American Medical System (Is or not) broken Essay

American Medical System (Is or not) broken - Essay Example When all these aspects are put together, the American health system is deemed broken. This paper is going to give its focus on the broken American health care system. Furthermore, this paper will highlight the reasons behind having a broken health care system in the United States. In this paper, I ask; why is the American health care system broken? Reasons behind the American Broken Health Care System The broken American health care system can be attributed to various reasons. It is apparent that the American health care system is a complete paradox. This is because in regards to technology in medicine as well as the disease scientific understanding, the United States is a leader. Doctors in America are the best paid in the world. Despite all these privileges, the Americans are still not the beneficiaries (Gumbel). Gumbel continues to argue that the healthcare system is run by insurance companies that are profit-propelled thus making the system be inefficient and more expensive, besi des being dehumanizing. America’s expenditure on healthcare is two and a half times that of Britain, and twice as much as that of France. However, the health care system is on a meltdown in almost every key indicator in public health sector, high infant mortality rate when compared to other developed countries like Britain. There has been no serious debate on healthcare system in America since 1994 when Bill Clinton was the president and his wife Hillary Clinton failed in her attempts to overhaul the health system. About 45 million American citizens are not insured (Garson). This number includes 10 million children (Gumbel). Gumbel continues to remark that the growing numbers of uninsured is unacceptable in any civilized society, more so not in America. Analysts had predicted that the American health care system would be broken, come the year 2011, and the government would have taken measures to avert the situation before it happens. For instance, Bolen, a consumer advocate, had remarked in 2004 that everybody was aware that the U.S Medicare system would experience a meltdown in 2011. According to him, the healthcare care system was going to be unaffordable to most Americans. Bill Frist, the majority leader of the senate and a heart specialist physician, gives scary Statistics on the American health care system. The statistic show that America spends about 15% of its overall income on health issues. This is higher than other developed nations. In this regard, when broken down, America spends approximately $5,540 annually on every man, woman and child (Broder A24). Similarly, health care costs are experiencing four times increase when compared to wages. Broder predicted that in 2006, the cost of health care coverage sponsored by the employers would be at $14,500 per family. However, the health stakeholders and the government did not do anything to prevent the situation from taking place. In 2003, the Census Bureau stated that about 44 million Americans w ere rendered without health insurance in 2002. Amazingly, the number of uninsured has been on the increase to approximately two million people every year. A consumer group known as Families USA reported that about 82 million Americans did not have health insurance cover in 2002/2003 period, most of them for a period not less than nine months (Broder A24). Furthermore, The American Journal of Medicine, as