Characteristic of the U.S. health care delivery system - Essay Example

Characteristics of the U.S. health care delivery system One defining characteristics of the US healthcare system is lack of en ment to basic and routine health care services of all American citizens since this system has evolved in response to such concerns as quality and cost. Its unnecessary fragmentation is a potential barrier to the universal coverage of the US healthcare system. The main agency meant to protect all Americans’ health is the Department of Health and Human Services (hhs.gov, n.d.).

Other defining characteristics include little coordination and integration and lack of a central governing body, and immense influence of legal risks on the practice behaviors (samples.jbpub.com, 2012, p. 9). These characteristics hinder the delivery of healthcare in the US because they pose problems of delays and legal complications. These characteristics reflect that the US healthcare system is highly fragmented and has immense political, economic, and cultural influences. People belonging to certain ethnicities and age groups e.g. older African Americans receive poor access to effective healthcare treatment.

In the researches controlling for insurance of health, the older African Americans have been found to have gotten lesser eye examinations, screening for breast cancer, and various other kinds of treatments (Yeo, 2009, p. 1279).The US healthcare system also reflects lack of a central governing agency in the US. The current system of US healthcare poses many emotional, cultural, and political challenges for the health care administrators. However, support for the model of universal health coverage in the US has increased in the recent years and this is seemingly the best way to make the healthcare system unbiased, cost effective, and of high quality (Pushman and Chung, 2009).

References:hhs.gov. (n.d.). About HHS. Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/about/. Pushman, A. G., and Chung, K. C. (2009). Future of the US Healthcare System and the Effects on the Practice of Hand Surgery. Hand (N Y). 4(2): 99-107. samples.jbpub.com. (2012). Chapter 1: Major Characteristics of U.S. healthcare Delivery. Retrieved from http://samples.jbpub.com/9781449683740/Chapter1.pdf. Yeo, G. (2009, July). How Will the U.S. Healthcare System Meet the Challenge of theEthnogeriatric Imperative?

Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 57: 1278–1285.