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The American Healthcare System

Health care and its provision is an issue that forms an important pillar in any government or nation. As such the policies set to govern health care must be carefully thought out and be evidence based, such that only the best practices are adopted and implemented for the best results to be achieved. Further, continuous assessments and periodic revisions of policy based on these assessments would definitely go a long way towards ensuring equitable distribution of quality healthcare to not just those that can afford it, but to all United States citizens. Of the exhibits provided, exhibit 2, 3 and 13 are the most representative and most important when it comes to assessing current health care policy and making recommendations for improvement (Andersen, Rice & Kominski, 2007).
The first exhibit selected is Exhibit 2. This exhibit is quite important as it provides an in depth look at the various important pointers when it comes to healthcare, more so in a system such as the one applied in the United States. The exhibit starts by looking at standard variables under the subtopic healthy lives. The variables include: mortality, infant mortality, life expectancy, and the debilitating effects of illness on active adults as well as school going children. The exhibit also focuses on the quality of care, which is provided by markers such as presence of pressure sores, accessibility of primary care providers, provision of preventive, curative and screening care as well as immunizations among others. The question of access is also focused on, whereby the number of individuals insured or uninsured is highlighted, employer and self sponsored coverage and medical debts is compared to those of other industrialized nations. Finally the exhibit analyzes the aspect of efficiency by looking at cases of overuse or wastage, readmissions, unnecessary emergency room admissions as well as the administration of health insurance among others. Overall after all these factors are tallied, the United States scores 72 and 71% respectively on the first two markers, 58% on access and 53% on efficiency. These findings are a true reflection of the current state of healthcare if looked at on the backdrop of data provided by Mahon and Weymouth (2012) which show that healthcare is almost twice as expensive in the United States as it is in 12 other industrialized countries, without any marked difference in quality. Further considering that access to physicians is better in all countries except Japan and yet Japan spent $2,878 on healthcare per capita in 2008, compared to $8000 for the United States, this price difference in unjustifiable (Mahon & Weymouth, 2012). Despite the fact that the United States spends almost 16% if not more of its GDP on healthcare, it is still bedeviled by problems such as lack of preventive care, substandard care in the management of chronic conditions, as well as health care disparities, dimensions which are highlighted as very important in exhibit 2 (Docteur & Berenson, 2009).
These figures are also highlighted by exhibit 3, which graphically illustrates the fact that United States spending on healthcare since 1980, has been almost twice that of other industrialized countries. This spending as already mentioned has, however, failed to provide the anticipated quality, with the care offered, suboptimal and at times uneven. This exhibit therefore serves to provide a clear illustration that the problem lies not in the lack of resources, but elsewhere, considering that even though the United States outspends the five countries whose data is provided in exhibit 3, majority of their health care systems result in better quality health care and better access. Clearly, based on the data provided by exhibit 3 as well as other sources, the spending has failed to even solve fundamental problems such as a lack of enough hospital beds, and fewer hospital discharges. In addition, despite the use of more expensive treatments when it came to the three common types of cancer (breast, colorectal and cervical) the differences in survival rates were negligible, with the United States actually performing worse than the other countries when it came to cervical cancer (Doheny, 2008). Exhibit 2 is therefore very important as it shows that the United States healthcare system is performing poorly in spite of the fact that it is spending the most on healthcare, thus eliminating the question of a financial solution.
Exhibit 13 is also quite important because it illustrates what is fast becoming a major concern for most Americans. Considering that most health care institutions are making it mandatory for an individual to have medical cover in order to be attended to, the data provided by exhibit 13 on the percentages of individuals without medical insurance therefore highlights a significant problem in the current healthcare system; a lack of access for over 47 million Americans. This poses a problem not just because of the extra costs these individuals have to incur, but medical expenses by this group of people has been shown to lead top filing of numerous bankruptcy claims, perhaps a clear indication of the financial strain put on such individual’s by their lack of insurance (Dubay, Holahan & Cook, 2007). Considering, therefore, that this huge percentage of the population needs help in purchasing insurance, exhibit 13 provides a highlight of where things start to go wrong in the health care system, a problem which it is hoped will be partially solved by the Affordable Care Act. While some of the problems such as those of age, that result in the huge number of uninsured Americans might be solved by the impending bill, a number, such as the unemployed, uninformed or even those who need help purchasing insurance might be left out in the dark. Data provided by exhibit 13 also provides a basis for further research, more so when it comes to exploring demographics of the uninsured, as data on this population, such as the figures provided by Dubay, Holahan & Cook (2007) act as the first step towards solving the problem.
Overall, all three exhibits highlight problem areas within the United States health care system when compared to other industrialized countries. At the fore of the highlighted problems is that of access, not only are the number of physicians per 100,000 individuals too few, but the issue of increasing costs of health care must also be addressed. A proper and in depth understanding of the three exhibits clearly shows that the problem is more managerial than financial, as with subsidization of insurance, or even through the provision of insurance through a national body, the problem of cover would mostly be solved. Furthermore, better management could also help solve some of the problems highlighted in exhibit 2 and as a result even lead to less spending on health care (Fuchs, 2009).

References
Andersen, R., Rice, T., & Kominski, G. (2007). Changing the U.S. Health Care System: Key Issues in Health Services Policy and Management. Jossey-Bass.
Docteur, E., & Berenson, R. (2009). How Does The Quality of U.S Healthcare Compare Internationally? Timely Analysis of The Immediate Health Policy Issues. Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/411947_ushealthcare_quality.pdf
Doheny, K. (2008). Cancer Survival Rates Vary by Country. Study Shows U.S., Japan and France have Highest cancer Survival Rates. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20080716/cancer-survival-rates-vary-by-country
Dubay, L., Holahan, J., & Cook, A. (2007). The Uninsured and The Affordability Of Health Insurance Coverage.
Fuchs, V. (2009). Health Care Reform. Retrieved from http://siepr.stanford.edu/system/files/shared/Health_care_document.pdf