American Health Care Delivery System: A Comprehensive Analysis

This essay delves into the intricacies of the American health care delivery system, examining whether healthcare should be considered a universal right or a luxury. It analyzes the importance of honoring this right and explores the implications of financial status on healthcare access, referencing a case study to illustrate the disparities in care. The paper discusses the roles of parents, individuals, and the government in ensuring proper healthcare, highlighting the significance of primary care physicians versus emergency room visits. It also touches upon the role of health insurance and the concept of moral hazard within the context of healthcare access. The essay references relevant literature to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive overview of the complexities and challenges within the American health care system.

Running head: AMERICAN HEALTH CARE DELIVERY SYSTEM
American Health Care Delivery System
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Abstract
This paper will discuss some basic issues related to health care in accordance with the
given case study. It will highlight whether healthcare should be treated as a universal or
relative right and how valuable it is to honour this right. Moreover, it will discuss whether
people having more money must be entitled to better health care facilities and also the girl
referred in the case study should receive better treatment and taken to primary care physician
rather than emergency room.

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The girl is not receiving adequate care because she needs proper treatment and
medication to check that her disease might not become chronic. If she is kept under
observation, it would be beneficial for her health in the long term and the doctors might
predict her symptoms and advise her proper medication.
It is the responsibility of her parents and as well as the girl to visit the doctor in the
earlier stage when she observes some symptoms. But, as she has neglected, the diseases
might become chronic and in such a stage it is important to visit an emergency room so as to
get quick treatment. Therefore, it important for the girl to be taken to primary care physician
before her condition worsens.
Yes, it is the responsibility of the government to check that every individual are
entitled with basic minimum health care facilities. In many cases, it has been found that the
individuals do not take care of their health and they are also ignored by their parents because
of which they fail to take the proper precaution at the right time. Although the income of a
particular family is much higher, but it is the responsibility of the government to entitle every
citizen to basic healthcare facilities.
Health care should be considered as universal right. There must be proper access to
mental as well as physical health, decent housing as well as better standard of living. Health
care must be considered as a public good so that every individual can take care and protect
themselves from different kinds of diseases. Thus, it is necessary that health care must be
treated as public good. It is also important to take care and honour this right. If it misused, it
will incur a huge amount of loss to the government.
This right is considered to be relative. If people are given access to this right
universally, they might misuse or overuse this right because they are not directly responsible
for bearing the medical costs. They might utilize it to the fullest extent and thus this

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phenomenon is known as moral hazard. Although, this is considered to be a precondition for
life, but people must not consider its privileges and misuse it (Morrisette et al., 2015).
This right does not exist in United States because it has been found that majority of
the European countries have medical insurance. However, in this case, the girl did not have
medical insurance. Insurance plays an important role for protection of wages as well as
stabilization of income due to sickness. According to United Nation program, health care is
considered as a basic right, but United States do not have this right because the citizens have
sufficient income to get proper medical care and treatment by their own income (Collins et
al., 2015).
In the low and middle income countries where there is absence of insurance and
sufficient government budget, health care is considered to be necessity. However, in
developed countries, people have the capacity to invest in their health through private
expenses and it depends on the income level and the type of treatment that people want to
undergo. In such a case, it is considered as luxury (Ucieklak-Jeż et al.,2017)
Yes, having money entitles a person to have better healthcare facilities. People can
undergo better and advanced treatment if they can bear the cost of it.

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References
Collins, S. R., Rasmussen, P. W., Doty, M. M., & Beutel, S. (2015). The rise in health care
coverage and affordability since health reform took effect. New York: The
Commonwealth Fund.
Morrisette, S., Oberman, W. D., Watts, A. D., & Beck, J. B. (2015). Health care: A brave
new world. Health Care Analysis, 23(1), 88-105.
Ucieklak-Jeż, P., Bem, A., Prędkiewicz, P., & Siedlecki, R. (2017). Healthcare benefits:
luxury or necessity goods? EU countries case revisited. European Financial Systems
2017, 427.