Understandably, there aremixed opinions in regard to the effectiveness of the current healthcare system;because it has worked well for some, but not all. It may not be perfect, but itis’t a total loss. Unfortunately,the cost of healthcare does not equal thequality, and with or without health insurance, it is creating financialhardships for common society (Dudek, 2017); thus leading to sustainabilityconcerns. With the cost of healthcare continuing to rise and without equalincreases in the average American income, many individuals are at risk oflosing coverage, and therefore not having access to needed care.

Secondary to the financial evaluation, is the concern in thequality of care provided (Rice, et.al, 2014), one way the quality of care ismeasured, is by life expectancy (Etehad & Kim, 2017). In 2016, the lifespan in the U.S. was 78.5 years, whereas the longest is 84.2 years,representing the people of Japan (World Health Organization, 2018). The numberof people that die from complications or conditions that could have beenavoided with timely and effective care, is referred to as mortality amenable tohealthcare (Nolte & McKee, 2012). In 2007, the rate was the highest in theUnited States and doubled that of France, which was the lowest of the fourcountries researched (Nolte & McKee, 2012).

However, despite these drawbacks, there have been advancementsmade as well. For instance, increasing the availability of electronic medicalrecords so that multiple providers have the capability to always have currentinformation to safely care for their patients, as well as implementingevidence-based policies to prevent hospital admissions and readmissions.

That being said, this shows that our healthcare system possesboth positive and negative elements, proving a fair score when comparedglobally. Nevertheless, we still have mountains to climb in order to improveissues such as the economics and quality of care.

References

Dudek, A. (2017, October 14). U.S. Health Care System: AmericanTaxpayers Paying A Lot, Getting Little In Return–A German-AmericanPerspective. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alev-dudek/us-health-care-system-ame_b_12431960.html.

Etehad, M., & Kim, K. (2017, July 18). The U.S. Spends Moreon Healthcare Than Any Other Country — But Not With Better Health Outcomes. LATimes. Retrieved fromhttp://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-healthcare-comparison-20170715-htmlstory.html#