American Health Insurance

American Health Insurance

Healthcare in USA

According to recent reports, the United States Federal government spends more on health care per capita as compared to any other nation in the world. It has been estimated that the Fed spends approximately 15.2% of the gross domestic product on healthcare programs and plans in the country.

The domestic financial experts are of the opinion that the country's expenses on health care sector will escalate to approximately 19.5% of the GDP by the year 2017. The statistics indicate that as of 2007, the Federal government spent about USD$7,439 per person on spheres of medical coverage.

In United States of America, about 84% of the people have medical insurance coverage in some form or the other. For instance, 59.3% have insurance coverage arranged by the employer, 27.8% of the people avail health insurance programs extended by the Federal government and 8.9% of the Americans buy insurance themselves.

About 59.3% of the Americans have health related insurance provided by the employer. Expenses related to employer-paid services are on the rise. The government has its own way of extending help and exempts employers from making any contribution taxable.

Types of American Health Insurance

The health care system prevailing in the country has public as well as private funding. So it cannot be said that the health care system is fully public. Since the system is not fully public or not fully private, cost impact of a mixed system is debatable. There are many who believe that a direct co-relation exists between expenses incurred by the government on medical benefits and rise in various costs in the country.

As more and more people are utilizing the medical resources available, the cost of health insurance in USA and health care costs are increasing rapidly. Low rates of reimbursement (of Medicaid and Medicare) have shifted the pressures of rising prices on doctors and the hospitals. The hospitals and the doctors in turn charge higher rates for private payers, which eventually increases the cost of medical insurance in the country.

Basically, the following four types of health plans prevail in USA.

· Catastrophic health insurance

· Preferred Provider Organization or PPO

· Short term health plans

· Health Maintenance Organizations or HMOs.

Full service health insurance is another type of program in which the policies cover all types of illnesses, has deductibles (which may be low or high), offer treatment in any place.

Requirements

Although, the cost incurred in this sector is considerable, there are certain drawbacks which go beyond finances and need to be tackled diligently for smooth running of the system.

To reach a definitive conclusion, since the importance of Health Insurance cannot be denied, possessing health care coverage should be made mandatory. This will enable Americans to avail the basic medical benefits and welcome a better standard of living.

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