Healthcare Case - How Is the Role of Government Likely to Change?

How is the role of government likely to change?

It is hard to ignore a segment of the gross national product that consumes will 40% of the financial sector by 2050. This is an issue that needs continuously investigation. Currently healthcare costs are $2 trillion dollars a year. The arguments for different ways to reduce this cost are varied with opponents having strong feeling regarding their point of view (http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5645.html). Keeping healthcare privatized as it has been since conception has worked well until recently when the insurance benefits of a lot of Americans has run out or now are underinsured.

During this time, a major change in the 1960s was the inclusion of Medicare and Medicaid. With a great deal of debate, these two benefits for the elderly and disabled were passed to act a savings account to contribute and use when they became 65 years old or met disability requirements. No one perceived the huge money output that would put this program in jeopardy just 50 years later (http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/health-plan-would-push-millions-out-medicare-program).

Will government be more or less involved in the health sector?

Right now, the American people depend on the government to regulate the payment of a significant amount of the healthcare monies. We can argue that the money dealt out by the government is really cash that workers put into the Medicare bank for years as a part of their paychecks. We feel that we should have what we are due even though the disbursement is regulated by the government.

The press is laden with either more or less involvement of the government in healthcare. The latest is the major problems with medical errors in hospitals and who bears the responsibility for managing the problem. Medication errors account for 7,000 deaths while 12,000 deaths are from unnecessary surgeries. Infections account for 80,000 deaths a year from hospital acquired infections and other negative effects of drugs cause 106,000 deaths. Unfortunately, this is probably just the tip of the iceberg (http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Health+Care+Reform+Statistics&view=detail&id=AEB0E958C6CE2DE93AAA90618A17481B46AC0E98&first=0&FORM=IDFRIR).

The hospital are trying to manage their affairs through agencies like The Joint Commission and Government affairs for hospital conduct but looking at the statistics someone is not doing their job. At some point, the government will step in because of public outcry and look at why so many people are dying in hospital.

What impact will increased government involvement have on healthcare as a business opportunity?

As employment becomes scarce, more children will benefit from government sponsored healthcare plans. Among these is increased eligibility for Medicaid for children (http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Newsfeed/Article/134287792/201107312022/More-US-kids-on-government-healthcare.aspx)

Up until the 1980s, you never saw a billboard or public advertising for medical treatment or hospitals. Now they are on in every television program or every turn in the road. This means that healthcare is dropping the medical model for a business model.