The Economic Burden of Healthcare Costs in the United States
Economics, particularly healthcare cost, is the most influential factor that led to the development of value-based healthcare under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). American healthcare costs were rising rapidly, whereas the quality of care was declining. The old system is designed to treat diseases rather than prevent them. The healthcare intermediaries, including insurers, have implemented a system that wants citizens to keep spending as there are more profits in healing than prevention. The fee-for-service model employed by American healthcare institutions in conjunction with insurers is based on profiting from patient exploitation.
Economic Influences on America’s Healthcare Policy
The documentaries assert that American medical care is centered on hospitalizing patients and administering medications. Pharmaceutical corporations use these two conditions as significant revenue generators. The Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare documentary arranges its evidence in chapters regarding individual narratives of the American healthcare issue. The film argues that childhood diabetes was previously unknown but is now common in healthcare. The disease is associated with lifestyle, including lack of physical exercise and obesity, and thus is preventable (Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare). However, children are given prescriptions as pharmaceuticals continue profiting from preventable diseases.
The documentary highlights research where diet and exercise can reverse coronary heart disease. The medical establishment rejected this procedure as it decreased profits since no surgery or drugs were involved. The film highlights how American soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are given potent narcotics as pain relievers and thus are addicted to prescription drugs. There are various treatment alternatives, such as acupuncture, but only a few for-profit hospitals embrace their use as they lose profits from prescribing painkillers.
Doctors struggle with the reality that they are reimbursed based on the volume of patients rather than patient care. Patients are hurriedly rushed to the emergency room, the most expensive, diagnosed, and prescribed drugs, as physicians struggle to minimize time spent on one patient (Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare). The healthcare system is based on profits rather than care, showing that economics determines the quality of care provided.
Global Perspectives: How Healthcare Costs Shape International Systems Differently
Healthcare costs in other developed countries are considerably low when compared to the U.S. The PBS Frontline documentary Sick Around the World compares American healthcare costs to five countries: Britain, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland. The documentary reports that healthcare costs are significantly lower than in the U.S., and people have longer life expectancies.
Great Britain
The U.S. utilizes a single-payer healthcare system where each individual pays insurance premiums for medical services (Scott). In contrast, taxes support Britain’s publicly funded National Health Service (NHS). The NHS provides primary care services to citizens without billing them through a socialized healthcare plan.
Japan
Everyone in Japan must get health insurance through a group plan or employment. In contrast to the U.S., insurers cannot deny coverage to a patient because of a preexisting condition and are not permitted to generate a profit (Sick Around the World). In contrast, the U.S. healthcare system charges more premiums to people with preexisting conditions such as hypertension (Scott).
Germany
The healthcare system in Germany entails the rich paying for the poor and medical providers charging standard prices, thus lowering medical costs (Sick Around the World). Additionally, German physicians earn more than their U.S. counterparts.
Taiwan
The Taiwanese government pays providers, but healthcare delivery is left to the private sector. The citizens have smart cards with relevant health information; thus, their bills are automatically paid (Sick Around the World). However, the system is flawed, leading to increased borrowing to pay providers.
Switzerland
Switzerland’s universal healthcare system restricts insurers from profiting from primary medical care (Sick Around the World). This shows that universal healthcare reforms can be enacted in capitalist countries such as the U.S. with powerful pharmaceutical and insurance companies.
Works Cited
“Sick Around the World.” You Tube, Uploaded by Brabantstraat, Web.
Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare. Directed by Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke, Tubi, 2012.
Scott, Dylan. “A Requiem for the Individual Mandate.” Vox, Web.
