America has always viewed itself as the leader of the western world. It asserts that it is at the forefront of technological innovation, sociological trends, and ethical treatment. This is far from true. In fact, the only areas America is number one in is Nuclear weapons and Guns.
The area we want to look at today is one area that is very controversial around the globe and that is the American health care system. As you most likely know, America does not have free health care. Quite the opposite. In America, you get charged for everything. Even if you are put in an ambulance after an emergency. You are charged for it.
Today we want to take a look at how the American Healthcare system works in terms of it being a business. We will examine how Hospitals secure their drugs. How patients pay for treatments. And why healthcare isn’t free.
It would be irresponsible to talk about all this without first addressing the issues that come alongside having health that is as expensive as America’s. Studies are unable to predict just how many people die every year because they didn’t go to a hospital when they needed to simply because they knew they couldn’t afford it.
Turning healthcare into a product has meant it is sealed off to those who generally need it most. This imposes a real threat of death upon a lot of Americans. Many people develop extreme anxiety over the prospect of getting sick, but this is made worse with the financial implications piled on.
So how does an American Hospital work in terms of fees? To put it simply it functions the same as, say, a plumber or an electrical might. They perform a service and then present you with a bill. But this is more of a scam than most people realize. A lot of things you might think are free, such as the use of the beds and ambulance usage when being transported, actually cost you. And they can cost quite a lot. They even go as far as to charge a mother to hold her own child.
Patients have two ways of settling up these bills. They can pay them directly or, more commonly, they are handled by a person’s health insurance provider. This works just like any regular insurance. Once the bill is received the insurance company will pay all of it. In return, you make regular payments to the insurance company. Of course, health insurance in America is expensive. Many people take specific jobs simply to get health insurance as a working perk.
In countries like the UK, hospitals are all part of one organization. And this organization gets its funding from the government and the tax-payer. So it is also the government that buys the drugs the NHS needs. They also get their supplies from distributors such as facemedstore.com. The supplies are bought to be distributed to the entire hospital network.
In America, each hospital has to make its own purchases from big pharma companies. This is why you see a lot of American hospitals using experimental or less heard of drugs. Big Pharma makes a killing off selling drugs to a hospital in the same way someone would try to upsell you a new car.
This has a knock-on effect that hospitals in poorer areas are unable to afford the drugs and supplies they desperately need. This creates a system where, again, those who are most vulnerable and in need of these supplies cannot get them. While the rich and powerful have unlimited access.
Why Does it Cost
The simple reason that American healthcare isn’t free is that America is the center of capitalism. It is a country run by the operations. Laws and made and changed off the backs of cooperation donations and lobbying. And as long as there is money to be made from hospitals, it will be a long time before we see free healthcare in America. It’s a sad truth of the western world.