The Crisis of American Health Care

Possessing skillful doctors, advanced medicines, and state of the art equipment, the United States claims that there healthcare industry ranks among the best. Healthcare is the maintenance and improvement of physical and mental health, especially through the provision of medical services, such as doctors and nurses. The American healthcare system outspends all other countries on health per person. However, the people of the United States people receive a lower level of care than do the citizens of many countries that spend less on their healthcare systems. Many of the elderly and poor people receive healthcare through government organizations. Medicare, a government organization, reimburses hospitals and physicians for medical care provided to qualifying people over 65 years old. Another organization, Medicaid, that reimburses hospitals and physicians for providing care to qualifying people who cannot finance their own medical expenses. Sixty percent of Americans have coverage through employment based health insurances. Health insurance is insurance against expenses acquired through illness of the insured, for example if a person breaks their leg the majority of the medical bill would be covered and the person would only have to pay a fraction of the bill as a deductible. Yet, 47 million Americans are uninsured, which would mean they would have to pay the entire medical bill if for example they broke their leg. On the other hand, the rising costs of individual health care and the price of maintaining the government organizations dedicated to providing healthcare to the poor and elderly has put a strain on the economy of the United States. Peter R. Orszag, an American economist, states, “It is no exaggeration to say that the United States' standing in the world depends on its success in constraining this health-care cost explosion; unless it does, the country will eventually face a severe fiscal crisis or a crippling inability to invest in other areas.” Orszag’s comment has somewhat become true because state governments have had to divert funds from education to health care. He believes that the only solution to the increasing health is, "there is no credible path to reducing the long-term fiscal imbalance in the United States other than directly addressing high-cost cases in health care." 

Works Cited 

Orszag, Peter R. "How Health Care Can Save or Sink America." Foreign Affairs. Jul/Aug 2011: 42. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 23 Oct 2011.
ProQuest Staff. "Topic Overview: Health Care." ProQuest LLC. 2011: n.pag. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 23 Oct 2011.