Persuasive Essay On Health Care Reform

The U.S. health care system faces significant challenges that clearly indicate that the people urgently need to be reform. Attention has rightly focused on the approximately 46 million Americans who are uninsured, and on the many insured Americans who face rapid increases in premiums and out-of-pocket costs. As Congress and the Obama administration consider ways to invest new funds to reduce the number of Americans without insurance coverage, we must simultaneously address shortfalls in the quality and efficiency of care that lead to higher costs and to poor health outcomes. To do otherwise casts doubt on the feasibility and sustainability of coverage expansions and also ensures that our current health care system will continue to have large

In some states, however, you may not be eligible for Medicaid until you have AIDS or are otherwise disabled by HIV. Medicare part D, which was developed to cover medications including HIV drugs, has a restriction in its annual benefit that's referred to as the "donut hole." Recipients are required to pay $3,051 out of pocket after their initial, basic coverage benefit is used up and before the catastrophic coverage kicks in to cover the rest of the year’s medication needs. This can be a financial burden for some.

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Rising Health Care Cost

To make health care coverage more affordable, the nation must address the soaring cost of medical care that continues to increase. There needs to be a much greater focus on the main drivers of medical cost growth: soaring prices for medical services, new costly prescription drugs and medical technologies, unhealthy lifestyles, and an outdated fee-for-service system that pays for volume rather than value.

More than one-sixth of the U.S. economy is devoted to health care spending and that percentage continues to rise every year. Regrettably, our system is not delivering value commensurate with the estimated $2.7 trillion spent annually on health care. Experts agree that about 20 percent to 30 percent of that spending – up to $800 billion a year – goes to care that is wasteful, redundant, or

Today, there’s been a lot of talk about the Supreme Court’s latest ruling on the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. But while the law signed by President Obama in 2010 made huge changes to the health insurance system. The law set up insurance “exchanges” that offer consumers and small businesses a choice of standardized and heavily regulated health plans. For the most part, this marketplace serves people who aren’t offered insurance by a large employer.

The insurance on the exchanges isn’t free—a family of four could well face annual premiums of $10,000 a year. But many of those using the exchanges will also receive federal subsidies—technically, tax credits—to help them buy. Those subsidies reach deep into the middle class: For families earning up to four times the poverty line—about $95,000 for a couple with two kids—the tax credits will be set so that they pay no more than about 9.5% of their income for a fairly basic health plan. (That cap is designed to rise gradually should premiums grow faster than