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Equality

Inequality in U.S Healthcare Essay (Critical Writing)

October 31, 2021 by Essay Writer

Introduction

The following is an argument in favor of the Americare. This medical plan is different from the current Medicare. The Medicare plan is a medical insurance plan that covers the older people who are in the United States.

The other insurance is the Medicaid that covers the poor and the unemployed people. This medical plan lead to inequality in provision of health services as they leave most of the uninsured people unable to access critical medical services when they need them.

The Americare insurance system is an extended Medicare that aims at covering all Americans irrespective of their age and social status. It incorporates the Medicaid, Medicare, Disability funds, Veterans Health Administration, and insurance for federal employees.

Several factors make Americare a better option than the insurance covers in the American healthcare system.

Advantages. The first reason is that it eliminates the current experience rating used by the insurers to discriminate elderly and unhealthy people.

The commercial insurance companies have policies that eliminate unhealthy and elderly people leaving the healthy young people as their customers.

The Americare uses the community rating process to grant insurance policies. The community ratings accept everyone and they are not discriminatory in terms of age and health status.

This means that there will be universal insurance coverage for all Americans irrespective of their age.

The second advantage of Americare is that it is likely to be more efficient than the existing medical covers in releasing funds to the healthcare facility.

This is because gatekeepers who prevent or regulate the amount of funds the patients receive from the insurance will be inexistent in the new insurance. This will make provision of health services faster and efficient (Bodenheim and Grumbac 17).

The Americare will also have an added advantage of pooled funds because it will incorporate other medical schemes related to the states and the federal government. This will make it possible for the insurance fund to cater for the healthcare services (Epstein 6).

Unlike other funds with socialist tendencies, this fund will treat patients as stakeholders who have a role to play in the provision of the healthcare services.

The citizens have to contribute to the insurance fund through the taxes and paying little amount of money for health insurance policies (Ezekiel 28).

The other supporting point of view is the argument of liberalizing and operating the health industry like other trades where the services are influenced by forces of demand and supply.

The argument is that if there is no insurance, patients would buy the health services directly from the physician and are likely to go to the physicians who offer quality services at an affordable price (Ezekiel 28).

However, the insurance industry and medical practitioners are highly opposed to this arrangement and sabotage the success of the plan. This means that the better option of insurance is a universal insurance plan that caters for everyone (Goldberg 13).

Disadvantages. The Americare has a problem, the first one being that the programs run by the federal government experience bureaucracy that hinders efficiency.

The other disadvantage is that the citizens will pay higher taxes than the current taxes. This is a challenge in the implementation of this project as the public is not ready to increase income tax to fund the healthcare programs (Hayes 34).

Conclusion

Irrespective of the few challenges that may hinder implementation of universal healthcare, Americare is possible where all the citizens are guaranteed access to health services.

Works Cited

Bodenheim, Thomas and Grumbac Kevin. Understanding Health Policy. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. Print.

Epstein, Richard. Mortal Peril: Our Inalienable Right to Healthcare? New York: Basic Books, 1997. Print.

Ezekiel, Emmanuel. The Ends of Human Life: Medical Ethics in a Liberty Policy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. Print.

Goldberg, Johnston. “Understanding Health Disparities.” Health Policy Institute of Ohio (2004): 13. Print.

Hayes, Wilson. “Understanding Health Disparities.” Health Policy Institute of Ohio 12(2004): 10. Print.

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