Delivery of the Health Care System and the Changes It Needs to Make

Delivery of the U.S. Health Care System

And the Changes it needs to make

By: Danielle Fisher

08/28/10

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Over the years there have been many different changes affecting the health care system in America, and the delivery of the health care system is one of the major changes that are taking place. The delivery of the health care system has been falling apart for many years, and with the way things are going there needs to be some change in it. Medical professionals are being asked not just by patients but by the governments of states to have medical errors and malpractice issues to be out in the open for everyone to see. There are many communities in America that need dire help with health care that is affordable for them and accessible as well. With the many different programs available out there for people, the government is not doing their job as to make it known of the programs that are out there. From the obligation society has to give Americans basic level of care, the government being two-sided about reforms, emergency rooms being used as basic level care for low income, and the shift utilization happening in the hospitals the American people are pleading for there to be a change in how things are going with health care delivery.

Society has an obligation to the American people to make it so that there is a basic level of health care available, and there are a few things that can help with making the process go faster than it has been. According to Ruud H. J. Meulen-ter, "...the health care system itself was operated and still operates on collectivist principles, with the state as the lead organizer and director. All health care services are provided by state institutions that are directly controlled by the government via a system of targets, benchmarks, and other ways of governance," (Meulen-ter, p146). The government has been trying for a few years now to agree on the health care reform bill that the legislative wants to pass in order to help the millions of Americans going without health insurance due to the cost and the access to it. Living in a rural area of the U.S. it has been

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very difficult to have a doctor that would be able to see me when I needed to after I graduated from high school and started working. As a young college student I am one of the many people going without health care insurance, and there needs to be a change with that. Young American college students are the future of the American people and need to be treated as such, because right now there is not a lot of help coming in the form of health care that's affordable. The government needs to come to an agreement on the health care reform bill they are trying to pass and then put in the changes that occur over time with the technological advances that health care is taking, because to try to use one thing to rule it all will not with the health care now. Another thing that would help would be the way the doctors could change the negative involvement into positive involvement, so that patients and people in general will be more comfortable with the doctor patient relationship. Physicians also have a way in helping making it a smoother transition for health care reform as well, by allowing to show what medical errors and malpractice law suits are out there and to what physician needs to change the way they do things in the office. All of the people who work in the health care fields should take some kind of continuing education in order to keep working in an always changing and fast paced field of work and the physicians shouldn't be treated any different. With the many changes in the health care industry and technology, there needs to be some rules and safety laws put into place with them. As a certified nurse's aide, I have had to take continuous education classes to keep on working in nursing homes and with hospice. My mother who is a nurse at the University of Iowa also goes to classes to learn about the new technology and equipment they will be using to better the lives of the people staying in her care. There are physicians that should take classes to make it known about the dangers of medical errors and what they can do to prevent them from happening because

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medical errors are one of the main causes for death and disability with people when they leave the hospital after a long stay due to a serious injury. Insurance companies also have a hand in the changing for society's obligation to give all Americans basic levels of health care as well. The way that the insurance companies have been helping is not in a positive way at all, because the people running them are greedy and money hungry. "Although health care markets have some unique attributes, these are not the explanation for lack of successful innovation. Rather, health insurance markets suffer from overregulation, which limits innovation in both insurance and new ways of delivering medical care," (Flier, p2851). The cost of health care premiums for people has been increasing steadily over the last ten years, and is showing no signs of decreasing any time soon without push from legislation. In order for middle class working people to get any help with health insurance they need to find a job that offers them health care, and right now with the way the economy is there needs to be other means of health care insurance available as well. Most Americans are working either two part-time jobs or are working only one part-time job and struggling with the rest of their bills and everything else that people in this economy are dealing with.

The U.S. government has been very two-sided about the health care reform they have been trying to pass out in legislation. Having a universal health care plan put into action would help out the middle and lower classes to help reduce the deaths from preventable diseases in children, young adults and our ever growing elderly populations. The way that the market-driven health care has been going shows many of the things that we need to change. In the next ten years our elderly will account for 30% of our total population and some things will have to change with that. There will be a bigger demand for in-home patient care and hospice care, so

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certified nurses aides will be in a high demand. Our health care has been constantly changing to adapt to the advances in medicine, but it seems to lack in many places because of the constant change. The government is trying to put their hands in trying to fix the health care problems the people are facing right now, but they don't know it may be too late