Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating healthcare systems worldwide for more than two years already. Despite heroic efforts by millions of healthcare workers, some of the deeply rooted problems in medical care have become vivid. Moreover, a few issues with the entire US healthcare system have finally become exposed to all members of our society as the virus continues to disrupt millions of lives. It is of major importance to analyze all the weak sides of our current healthcare system and, what is more important, to find the proper means to mitigate the long-lasting crisis.
Health Inequities
Millions of Americans had to deal with their health issues without much assistance from the state, as the US is the only prosperous country where citizens cannot expect affordable (let alone free) medical care. As COVID-19 threatens every American, scholars can conduct research and describe how the virus affects different communities in detail. According to Okonkwo et al. (2021), poorer communities find themselves in a distinctively terrible position, as poverty, inequality, and discrimination multiply the devastating effect that the illness has on people’s health. Therefore, to truly improve all Americans’ health, the healthcare system should participate more actively in various types of partnerships (including public-private). The focus should shift from solely providing medical care after an individual gets sick to ensuring that all nearby communities have proper life conditions that hinder the chances of getting a disease that is typically associated with poverty and other social problems.
Insurance coverage plays a key role in providing the population with guaranteed medical care. It has helped millions of people to feel secure about their own health. Nevertheless, it is crucial to remember that insurances covering a wide range of potential risks are only available to people with a steady high income. Nevertheless, during the pandemic, millions of people have lost their jobs, meaning that they can no longer afford their insurance payments which can often be large. Therefore, for many people, the pandemic has revealed the uncomfortable truth about one’s chances to get both proper and affordable medical care.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, US health officials have also started to develop a different approach to the primary objectives of the healthcare system in general. Due to some distinctive features of their history and economic development, some Western countries have established healthcare systems that focus primarily on curing diseases. Dorsett (2020) pinpoints that the government should focus more on general maintaining the population’s health. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, health officials may seriously consider promoting changes in the way the current healthcare system works. Treating medical care as a lucrative business that is fueled by the population’s anxiety and fear is not a sustainable option for one of the wealthiest nations on Earth.
Information and New Technologies
Information about the new virus has been crucial to find the right means to fight it. The pandemic has clearly indicated that the current way medical data is collected and processed does not allow for the much-needed rapid development of pharmaceuticals for the new disease. Therefore, communities should be allowed to share the large body of information on the virus they accumulate. The acceleration of this data transition is crucial when fighting a new, highly contagious and severe illness. Cooperation between social media, media and other platforms is crucial for developing efficient response strategies.
Since COVID-19 is notoriously contagious, millions of Americans do not visit hospitals as often as they used to prior to the pandemic. According to Bhatia et al. (2021), many patients defer medical care they do not consider essential out of fear of contracting COVID-19. Moreover, numerous hospitals and doctors suddenly realized all the benefits of telemedicine. Chunara et al. (2020) underline that telemedicine has become an essential entry point into the process of diagnosis, triage, and treatment in order to allocate hospital capacity and decrease the disease’s spread. Thus, modern technologies have allowed for interactions between physicians and patients without exposing anyone to extra risks. The way medical students study has also changed significantly, as the curriculum, in many cases, is being transferred to continue online.
Software developers have created numerous efficient tools that help doctors perform a large number of actions that could have been undertaken only at the hospital not long ago. According to Elkbuli et al. (2020), many advancements have been made to modify smart devices to be used as smart stethoscopes and otoscopes and take high-definition photographs for physician assessment. Nevertheless, it is still of major importance to realize all the limitations of such methods.
Conclusion
The US budget is not that huge compared to the country’s GDP. Nevertheless, it is easy to notice that the government is not hesitant to spend large sums of money on projects that do not necessarily enhance the living standards of millions of Americans. Therefore, numerous proposals by politicians and activists who have long been pointing at the problem are finally being analyzed. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic may significantly alter the way public funds are allocated in the US.
References
Bhatia, R. S., Shojania, K. G., & Levinson, W. (2021). Cost of contact: Redesigning healthcare in the age of COVID. BMJ Quality & Safety, 30(3), 236–239. Web.
Chunara, R., Zhao, Y., Chen, J., Lawrence, K., Testa, P. A., Nov, O., & Mann, D. M. (2021). Telemedicine and healthcare disparities: A cohort study in a large healthcare system in New York City during COVID-19.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 28(1), 33–41. Web.
Dorsett, M. (2020). Point of no return: COVID-19 and the US healthcare system: An emergency physician’s perspective.Science Advances, 6(26), eabc5354. Web.
Elkbuli, A., Ehrlich, H., & McKenney, M. (2020). The effective use of telemedicine to save lives and maintain structure in a healthcare system: Current response to COVID-19.The American journal of emergency medicine, 44(6), 468–469. Web.
Okonkwo, N. E., Aguwa, U. T., Jang, M., Barré, I. A., Page, K. R., Sullivan, P. S., Beyrer, C., & Baral, S. (2021). COVID-19 and the US response: Accelerating health inequities. BMJ evidence-based medicine, 26(4), 176–179. Web.