Health Insurance and Financing in United States

Abstract

The U.S health care spending has been characteristically among the costliest per individual, despite which the service quality lies overall below the anticipated delivery level. Unlike the single-payer healthcare system in the United Kingdom, the U.S operates a blend of market-based
and government-financed approach to finance health care for its citizens. Private entities comprising individuals and employers sustain the market-based portion while the government funds healthcare services to vulnerable populations. Particularly, the federal funds target
Medicare covers for the elderly and disabled members while the federal and state governments join hands to finance Medicaid covering low-income Americans (Harris, 2011). The principle challenges of the U.S. healthcare system arise from both its structure and rising costs that are
straining businesses and individuals despite the quest of affordable care in the healthcare reforms. The approaches of reforming the system seek to address the cost challenges while aiming to eliminate insufficient financing and healthcare inequalities.

The present state of healthcare challenges traces to socioeconomic factors and cost problems that have stirred the system discourse of providing affordable care for many years. The nature of reforms executed to revive the system target changes to the structure and financing scope under
comprehensive health care policies. The US healthcare policy overlay with health economics under a broader scope, including social forces and political processes that affect the healthcare sector. However, the congress and federal agencies play a primary role during the development
of healthcare reforms.