Introduction
Healthcare is a vital sector in the United States and the most affected by the policy. The high dependence on the healthcare sector for services has made policymaking on care provision and other aspects of healthcare in the country crucial to the industry. Government spending in healthcare is the largest in the world (Crowley et al. 7). The heavy spending has not resolved issues facing the system as care providers in the country are considered to be poor when compared to other nations with lower spending (Crowley et al. 7). The leading challenges in healthcare include access to care, cost of care, and quality of care. Based on recent research, a significant section of Americans lack access to healthcare services due to the high cost of care. The cost of care remains significantly high despite government initiatives like Medicare and Medicaid. The quality of care is also influenced by policies that affect healthcare professionals. The assessment of the cost of care, access to care, and quality of care reveals that the country experiences several critical policy issues that should be addressed.
Access to Care
Access to care remains a crucial issue in the United States because of policy issues that prevent the provision of the same level of care to all citizens. Access to healthcare in America is through medical insurance that every citizen is required to acquire. Government programs like Medicare and Medicaid are part of the compensation system that helps to reduce the burden on citizens (Shrank et al. 235). However, access to care remains low in minority communities where factors like unemployment, poverty, and low wages prevent the acquisition of medical insurance. The prevalence of these issues is contributed to the lack of policies to adopt a universal healthcare system that will guarantee access to the same level of care for all systems.
Cost of Care
The cost of care in America is significantly high because of a lack of policies to regulate expenses. The high healthcare spending by the government and unregulated healthcare insurance cost in America has systematically led to a rise in the cost of care over the years. The government faces a growing demand for healthcare services from an aging population and an increase in premiums by insurers (Stadhouders et al. 71). The country does not have an effective policy that ensures insurance premiums are regulated to keep costs affordable. The lack of policy gives medical insurers the latitude to exploit the costs, leading to high costs and reduced access.
Quality of Care
The quality of care in the country is affected by several issues that lack effective policies to resolve. Care provision is a process determined by several factors, including the number of care providers, the education level of providers, and funding. The country continues to experience a shortage of healthcare providers despite identifying the issue early in the 21st century (Haegdorens et al. 2). The nation also faces a lack of effective systems to ensure the continued education of healthcare providers and better training of novice practitioners. Policies surrounding the funding of hospitals are also ineffective, as most facilities have a shortage of resources. The lack of policies to address these issues contributes to the low quality of care in the sector.
Conclusion
Policies are crucial to the healthcare system due to their impacts on every element of care. America’s healthcare system experiences low access to healthcare services, high costs of care, and low quality of care because of the continued prevalence of issues that can be addressed through effective policies. These issues have existed for several years, and their impacts have been established. However, policymakers have been slow to create and implement policies to address the challenges and improve the healthcare sector.
Works Cited
Crowley, Ryan, Hilary Daniel, Thomas G. Cooney, and Lee S. Enge. “Envisioning a Better U.S. Health Care System for All: Coverage and Cost of Care.”Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 172, no. 2_Supplement, 2020, pp. 7-42.
Haegdorens, Filip, Peter Van Bogaert, Koen De Meester, and Koenraad G. Monsieurs. “The Impact of Nurse Staffing Levels and Nurse’s Education on Patient Mortality in Medical and Surgical Wards: An Observational Multicentre Study”. BMC Health Services Research, vol. 19, no. 1, 2019.
Shrank, William H., Nancy-Ann DeParle, Scott Gottlieb, Sachin H. Jain, Peter Orszag, Brian W. Powers, and Gail R. Wilensky. “Health Costs and Financing: Challenges and Strategies for a New Administration.”Health Affairs, vol. 40, no. 2, 2021, pp. 235-242.
Stadhouders, Niek Florien Kruse, Marit Tanke, and Xander Koolman. “Effective Healthcare Cost-Containment Policies: A Systematic Review”.Health Policy, vol. 123, no. 1, 2019, pp. 71-79.