Health Care Insurance

Health Care Insurance

Introduction

The economics of health care has been experiencing transformations throughout the course of our country's history. The catalyst in the world of health care economics is money, In 2010, health care costs were roughly 17.68% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) with a projected growth to 19.8% by 2020 (Cummins, 2011). Spurs in higher utilization, advancements in medical care, and the ever increasing population are the major contributing factors influencing such a change. This paper will look at the birth and evolution of health insurance, while diving into the microeconomics and supply versus demand aspect of healthcare.

Discussion

Health Insurance in US

In the United States, health insurance contains mainly private insurers. The public authorities guarantee care for the elderly (Medicare) or poor (Medicaid). On the other hand, and contrary to popular belief, even the uninsured have access to free health care provided by public hospitals, community health centers, hospitals, etc. According to data from the OECD, public health expenditures are $ 2,464 per capita (Dewar 2010).

In 2010, 83.5% of Americans had health insurance and 50 million were private. This rate, however, must be qualified: half of those uninsured are under 35 years nine and distribution of uninsured by age that 95% of health problems affecting insured populations. In addition, two-thirds of the uninsured have incomes above $ 25,000 and households whose incomes are below the poverty line, only one-fifth of the uninsured. According Bandore and Pauli in the Journal of Health Economics, "three fourths of uninsured Americans could afford health insurance without breaking their budget constraint". It is therefore rather non-voluntary insurance. A significant portion of contributions, 30% is not reinvested in health but share administrative costs, marketing and profits (Shi, L., & Singh, D. A 2006) health insurance cost twice as much as in France: 5500 USD per person in 2005, it represents 16% of GDP.

The affordable Care Act mostly reformed insurance for the most part, allowing children to stay on their parent's health insurance until 26, ended lifetime and most annual limits on care, and also gives patients access to recommended preventive healthcare services at no cost (Liegeman, 2010). The Affordable Care Act of 2010 in many ways extended insurance to many people and reformed some of the most egregious policies at the time. This bill is in with great relation to the topic of the rising cost of health care because it is a step in the direction of increased regulation on insurance companies. Insurance companies are at odds in that they are supposed to provide healthcare, while at the same time maximize profits. I do agree that the Affordable Care Act of 2010 is somewhat, but not completely gearing the country toward universal health care. One of the most vital factors that it is gearing toward it is due to the implementation of the exchanges program signifying the push toward gaining the uninsured coverage. Although there will be millions of Americans still without health insurance, I believe that any modification that aids to increase ...