The U.S. Health Care Delivery System and Drivers for Change

The U.S. health care system is, in short, a big mess. With about 20% of the U.S. population not having financial access to health care obviously something is not working here. Americans generally recognize now that our nation's health care system has become excessively expensive, ineffective, and unjust. Among the world's developed nations, the United States stands at or near the bottom in most important rankings of access to and quality of medical care. The one area where United States unquestionably leads the world is in spending. That is unacceptable and changes need to be enacted to improve our health care system.

One key change I would like to see enacted in the U.S. Health Care Delivery System would be for all Americans to have equal access to health care. Knowing that there are about 50 million people without insurance is sickening. If the emergency room is the only place they can get treatment then no wonder our E.R.'s are overcrowded and unreliable. This change would benefit health care consumers by improving the nation's health as a whole. If Americans were able to treat their health without worry then we would have the ability to focus on other issues at stake in our country, however if a person is not able to even take care of their health then they are certainly going to be unable to improve their community. Health care providers would benefit from this change by opening up a whole new segment of Americans who need treatment.

Another change I would like to see would be for all health care providers to switch to electronic documents on a shorter time frame. As of 2009 President Obama stated that the government will push for electronic health records for all Americans within five years. However research shows that it is doubtful that all providers will switch over in that time frame. Electronic health documents helps everyone across the board, consumers will have better access to manage their medical information as well as less errors in health care. For providers having less errors would most likely lessen lawsuits and having all the information of a patient at their fingertips without having to go over their history each time they see a patient would allow the providers to see more patients, allowing them to collect more money.

Our health care delivery system compared to other countries is obviously lacking. With countries like Germany and Japan following the Bismarck Model and having private insurance plans that are financed by employers and employees through payroll deductions, they cover everybody and they don't make a profit. And with the Beveridge Model that countries like Great Britain and Italy follow they have no medical bills, since health care is provided and financed by the government through tax payments. Even though our own U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pretty much follows the Beveridge Model Americans would never agree to such a system in fear that health care would