Improving the prognosis of healthcare in the USA

Source Reference

Authors: Alison P. Galvani, Alyssa S. Parpia, Eric M. Foster, Burton H. Singer, and Meagan C. Fitzpatrick

Summary bullet points (from the Abstract)

  • Healthcare spending annually is the highest compared to other countries
  • 37 million Americans lack health insurance
  • 41 million Americans lack access to basic healthcare
  • Multiple attempts have been made to eliminate the Affordable Health Act, leading to more “healthcare equities”
  • After careful calculation of healthcare costs, it very probable that the USA would save $450 billion annually (from 2017 US monetary value) by implementing a single-payer, universal health-care system, resulting in a 13% savings in national health-care expenditure.
  • Creating a universal system (“Medicare for All Act”) can improve overall healthcare in the US
  • This healthcare system can be funded with less costs compared to current funding by employers and households putting out expenses on healthcare premiums and added government subsidized funding
  • This transformation to single-payer health care will help many from lower income households
  • Estimates show that making sure all Americans have basic health care insurance can save over 68,000 saves and “and 1·73 million life-years” annually, versus the status quo.

Introduction

A. Over 78 million Americans have basic health insurance, and lots of people are on the verge of losing their basic health coverage.

B. 24% of Americans who don’t have insurance belong in the following categories: completely uninsured, and those whose out-of-pocket costs and deductibles are high based on their incomes.

C. In response to this major problem, over 70 Congressional bills have been introduced, directed on improving healthcare access seen by the Affordable Care Act.

D. The administration’s campaign to eliminate the Affordable Care Act would affect the coverage of 21 million Americans. Even with enormous amounts of healthcare spending in this country, the US still ranks below other countries on healthcare outcomes and quality for patients, spending approximately 18% of GDP on this sector alone. The US ranks bottom of the barrel among 30 countries in the following areas: preventable deaths, infant survival, maternal mortality, and overall life expectancy.

E. Addressing this divide, some candidates proposed the Medicare for All Act, a preference for single-payer system for all coverage in this country.

F. This article presents economic and life-saving effects coming from a proposed Medicare for All Act as it relates to current economic climate in the American health care system.

G. This article hypothesizes, that savings from universal single-payer system would be expected to be over the spending having to do with universal healthcare coverage. Furthermore, universal healthcare can increase the number of lives saved, while at same time, making changes on bettering quality and productivity of people’s lives. To be specific, the researchers have done the math that the Medicare for All Act would decrease healthcare spending nationwide by over US$458 billion, about equal to 13.1% of healthcare expenditure as per 2017.

H. The research team anticipate that Medicare for All Act would save over 68,500 lives every year, versus the status quo. If the Affordable Care Act were repealed, they anticipate additional yearly harm to over 38,500 lives. By contrast with healthcare coverage from the Affordable Care Act, this proposed law would save 107,000 lives every year.

I. To let lawmakers know of ongoing proposals, they are enacting an online tool, where computer users can see for themselves how to insert assumptions and influence spending, as well as work out a plan on getting funding with the anticipated spending.

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