Current Status of the U.S. Health Care System - Research Paper Example

Different people have different preferences towards health, hence, their allocation of resources also differ. Most of the Americans do value their health so much that almost everyone in the country has a health insurance. This indicates that if the health institutions base their services on the payments, there would be clearly a distinction in the level of services, equity and access offered to the people. This is because there are those who are poor and cannot afford the payments, thus, will always have minimum access to the health services unlike the rich who have the power to get the best.

The disparity between the poor and the rich brings about the aspect of inequality and some kind of inequity in the health sector. The health care reform that is pending is said to be an opportunity for health care improvement in the United States (Docteur & Berenson, 2009). This is a clear indication that the nation’s health care system has something to work on to make it desirable. Unlike in the United States, overall patient satisfaction and better overall health outcomes are experienced in most of the developed countries.

Health insurance in other countries such as Germany can pay for any issue pertaining to health regardless of how petite the issue might be. This is not the case in the United States where more emphasis is laid on specific kinds of health care. For instance, cancer care is of high quality in the US, but no proper attention is paid to mortality from treatable and preventable conditions.