The Eight Factor Model

The first major piece of United States health care legislation started with our 2nd president, John Adams who in 1798 signed an Act for the ill-stricken and disabled seamen. Within this act, it stated that from a seamen’s paycheck that twenty cents per month would be allocated to cover any medical bills. Many years have passed with greater technologies, more educated physicians, and health care reform within our health care system. While some health care systems are more technologically advanced with physicians going through extended educational programs, other countries are stricken with disease, have medication and vaccination shortages, and a health care system that is non-existent.

Even though the United States has issues within government

Within this system, “true access means being able to get to and from health services, having the ability to pay for the services needed, and getting your needs met once you enter the health system. The Eight Factor Model introduces a framework for assessing the strengths and weaknesses of particular health care systems” (Lovett-Scott & Prather, 32). Lovett-Scott and Prather perspective of recognizing the true access to health care systems can be utilized with most countries; if there is no definite health care system in place it might be difficult. To compare global health systems, the Eight Factor Model is used for in-depth analysis of each health care system. The 8 factors in the True Access Model include: (1) historical, (2) structure, (3) financing, (4) interventional, (5) preventive, (6) resources, (7) major health issues, and (8) health disparities. The following factors are described in more detail. First, the historical factor describes the health and well-being of each country and discovers how health and access to health services have been historically well-defined. Structure is the second factor in the model and observes the assembly of health care delivery; which includes infrastructure, policies, staff needs, roles, and responsibilities. The third factor is financing which is a challenging factor to address in regards to ‘true

Over the last few centuries and many presidents, there have been different views on how health care should be provided. For some presidents, it was the citizen’s responsibility to purchase health care and others thought health care reform was needed to help fund and subsidize further government initiatives. The U.S. does not have a constant health care system nor universal coverage for all citizens, but has recently endorsed statutes requiring health care coverage for all people, also known as the Affordable Care Act of 2010 or Obamacare. In 2014, 48 percent of health care spending was private, 28 percent coming from households, and 20 percent coming from private businesses. In 2014, there were 283.2 million people living in the United States with 89.6% having some sort of health insurance coverage; 66% of workers covered by a private health insurance plan. Among the 115.4 million people who were insured, 36.5% of the population received coverage through the U.S. government by Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA. In 2014 alone there were 32.9 million people with no sort of health insurance (DPE, 2016). In the span of 16 years from 1997 to 2013, the United States doubled the amount of money spent per person on health care, about $8,713 or 16.4 percent of its Gross Domestic Product. The second highest was the Netherlands at 11.1 percent and average is 8.9 percent. Generally