The Ideal Health Care System - 1632 Words

Jamie Cairns The Ideal Healthcare System In order to keep costs low while retaining easy access and high quality of health care, the ideal health care system must provide a judicious system of coverage for all, regardless of income, without increasing system spending and debt while avoiding unnecessary and unreasonable enforcement and intervention by the government. In the interest of checks and balances, however, a certain level of government involvement is needed. While many American citizens remain uninsured through no fault of their own, others known as â€Å"free-riders† are uninsured by choice with the knowledge that even without insurance they will receive the health care that they need (Free ride). The resulting debt from these unpaid†¦show more content†¦The goal of the ideal healthcare system is to make the benefits of being insured equal to the monetary cost of coverage for the individual. Doing so will lead to an increase in the population of insured individuals over time, thus appropriating the debt accrued by the uninsured; this debt will further decrease as more and more individuals choose to become insured, therefore tipping the balance in their favor. This in combination with the resultant lower cost of medical expenses and influx of insurance payments are the key to keeping costs low in the ideal healthcare system. â€Å"Four components of access to care are coverage, services, timeliness, and workforce† (Access to Health Services). As previously discussed, the key component to coverage is a system of checks and balances when it comes to costs and benefits to both the insured patient and their health care provider. One of these balances vital to having quality and widespread access in the ideal healthcare system is government involvement in providing healthcare for low income families, those unable to work or those unable to afford healthcare. Health insurance coverage will have no regard to personal income; even the highest paid individuals have medical bills they may not be able to handle. The amount of those uninsured will be greatly reduced by the introduction of incentives as