A Comparative Analysis of Medicare and Medicaid Healthcare Programs

This assignment analyzes the Medicare and Medicaid programs, two critical components of the US healthcare system. The first question explores the purpose and impact of these programs, emphasizing their role in providing healthcare coverage for the elderly, disabled, and low-income citizens. The analysis highlights the high enrollment rates, indicating the necessity of these programs in addressing healthcare needs. The assignment also discusses the potential benefits of universal health insurance coverage, including reduced healthcare costs and improved access to quality services. The second part of the assignment addresses the issue of increasing healthcare costs in the US, comparing them to other countries and outlining strategies for cost control. These strategies include changes in consumer behavior, government limitations on healthcare spending, and the potential for increased demand for efficient healthcare services. The assignment uses references from various sources to support the arguments.

Running head: HEALTHCARE 1
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Name of Student
Institution Affiliation

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HEALTHCARE
Question one: Medicare and Medicaid programs
Medicare and Medicaid are healthcare programs sponsored by the US Federal
Government to help in covering the health care costs of the country’s citizens. The two programs
were founded in 1965 and are funded through taxes. The primary importance of the Medicare
program is to cover healthcare costs for United States citizens aged 65 and above, and
individuals having specific disabilities (Mcwhinney, 2019). The program's parts include
hospitalization, medical insurance, supplemental insurance, and prescription drugs coverage.
On the other hand, Medicaid is a program funded by state and federal government, to
help US low-income citizens of all ages. The two programs were therefore introduced to
minimize medical care barriers among the poor and aging populations. These two groups are the
country’s most vulnerable (Leonard, 2015). I agree with the purpose of these two programs,
because of the high number of people who have benefitted from the program. Currently, about
71 million low-income citizens are already subscribed to Medicaid. On the other hand, Medicare,
on the other hand, has an enrollment rate of 56 million. These high enrollment rates depict the
necessity of these two programs (Leonard, 2015).
Having universal health insurance coverage for all US citizens will significantly change
the health status of the country’s individuals and populations. It will remove inequality in health
care, minimize healthcare costs for all, and increase access to quality healthcare services. Also, it
will also lower medical costs for the economy (Amadeo, 2019).
Question Two
Increasing healthcare costs is one of the issues that both individuals and governments are
faced with. For example in 2018, US Citizens are said to have spent $3.65 trillion on health care.

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This amount was higher compared to other countries such as Canada, Spain, Mexico and the
United Kingdom (Sherman, 2019). Escalating healthcare costs is, therefore, one of the issues
affecting healthcare reforms.
Controlling health care costs can be done through various strategies at the community,
healthcare organizations and Insurance Company’s level. One of the most important strategies to
achieve this is the change in consumer behavior. This idea falls into the general
public/community level and includes the choice of cost effective treatment options (Arora,
Moriates & Shah,2015). The government can also play a significant role in the management of
total healthcare spending. For example, the US Government instead of focusing on specific
programs, it can impose limitations on the overall healthcare costs. Such initiatives would deter
private and government payers and providers from implementing any actions likely to increase
healthcare spending. Limiting spending is likely to eliminate unnecessary healthcare costs,
therefore increasing the quality and value of healthcare. In addition, change in consumer
behavior will lead to an increase in the demand for lowly demanded services, which will make
healthcare providers focus more on increasing the quality and safety of their services (Altman,
2018).

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References
Altman, S. (2018). Health Care Cost Control: Where Do We Go From Here? | Health Affairs. Retrieved
from https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20180705.24704/full/
Arora, V., Moriates, C., & Shah, N. (2015). The Challenge of Understanding Health Care Costs and
Charges. AMA journal of ethics, 17(11), 1046.
Amadeo, K. (2019). Why America Is the Only Rich Country Without Universal Health Care. Retrieved
from https://www.thebalance.com/universal-health-care-4156211
Leonard, K. (2015). America's Health Care Elixir. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/the-
report/articles/2015/07/30/medicare-changed-health-care-in-america-for-the-better
Mcwhinney, J. (2019). Medicare vs. Medicaid: What's the Difference?. Retrieved from
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/07/medicare-vs-medicaid.asp
Sherman, E. (2019). U.S. Health Care Costs Skyrocketed to $3.65 Trillion in 2018. Retrieved from
http://fortune.com/2019/02/21/us-health-care-costs-2/