Question

Discuss controversies surrounding the development of the government’s role in providing, financing, and regulating health insurance and health services. Include in your discussion the economic reasons for government intervention in a market based health care system. Please be sure to incorporate the reasons identified in your text as well as any additional reasons you wish to provide. Provide a critique of these reasons

Answer 1

Health care responsibility in the United States is in both a public and private hands, in recent years, government and most especially the federal government has emerged as perhaps the single most important force shaping our health care system.

Government's responsibility to protect and advance the interests of society includes the delivery of high-quality health care. Because the market alone cannot ensure all American citizens access to quality health care, the government must preserve the interests of its citizens by supplementing the market where there is inefficiency or unfairness. The ultimate goal of achieving high quality of care require combined efforts of federal, state, and local governments and the private sector.

U.S. spends more on health care in comparison to any other nation in the world, still the measured outcomes of the care provided are often inferior to, outcomes achieved by other developed nations that spend substantially less. Healthcare costs have increased over the past few decades and consumes a greater percentage of GDP than any other sector of the U.S. economy.

Economic reasons for government intervention in a market-based health care system

• Reducing healthcare costs and expanding health insurance coverage through correcting market failures and subsidizing costs.
• A government mandate or government provided health insurance can create a larger risk pool where everyone is covered at the average cost.
• Government mandates health coverage for catastrophic events can help ensure that the rest of society does not pay for a person's decision not to obtain health insurance for catastrophic care.
• Governments can also act as a third-party to help patients evaluate different medical procedures and treatments to help them determine what is best for them.