Factors Influencing Accessibility and Affordability of Health Care in the US

Workforce Shortage

The Discussion Question Had You Thinking About The Accessibility And Availability Of Health Care Services In The US.

This Assignment Has You Expand Upon The Discussion Question Prompt By Exploring Causes And Effects Regarding The Accessibility And Affordability Of Health Care In The Us. Goal.

Your Goal Is To Create a 5-7 Page Apa-Formatted Cause And Effect Essay Exploring The Factors Influencing Accessibility And Affordability Of Health Care In The Us. It Would Be Best If You Began Your Research Using Ahrq’s 2018 National Healthcare Quality And Disparities Report.

Accessibility in healthcare refers to the availability of high quality healthcare services within reasonable reach of the healthcare service users. In USA health insurance coverage is provided by several public as well as private organizations. During the year 2016, the US population was approximately 325 million with 53 million people over 65 years age or more covered by the Medicare program. However, in the year 2017, a survey has been conducted by who I order to access the healthcare he healthcare system of 11 countries (Woolf, 2017). From the survey, it has been found that u`s health care system is one of the worst performing on the basis of efficiency, affordability, equity and healthcare access. In the year 2018, the nation I found to be ranked 29^th on the basis of healthcare access and quality (Snavely, 2016). In this essay, a detailed cause effect discussion on the factors influencing accessibility and affordability of health care in the US has been conducted.

According to Meltzer and Schwartz, (2016), lack of workforce can be pointed out to be one of the major causes behind lack of accessibility and affordability of the US healthcare system. Considering the fact that the population of the nation is aging, the healthcare industry in UK is suffering from a huge crisis of workforce. The number of general practitioners per population is much lesser in the nation compared to other developed nations like France and Sweden. In the year 2013, America possessed half as many primary health care service provider per 1000 individuals compared to its neighbor country Sweden and one fifth the number in France or Germany. According to Burstin, Leatherman and Goldmann, (2016), lack of workforce in the US healthcare department creates issue in the demand and supply. Lack of primary care physicians makes it difficult for a greater number of patent to access the same.  

When it comes to the chief cause that is affecting lack of affordability of the US healthcare system, lack of funding can be pointed out. Considering the fact that it is the responsibility of both the federal as well as local government to ensure import of efficient workface for enhancing the manpower of the industry, lack of effective funding is hindering the process. Not only this, healthcare equipment that needs to be installed in order to provide high quality HealthCare to the health care service users of the nation are lacking due to lack of effective funding.   

The third chief factors that is affecting the provision of accessible as well as affordable healthcare system is discrimination. According to Xu and Xue, (2016), perceived discrimination in the medial setting of the UK healthcare system has remained prevalent. Discriminatory acts on healthcare service providers from ethnic background are often practiced which makes it difficult for the same to retain their jobs. For instance, the stress level ad pressure imposed on no white healthcare service users are found to be much more compared to while service users. Not only this, nurses with ethnic backgrounds are found to be suffer from issues like lack of promotion, ragging by white nurses and others. All these have resulted in deterioration of the number of nurses from ethnic or non-American background. This in turn is imposing negative impact on the workforce.

Singh et al., (2017) have pointed out that lack of effective act and polices can be considered as one of the chief factors that is imposing adverse impact on the affordability and accessibility of the healthcare service. The patient protection and affordability care act, also known as affordability care act was signed in law in the year 2010. The ACA was formally designed for paying for its subsidies by taxing some health care providers and high-income families. However, the act has been modified by the former president of USA and the new act has been designed for both lower heath care costs as well as provided better health care for American society as a whole. The chief purpose of the mentioned healthcare act was to ensure reduction in the cost along with enhancing the access to health care. However, according to Langa  et al., (2017), have raised the income tax rate in USA. Not only this, the ACA has also imposed taxed on those who have not purchased the insurance.  Majority of the citizens are found to select paying the tax instead of paying the coverage (Rosenthal & Graham, 2016). This instead of reducing the cost, the mentioned act seems to enhancing the same, especially when it comes to the lower income group. In this paragraph, another mention worthy factor that is affecting the accessibility of the healthcare system in USA is lack of technological support at remote areas in the nation. According to Douthit et al., (2015), a good number of elements contributes to the healthcare accessibility related issues in rural areas of USA (www.rand.org, 2020). the chief issues includes declining population, economic stagnation, shortage of physicians and other health care professionals along with technologically advanced equipment for emergency healthcare service. According to a survey, the mortality rate of individuals due to lack of effective healthcare service is at least 12 percent. The healthcare cost is not evenly disturbed, 1 percent of the population is responsible for over 21 percent of the costs in healthcare and 5 percent of the population is responsible for half of the healthcare expenses (Noonan et al., 2016).

In this paragraph, the effects of accessibility and affordability of health care in the US has been conducted. According to researchers, the most serious healthcare issue that is currently faced by majority of the residents in USA is lack of affordability in the healthcare system. The inequality in healthcare enhances the cost of Medicare for every citizens of USA (Obama, 2016). For instance, healthcare service users who lacks the ability to afford preventive care are found to be opting for hospital emergency room. The medical treatment and active labor act needs the hospitals to treat a patient who shows up in an emergency room. Since the healthcare home passed those cost along the Medicare the cost of the same gets added to the tax bill.  Lack of physicians as well as healthcare service providers are resulting in decrement in quality of the healthcare services. Not only this, lack of effective funding polices is also responsible for the decrement in quality of the service provided (Langa et al., 2017). Considering the fact that healthcare is one of the most crucial aspects in order to ensure a healthy population.

In remote areas, lack of effective equipment for emergency care, is resulting in increment of premature mortality rate. In several cases, rural healthcare service users are found to be suggested to get admitted in Urban hospitals in case of emergency or severe diseases,. In such cases, the increased affordability of the healthcare services often result in delayed admission of the patient which in turn results in rise of the pre mature mortality rate. Not only has this, due to lower workforces, rural areas in USA lacks appreciated healthcare facilities (Menke et al., 2015). For instance, rural areas like Westminster as well as Marshall Count, are suffering from increasing mortality rate due to lack of accessibility to the healthcare services.  

Discrimination amount the healthcare services providers as well as healthcare services users on the basis of race is further affecting the accessibility to the mentioned industry (www.ahrq.gov., 2020). Patients from ethnic backgrounds are found to be provided lower number of facilities and are treated inappropriately due to the prevalence of discrimination. This in turn has enhanced premature mortality rate amongst the same.

In this paragraph, detailed discussion on how the accessibility and affordability of the healthcare industry n USA can be enhanced has been discussed. The first step that needs to be taken by both the local as well as federal government is to implement effective finding polices I order to ensure better implementation of technologies in the healthcare industry. According to Papanicolas, Woskie & Jha, (2018), Effective implications of technology can help the organizations to deal with the lack of workforce in the mentioned organization. Not only this, considering the fact that excessive stress as well as lack of remuneration has resulted in deterioration of the urge of youths to take up healthcare service provider as a profession, it is highly crucial for the government to implement strategies that the workforce of the mentioned industry can be enhanced. In order to deal with discriminatory acts, the government needs to implement effective policies on healthcare organizations, so that the same can be prevented.

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the current healthcare industry of USA lacks affordability as well accessibility. A good number of causes has been found to be response for the same. The chief causes includes lack of appropriate polices and funding, Lack of workforce, increased amount of demand as well a discrimination. In the above portion, strategies to deal with the above discussed factors ha ben discussed. It is expected that by implementing the above mentioned strategies, the nation will be able to provide effective healthcare services to its residents in near future.

Reference List

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