6. How do people pay for health care in the USA? What are Medicare and Medicaid?
The United States have the most expensive health care system in the world in dollars per capita and at the same time it is the only wealthy industrialized nation that does not provide universal health care. Most of the population has private health insurance. Approximately 75 per cent of the population has their health insurance, life insurance, disability protection and retirement benefits at their place of employment.
The great cost of medical care in the country and a great number of people who could not pay for it had forced the federal government to develop two programs — Medicaid and Medicare. Medicaid, started in 1966, is a federal-state program providing free medical care for the poor and aged, for the blind and dependent children. Medicare, started in 1967, is a federal program providing free or discounted medical care for aged Americans over 65.
7. What are the agencies of the Public Health Service and what functions do they perform?
The agencies of the Public Health Service in the USA
are:
The Health Administration, which regulates health care to people;
The Food and Drug Administration, which certifies the safety of food,
effectiveness of drugs and medical products;
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which prevent diseases,
premature death and disability;
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Agency of
Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which regulates hazardous spills of
toxic substances.
8. What are the problems of health care system in the USA? What are the emerging health problems of the American population?
Gaps in access to and quality of care for large segments of population remain the major weakness of the US health care system. It also has great difficulties adapting to emerging health problems such as AIDS, medical care of mental patients, and to the needs of growing segments of population — the elderly, single parent families, and cultural, ethnic and racial minorities.
9. What are the challenges confronting the healthcare?
The US health care system has five major challenges
confronting. The most fundamental is how to shift from providing health care to
producing health. Housing, minimum decent income, food, education, good social
and physical environment must reach all, including the most vulnerable groups
of population. The next challenge is to focus on providing cost-effective
information systems which can monitor the costs and
effectiveness of health services. The third is to control health care
expenditures. The fourth is to cope with resistance to fundamental changes from
within the health care sector. The United States are also
challenged to transfer the resources liberated from health care to other
sectors that can contribute to health.