Question

Besides contracting with HMO’s, explain in 2 pages what are some of the managed care steps that employers can take to constrain health care costs and promote wellness? Identify at least 2 areas and provide a resource for your answer

Answer 1

For the people of United States (U.S.) to enjoy optimal health, they must be provided with high-quality health care services. The health care system in the U.S. is facing difficulties in terms of financing, cultural competence, quality of care and providing emergency facilities. In the U.S., the health care system consists of health care professionals, hospitals, health insurance plans, purchases of health insurance plans and networks, which are collectively known as “the health care delivery system.” Some of these belong to public sectors and some belong to the private sector, which can be either for-profit or not-for-profit entities (Curry, 2005). The multiplicity of funding sources, mechanisms of payment and hospital administrate systems are also responsible for the higher administrative costs of health care services in U.S.

Recommendation to bring down the health care expenses in the U.S.:

The U.S. healthcare system does not provide universal health insurance coverage, instead, it is offering uncoordinated fragmented public and private programs. Solving this issue is an essential step in the U.S. health care system reform.

In Sweden, the country council takes the responsibility of providing the health care of its particular geographical region. The politicians of the county council are selected by election. This strategy was most successful in Sweden as the number of people in that region, which are to have cared is only a few thousand. As the diversity of people is small, the politicians apply a single policy for all the individuals in the city. Another reason for its success is, the health care can be provided as per the prevalence of diseases in different regions, this is most important because the climate varies greatly from one region to the other. Thus, the health care costs can be reduced by implementing a universal health care system.

References:

Curry, L. (2005). The Future of the Public's Health in the 21^st   Century. Generations, 29(2), 82.

Iglehart, J. K. (1992). The American health care system: managed care. New England Journal of Medicine, 326(14), 962-67.

Field, M. J., & Shapiro, H. T. (1993). Health Care Costs: More Questions than Answers.