Question

What is so special about healthcare that justifies government intervention?

Answer 1

Healthcare system is very crucial in determining a nation's growth and development. That's the reason why developed countries allocate a higher proportion of GDP to healthcare expenditure. In USA government intervenes the health sector for better quality healthcare and healthcare reforms. Health care is provided by both public and private sector. There were many policy programs like MEDICARE, MEDICAID, OBAMACARE etc

Generally half of the healthcare expenditure is incurred by public authorities including federal and state governments.Compare to other developed nations , US spends more money in their health sector. But there is no universal access to this healthcare infrastructure. Only a limited section of people enjoy the fruits of such policies. Since the government spending is high, they are able to provide good quality healthcare including specialists, medical experts, quality medicines etc

Because of the limited access, US system is fragmented in nature. Even though healthcare is publicly financed,it is delivered by private parties. The tainted policies have its own repercussions in the form of infant mortality, STDs, high prevalence of obesity, heart and lung diseases. In effect the sector's performance is not up to the mark ,considering high public spending. There are still people out of the orbits of health insurance

Government is responsible for the poor performance of the health sector. Even though US is a capitalized economy, government intervention is necessary for some sections which needs more care. Proper education and health care is important for human capital formation and development of the economy in the long run. The market forces alone cannot provide amble health care output and infrastructure. Government should protect and promote the interest of the people especially vulnerable groups. For this there should be coordination of policies at the government level, public-private partnership, public spending, revamping policies with respects to the current needs etc. We can conclude that government intervention is totally a necessity for the proper delivery of health care.