THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ISSUE AFFECTING FUTURE HEALTHCARE DELIVERY IN THE UNITED STATES
There are a number of issues affecting health delivery in the United States, both presently and in the future. However, the most significant issues that relates to healthcare delivery is insurance. Over forty five million American citizens are under insured, or they are completely uninsured. This means that these American citizens cannot access healthcare even when they are in desperate need of it. It is virtually impossible to get standard healthcare without significance backing in the form of insurance. Moreover, in the near future it will be completely unachievable for any uninsured citizen to get any medical attention at all or for any underinsured citizen to get the appropriate healthcare and medical attention, which they need. With the American economy not making any notable significant steps in the form of recovery, it is likely that the number of under insured Americans and uninsured Americans will increase well into the future.
Emerging also is that insurance companies are increasingly refusing to offer insurance in the case of people with a preexisting condition especially in instances where the conditions happen to be chronic. This is just appalling to say the least. It means that people with preexisting conditions will not be able to get insurance and in turn they mare be rendered unable to receive quality healthcare or any healthcare at all yet they just so happen to be the ones that need it the most. It is apparent that insurance companies, which are among the largest stakeholders in the American healthcare system, are only concerned with making profits, as opposed to the preservation of human life. They view people with preexisting conditions as high-risk investments, which may lead to their losing of precious capital and dividends. People suffering from chronic conditions will be in a lot of trouble in terms of their health in the near future, if this sadistic trend by insurance companies is not curbed.
The American healthcare system has been taken hostage by bean counters, which regulate and decide the amount and quality of healthcare received at our healthcare facilities. This means that doctors have their hands tied in as much as they can do to help patients who are truly in need of unique and specialized care. The decision on the care for any patient should rest with the medical practitioner responsible for the patient in order to ensure that the patient receives the appropriate care and attention, which is protagonist to their recovery. Under no circumstance should the right of a doctor to decide what is best for a patient they have examined be infringed upon.
Having medical insurance in the United States is no guarantee that a citizen will receive healthcare when needed. The healthcare system has been transformed into a maze of bureaucracies and slow processes in terms of service delivery even in instances where the service is needed as a matter of urgency and desperately. An insured citizen may be denied healthcare perhaps due to the nature of their insurance policy or because of the endless bureaucracies involved especially with the insurance companies. Health care insurance providers also have very high administration costs. This means that the average American citizen will have to part with more money in terms of insurance payments in order to receive adequate healthcare or any healthcare at all. This presents a problem especially in the face of the current state of the American economy.
The ACS act, however, seems to bring much needed reprieve. This act tends to protect patients with preexisting conditions like cancer from discrimination by insurance companies. Insurance companies are also barred from dropping people when they get sick and ensuring children remain under the health plan of their parents until the age of 26. This greatly reduces the burden of medical costs on citizens.
