Hi! Thanks for the question.
Here are the possible non-financial or non-economic problems with the
US health care system. I will provide you with small snippets from the
articles cited herein. But I highly recommend that you read them in
their entirety to get a better understanding of the concepts.
A. Race and Gender Discrimination
“There are also significant non-financial barriers to health care,
including location of health services, gender and race. Studies have
shown that those who live in rural areas have fewer physician visits
per year than those who live in metropolitan areas. Race can also be a
barrier to health-care services. As Bodenheimer and Grumbach point
out, at a California emergency room in 1990 and 1991, 55% of Hispanic
patients with extremity fractures received no pain medication,
compared with 26% of non-Hispanic whites. The difference in treatment
was not attributable to insurance status. Gender is also a factor; it
has been shown that women in the U.S. receive a less extensive work-up
than men with the same medical complaints.”
“The U.S. Health System: A Primer”
http://www.amsa.org/pdf/ushealthprimer.pdf
“The institutional racism that exists in hospitals and health care
institutions manifests itself in a number of ways, including the
disproportionate closure of hospitals that primarily serve the
minority community.”
“Minority physicians are significantly more likely to practice in
minority communities. Yet, minorities are seriously under represented
in health care professions and the minuscule efforts to solve that
problem (affirmative action) is under serious political and legal
attack.”
“The existing data collection does not allow for regular collection of
race data on provider and institutional behavior. The lack of a
uniform data collection method makes obtaining an accurate and
specific description of race discrimination in the health care system
extremely difficult.”
“Institutional Racism in the US Health Care System”
http://academic.udayton.edu/health/07HumanRights/WCAR02.htm
“Blacks and Hispanics were less likely than whites to receive some
preventive care services. Compared to whites (69%), the flu shot
vaccination rate in adults 65 and over was 18 percentage points lower
for African Americans (51% vs. 69%) and 13 points lower for Hispanics
(56% vs. 69%).”
“U.S. HEALTH CARE QUALITY FALLS SHORT ON CRUCIAL MEASURES”
http://www.cmwf.org/media/releases/leatherman520_release05102002.asp
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B. Poor Distribution of Health Professionals
“The percentage of physicians in this country who practice primary
care declined from 53% to 33.5% between 1960 and 1990. In contrast to
the United States, 53% of Canadian physicians and 59% of British
physicians are so-called generalists. Furthermore, studies of
physician availability across the United States have found that the
number of physician-shortage areas has been increasing since 1980.
While overall physician availability increased in the U.S. by 34%
between 1975 and 1985, it increased by only 14% in small rural areas.”
“The U.S. Health System: A Primer”
http://www.amsa.org/pdf/ushealthprimer.pdf
--------------------------------
C. Quality Assurance
“In the increasingly competitive medical care marketplace, an
essential administrative activity of any health-care plan is quality
assurance (QA). Quality assurance is ‘a formal, systematic process to
improve quality of care that includes monitoring quality, identifying
inadequacies in delivery of care, and correcting those inadequacies.’”
“The U.S. Health System: A Primer”
http://www.amsa.org/pdf/ushealthprimer.pdf
“Twenty-eight percent of U.S. adults with health problems said they
experienced a medical mistake or medication error in the previous two
years—the highest rate in the survey and significantly higher than
Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K.”
“Sicker U.S. adults were among the least likely to report problems
with waiting times for hospital care. Yet, they reported difficulties
with access to specialty care, often because of referral requirements
or waiting times.”
“The United States Health Care System: Views and Experiences of Adults
with Health Problems”
http://www.cmwf.org/programs/international/us52003_db_644.pdf
“From 1987 to 1995, rates of medication-prescribing mistakes with the
potential for adverse outcomes more than tripled in proportion to
hospital admissions (from 2.4 to 8.4 per 100). This data, from a
teaching hospital, may be representative of a wider trend suggesting
that medication mistakes are increasing along with the intensity of
therapy.”
“Little more than half (53%) of the American public thinks that the
quality of health care in the U.S. is good or excellent. Nearly three
of five (57%) of U.S. physicians say that their ability to provide
quality health care has gotten worse in the past 5 years.”
“Over one-third (37%) of people with substantial nursing home
experience expressed dissatisfaction with the care that they, a family
member, or a friend received in the last three years.”
“U.S. HEALTH CARE QUALITY FALLS SHORT ON CRUCIAL MEASURES”
http://www.cmwf.org/media/releases/leatherman520_release05102002.asp
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Easterangel-ga
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