Case Study - Rethinking Medical Care

Rethinking Medical Care

When the words "Medical Care" in the United States are spoken there is a great debate with issues concerning fairness, efficiency, and most important cost. Medical Care in the United States is primarily in private hands although the government does have some ownership of the health care systems. Medical care services are more like a "public good", medical care is not an ordinary commodity. Medical care has a value to the people beyond any cost and it is very expensive for individuals to afford, even Private Corporation struggle with the cost factors. Medical care is a primary concern for Americans that should be rethought considering how health care have continuously risen. "Expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2.3 trillion in 2008, more than three times the $174 billion spent in 1990 and over eight times the $253 billion spent in 1980."

As Americans we have to find a way to cover those people when it comes to preventive health care. The basic economic problem in this case study "Rethinking Medical Care" is that the proposals to provide basic preventive care for every American will make the hole we are in greater. A reasonable solution that can help alleviate this problem is by having these preventive health care services as part of the health care plan with insurance companies. This is a reasonable solution, because it can have a major impact on people's health. On the other hand we have to ask, is preventive health care really worth it? An unreasonable solution is to totally dismissing the idea of preventive care, which in return would solve the higher medical spending overall and also result in higher death due to lack of preventive care. In my opinion the best solution to this problem have the government intervene by providing the preventive health care insurance at the least. I believe chasing cost savings is of least importance, especially in this area where preventive care can save lives.

The economic values that underlie in this appraisal is that the cost is spiraling in an effort to help improve the quality of care, preventive health care measures may or may not represent cost effective results, and government intervention to cover cost of preventive health care should be considered. The noneconomic values that underlie in this appraisal is that some preventive health care measures may save lives and prevent sickness in the long run and can lead to increased life span regardless of cost. By focusing on preventive health care people won't have to wait until something is wrong before they go to see a health care provider.

The life of a human being is the greatest value that should not be compromised when determining solutions to this problem. If cost was not a factor, it is wise to assume that the economic decision on medical treatment would not be has much of an issue.