The effect of economic growth on health care in developed countries Essay

The effect of economic growth on health care in developed countries The case of the United States - Essay Example The discussion are mainly focused on health care services in United States of America, however a comparison is drawn with other developed states where appropriate. 2. Historical Background The absence of a universal health care insurance plan is felt since long in America. The efforts were made to formulate a comprehensive health policy that can satisfy the public and patients, physicians, employers and the insurance providers. However, these efforts seem to be mistimed because the government could not utilized the economic growth in the period of 1990 to materialize its long public demands towards the provisioning of better health care facilities. â€Å"The decade of 1990s was characterized by unprecedented economic growth and creation of wealth in United States.† (Shi & Douglas, 2008, p.63). The President Clinton in 1993 presents his national health care initiative, but it could not gain the public acceptance at large scale. The major reason was the slow economic growth and rise in the costs of services and medicine as observed by Shi & Douglas, â€Å"However, medical cost escalation and cost of health insurance premium continues to outpace both general inflation and general economic growth† and this degradation of economy has caused reduced health care services offered by the government and private employers, â€Å"The percentage of firms offering health insurance has fallen from 69% in 2000 to 61% in 2006.† (Shi & Douglas, 2008, p.562). 3. Recent Shift of Focus In recent years this trend is changed and health care has got more policy focus as compared to the 1990s decade. Health care is budgeted heavily and more research work is being...The essay presents a comprehensive review of some basic problems, that the United States are is currently facing in the system of health care. It is shown in the paper, that quality health care services can only be provided, if country is enjoying sustainable economic growth. Business should be given a freehand to concentrate on the growth of business instead of provisioning of insurance coverage and other packages because more business means better and secured economic growth. This does not mean the government controlled services, rather it should only act as a facilitator and guarantor. The absence of a universal health care insurance plan is felt since long in America. The efforts were made to formulate a comprehensive health policy that can satisfy the public and patients, physicians, employers and the insurance providers. However, these efforts seem to be mistimed because the government could not utilized the economic growth in the period of 1990 to materialize its long public demands towards the provisioning of better health care facilities. The aim should be the availability of insurance coverage to those 17% of Americans who are still all time uninsured. This petty figure has immense effect on the image of the US that is still far behind other industrial states on the globe in the field of health care services. The ever increasing costs in health care sector know no end, Medicare and Medicaid failed to control the cost at any level in health care sector and costs have never gone down.