuting health fraud. The director of the FBI has indicated to the US senate that the problems in control are so difficult and the rewards so great that major crime syndicates are entering health care. A recent US senate investigation has exposed a massive fraud, this time exploiting the vulnerable elderly. It is worth noting that one of the largest owners of aged nursing homes was an NME subsidiary which was spun off as a separate company under the same directors 1989.
The USA has many university centres with the highest standards of care. It also has the highest cost of healthcare per citizen in the world and one of the lowest overall standards of population health in the developed world. One of the major factors in what has happened in the USA has been the failure by the medical profession to resist corporate practices. Some congressmen at the US House of Representatives seemed to understand this. They stated because ultimately it's the physician or somebody who signs the ticket that gets the billing done. " you can write all the legislation you want. It's a matter of how you " re going to enforce it. " Dr Walter Afield an investigator from Florida indicated to the US House of Representatives inquiry that the system had been set up to be raped and it had been.
He described this as "one of the major hoaxes on the American public." He indicated that people simply could not believe that their doctors would be party to such practices. -STEP 4. SOLUTIONS FOR THE PROBLEM: A. ) Immediate solutions (if "no solution" then explain why) for the problem. It seems wiser that society allocate more money and expend more effort to enhance everyone's chance of living past the first few years of life. I believe that improving the health care of children through vaccinations greatly benefits society and insures our own future. In 1994, the Childhood Immunization Initiative, initiated by President Clinton, established the Vaccines for Children Program.
It supplies free immunizations to participating health-care provider sites to be administered to qualifying children under 18 years of age at no cost. The program spends almost 460 million federal dollars per year to purchase and deliver the vaccines. Its goal is to bring nationwide vaccination levels for children to at least 90 %. Few of these ideas are likely to arise as Congress debates Medicare's immediate problems. But in the long term, some may be adopted. They include raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, limiting Medicare to catastrophic expenses only, and taxing Medicare benefits.
One idea envisions denying "heroic efforts" to sustain life for people older than 75 or 80. Such an idea "is not likely to be enacted in the U. S. , " Ms. Moon writes. B) Long Range solutions for the problem. US politicians correctly diagnosed the disastrous situation in their health system to be a consequence of the financial priorities built into their health regulations.
They failed to consider the impossibility of adequately regulating and controlling something as diverse and ill defined as health care. They failed to understand the impact of a powerful marketplace culture on the ethical structures of the medical profession. These are the only people with the knowledge and power to effectively control the abuses which were occurring. They framed their solution, "managed care" within a marketplace framework. This places even greater financial pressures on the ethical structures of...
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