Health care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Health care - Essay Example Statistics provided by the AFL-CIO (â€Å"What’s Wrong With America, par. 2) reveal that 47 million Americans are without health insurance. Hacker (â€Å"Health Care for America†, par. 2) averred that â€Å"health insecurity is not confined to one part of the population. It is experienced by all Americans: those without insurance as well as those who risk losing coverage; those who are impoverished as well as those with higher incomes who experience catastrophic costs; those who are sick or injured as well as those who are just one sickness or injury away from financial calamity†. It is the objective of this essay to determine if a universal health care system is the solution to America’s health care crisis. According to a report by the World Health Organization (â€Å"WHO Assesses the World Health Systems†, par. 3) â€Å"the U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance†. But the report stated that in terms of responsiveness, the United States ranks first due to availability of the country’s resources to immediately respond to health care needs. In terms of health expenditure per capita, the USA ranked first but ranked 72 on level of health and on the overall health system performance, it ranked 37 (World Health Report 2000) out of 191 member nations included in the study. The health care in the United States are administered by private health institutions. There are no public hospitals owned by the government. Health insurance can be availed through a working individual’s employer or through a spouse’s or parents’ employers. Insurance can also be purchased individually. For the uninsured, a study conducted by Hadley and Holalan (â€Å"Covering the Uninsured†, par. 44) revealed that â€Å"a substantial amount is already being spent on care received by uninsured people. Much of this money flows through an elaborate and often