Health care coverage Essay Example

Health care coverage Essay Example Health care coverage Paper Health care coverage Paper Although there are certain policies that were implemented by the state concerning public health, public access to medical service is still a social problem. In the case of United State, a large growing number of Americans are not enjoying health care coverage. This problem continues to be one of the most compelling and difficult policy and political issue in the United States (Andersen, 2001). As part of the government’s effort to ensure public rights to health services, Medicare was created as a form of health insurance to serve the old and disable population. It covers hospital, medical, and prescription drugs insurance ( medicare. gov/). As insurance, Medicare is very beneficial for because of the fact that hospital fees and prescribed drugs are expensive. Today, our medical industries are closer to monopolies and oligarchies (Unruch, 2007). It means that it is easy for hospital and medical industries to raise their prices. Indeed, expensive medical insurance can offer the best medical treatment and professional services but not for cheap medical insurances. The health care products are not uniform. Each physician or hospital products are different compared to one another (Ibid). Meanwhile we cannot deny the fact that ordinary people who cannot afford expensive medical insurance sacrifice the quality of their health insurance. Because people have little information with which to judge the quality of care offered by health care provider and thus by insurance, they often select insurance based on price and not on quality (Ibid). Meanwhile, we can treat the Medicare program as a form of policy intervention of the government to address community health problems as social and political issues. Most economists agree that policy intervention can be used to address community health problems in market that are not competitive such as the medical industry (Unruch, 2007). Poor people need government policies like public health insurance for them to enjoy their rights to access public health facilities. Resources Journals Andersen, R. M. (2001). Changing the U. S. Health Care System. The Role of Prevention, 17, 1-9. Andersen, R. M. (2001). Changing U. S. Health Care System. Measuring Health Care, Cost and Trend, 3, 3. Unruch, Lynn. , Spetz, Joan. , (2007). Policy Politics. A Primer on Health Economics, 14, 364-368 Electronic Sources U. S. Department of Health and Human Service. Medicare and You 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2007 from medicare. gov/ .