United States Health Care Reform and Accountable Care Organizations Research Paper

United States Health Care Reform and Accountable Care Organizations - Research Paper Example The U.S. health sector is very inefficient in terms of cost levels and in order to bring this down this paper discusses the implementation of Affordable Care Organizations and whether or whether not they will be able to remedy this situation. If indeed, ACOs benefit the health sector over the years as predicted by studies the U.S health sector will be able to lower costs and increase the quality of their health care. The United States Health Sector has gone through many reforms over the years and has recently been subjected to the Affordable Care Act which calls for Accountable Care Organizations within the sector to increase its efficiency of functioning. With the ACA up and running, the health sector seems to have a much better chance of improvement, however this wasn’t always so. Body President Harry Truman initiated the idea of a socialized healthcare program in the United States in the period 1945-48 but was put down by the American Medical Association (AMA). However, Medicare was finally made operational in 1965 under President Johnson’s socialist regime. (Oliver, Lee and Lipton, 2004). From the end of the 1960s to the end of the 1990s prescription drug coverage was never an independent factor that fell under the responsibility if Medicare. It was only until the end of the Clinton regime that this issue came to light. Towards the end of 2003, President Bush added the coverage of prescription drugs under Medicare which was one of many other changes to the organization. The implementation of these changes will increase tax burden on the population by roughly in the bracket of $400-550 billion in the future. The population had a 60/40 negative/positive stance about the new reforms respectively. (Oliver, Lee and Lipton, 2004). There was a gigantic increase in the price of medical drugs around this time and Medicare’s expenditure which used to amount to $700 million in 1992 was costing Medicare around $6.5 billion in 2001. Obviously, their costing system was hugely defected. (Oliver, Lee and Lipton, 2004). The explosive increase in the price of prescription drugs also allowed greater power to pharmaceutical companies who realized that on this scale the stakes were larger and politics came into play; since the drugs were too costly the federal government would have to sponsor their coverage. (Oliver, Lee and Lipton, 2004). Another issue that has remaine d persistent where American healthcare is discussed is that of the racial partiality with respect to adequate healthcare provision. In 1993, it was estimated that the life expectancy of African Americans was roughly 7 years less than that of white Americans. This difference was attributed to mortality rates and the differences in income distribution. But the truth according to research was that black Americans were not allowed as much health care as their white counterparts. (Bhopal, 1998). There are also language barriers to effective health care provision in the United States. A research paper describing this situation tells of a situation of this boy called Raul who spoke little English, his mother who spoke no English and was describing his condition to a doctor and the doctor who spoke very little Spanish. His mother was telling the doctor that her son had been dizzy the day before; the doctor took it to mean that Raul had been looking a little yellow. When confirmed from Raul, the doctor was told that his mother was saying that Raul had been