U.S. Healthcare Reform

	Tweet			Pin It
0

January 13, 2011


Those of us in the United States have heard a lot about “the healthcare system” or “health insurance reform” over the last few years. What are these things, and why are they in the news so much?? Here is some information to help you out:


Summary

Health insurance is a system that is supposed to help people pay for their medical needs. In the United States, health insurance in recent years has been working like an agreement between groups of people and companies. Everyone in the group pays the company and, in exchange, the company agrees to cover the health expenses of each group member. If one person in the group gets really sick, the money contributed by the group as a whole will cover those expenses, so each person knows they’ll get what they need if they happen to get sick.

Not everyone in the U.S. agrees that our insurance can or should be changed, but because many people can’t afford insurance or are being denied insurance, people have been looking for ways to try to change the system.

In March 2010, President Obama signed a historical bill outlining a series of major changes to the American healthcare system that would come into place over about five years. In spite of the help that the new law will bring for many people, many other people are still worried that it won’t bring improved results and these people are now trying to stop some of the changes from happening.


More information

1. What is health insurance?

The purpose of health insurance is to help people pay for their medical needs. In the United States, health insurance in recent years has been working like an agreement between groups of people and companies. Everyone in the group pays the company a certain amount of money and, in exchange, the company agrees to cover the health expenses of each group member.

The idea is that even if one person in the group gets really sick, the amount of money contributed by the group as a whole will cover those expenses. Each person in the group might end up paying more than he or she gets back in coverage in a single year, but they know that if they happen to be the one who gets really sick, the company whom they pay will cover them. Because things like preventive care, hospital stays, visits to the doctor, special tests, and medications can be very expensive, having insurance helps people cover these costs if and when they need it.


2. Why is our health insurance being reformed?

Not everyone agrees that our health insurance system can or should be changed. People who do think it needs improvements have a variety of reasons why they think system we’ve been using is not working as well as it could.

For example, many people supporting change point to the problem that in the U.S., not everyone has health insurance. It’s estimated that tens of millions of Americans don’t have insurance, which can become a difficulty if those uninsured people become really ill. The reasons why certain people aren’t insured depend, but it is often that they can’t afford it. Many people receive insurance through their job, but lots of smaller businesses can’t afford to offer this coverage to their workers, and individuals often can’t afford these costs on their own if their employer doesn’t offer it. Similarly, a person who has lost their job can lose their health insurance with it, and sometimes can’t afford the cost of insuring themselves independently.

Some Americans also don’t have insurance because companies deny coverage to them based on “pre-existing conditions,” meaning they already have an illness or medical need and the companies don’t want to cover the often-expensive costs of these conditions.

Right about now, you might be wondering why exactly everything has to be so expensive!? Again, this is something different people each have their own opinion about, because there are many factors contributing to the problem together. Some people point to the cost of doctor’s fees, while others blame prescription prices, the large number of medical tests often run on a patient, or the way many people don’t have access to preventive care or don’t take good care of themselves to prevent illness.


3. What’s being done about it?

Since taking office, President Obama has made it a priority to try to improve this complicated system. On March 23, 2010, he signed the Affordable Health Care Act, a historical bill outlining a series of major changes to the American healthcare system that would come into place over about five years.

Some of the changes in the bill include no more denial of insurance based on pre-existing conditions, allowing young adults to stay on their family’s insurance plan for longer, requiring certain plans to provide free preventive care, and creating a new system of affordable plans that anyone can buy. (A number of them have already been put into effect since March 2010.)

However, in spite of the help that the new law will bring for many people, many other people are still worried that the changes won’t bring improved results or that they’ll end up accidentally raising costs instead of lowering them. Those who are against the new changes have been fighting to stop them, like by trying to withhold the money needed to make them happen, attempting to get specific changes overturned, or by challenging them in court.

It’s unclear which parts of the new law, if any, will be stopped or overturned. What we do know is that the healthcare system in the United States is likely to continue changing and evolving as the needs of the citizens change.

No matter what, the best thing you can do is take care of your health by eating right, exercising, getting plenty of sleep, and following your doctor’s advice for being well! The more we all take care of our own bodies, the less medical needs we’ll all have!