Healthcare Economy - Assignment

Running head: HEALTHCARE ECONOMY
HEALTHCARE FINANCING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

HEALTHCARE ECONOMY
1
Healthcare financing in the US
Healthcare is technologically advanced but expensive in the United States of America.
The cost of healthcare in 2016 was nearly $3.3 trillion. The money expended on health care has
been more expensive for decades than the country’s economy as a whole. The proportion of GDP
spending on health is considerably higher in America than in any other region. (GDP is the
overall market value of goods and services manufactured within a country's borders; it is the
primary indicator used in the short-term analysis of the economy by government departments).
The United States of America spent around 17.9% of their GDP on health care in 2016 in
conjunction with the next top countries, including Switzerland (12.4% of GDP), and Japan,
France, Germany and Sweden (each around 11 percent) as per the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD). The US system is a combination of both private and
public insurance. Approximately 53 million elderly are covered through the Medicare, lower-
income people of 62 million count, through Medicaid and military veterans of 15 million count
through the veteran administration. Although America spends more on medical services per
person than any other country, there is no health insurance for many in the country. Due the
Affordable Care Act, which came into effect during 2014, the number of uninsured workers
dropped, but recent ACA modifications, which will end the individual term of office in 2019,
may reverse this trend (requirements that US residents purchase health insurance). Many
developed countries, by comparison, offer universal access and invest less on health care.
Healthcare expenses are therefore fluctuating in the United States as the government tries to find
solutions to increase the number of people who have health insurance and to reduce their rate
(Khan, Spooner & Spotts, 2018).