Affordable and Cost-Effective Healthcare Insurance: The Problem of Access

Purpose and scope of the Article

The article, “Single Payer Meets Managed Competition: The Case for Public Funding and Private Deliver” authored by David DeGrazia discusses the concept of single payer system and its ability to bring about effective health care. The article reflects on the need for a health care system that combines a competitive private delivery, which results in a most cost-effective health care reform. The paper illustrates that the administrative costs of private insurance usually exceed those of public provision therefore, a system that utilizes the private service providers remains a less cost-effective mechanism for maintaining a sustainable health care (DeGrazia, 2008). Therefore, the main purpose of the article is to demonstrate the efficacy of the single-payer system of providing health care for all people.

Data that will enhance the readers’ understanding of the content

It is critical that the reader gains an understanding of the theme under study using reliable health care insurance data. The use of data that statistically reflects on the topic as the evidence for the proposed system serves to sustain potential criticisms. Therefore, historical data recalling the status of health care of the Americans.

Major findings

The acquisition of the single-payer system would eliminate the out-of-pocket payments in a tax oriented and funded system of economy. The study for the single-payer system reveals the cost-sharing system approach that represents the fair view of the majority of the populations. The article further demonstrates that the system advocates savings by inhibiting the excess costs of looking for and access to health care services. Therefore, based on the analysis, the author’s findings suggest that the copayment approach inherently posses the inhibiting factors for urgent medication, which contributes to worsening of the medical cases (DeGrazia, 2008).

Recommendations or actions to be considered as advanced by the authors

The article provides a vivid set of recommendations for the proposed single-payer system of delivering health care insurance. Firstly, the author demonstrates that the best method for payment for medical services would be through taxation supported by a well-knitted tax system. The proposal for this approach has the capacity to lower the transaction costs and other related administration costs. The single-payer system allows for the standardization of the service fees charged by medical professionals in case of fee-for-service alternative, and that established negotiations would be possible between the public insurer and medical practitioners (DeGrazia, 2008).

Critical analysis of the article

The major strengths of the Article

The article is vast with critical an abundant literature documenting the evidence in support of the single-payer system as a fundamental approach worth of reforming the health care insurance. In demonstrating the relevance of the system in the American healthcare system, the article uses the available and reliable statistical evidence. For instance, statistical data indicate that over 46 million American populations lack adequate insurance cover, while million others remain underinsured (DeGrazia, 2008).

The article demonstrates the inequitable resource mobilization and distribution to scale up the provision of adequate and cost-effective health care insurance for all the American population. The critical analysis of the article in approaching the concept of single-payer system forms the basis that underpins the evaluation of the status of American health care. To illustrate the underlying research problem, the article begins with fundamental questions touching on the distinction between those proposals that foster employment-based insurance capable of preserving multiplicity of private provisioning of health care insurance, and proposals that neglect it in favor of a single-payer system (DeGrazia, 2008).

The article proceeds on a critical question-analysis in order to establish the best mechanism that would result in sustainable health care insurance to the U.S population. The article vividly contributes to the development of the health care system worth of informing sustainable reforms in the American context.

The author relies on the established goals of health care insurance and reform. These goals serve to stimulate the purpose for which the establishment of the research article. Additionally, the article draws its critical view by appreciating the weak form of a single-payer system. The author’s critical mind demonstrates the inability of the single-payer system to achieve its mandate from a political perspective (DeGrazia, 2008). However, the article re-emphasizes the need for the single system based on its numerous advantages compared on employment-based health care insurance.

The limitations and assumptions of the article

Although the article possesses numerous strengths in the approach that appropriates the research, few limitations are inherently presented throughout the article. Firstly, to articulate the significance of the single-payer system of delivery of health care insurance, there must be a political will emerging from an effective and efficient policy reform capable of implementing the system (Jacobs & Rapoport, 2004). This assumption deposes of the credibility and applicability of the system in the American context given the political imbalances and unpredictable political feel. Therefore, the assumption of the existence of political structures to facilitate the health care reforms may be a constraint to the feasibility of the proposed single-payer system.

Personal reflections on the article

The article provides a clear view of the problem facing the American Population in relation to the access to affordable and cost-effective health care insurance. The succinct analysis drawn from the article offers me an opportunity to strongly consent to the main issue under review. To illustrate my support for the particle’s position, I argue that the elimination of out-of-pocket settlements for requisite services remains an essential step in achieving the millennium goals in health care for the entire population. Since the provision of these services on an employment-based approach has failed to deliver on the promises of affordable and cost effective health care, departure from this method toward appreciating the single-payer system would offer the basis for a sustained and healthy nation (Jacobs & Rapoport, 2004).

I am passionate about the article’s enumeration of the major issues that necessitate the implementation of the single-payer system. The strategic literature documenting the evidence of the status quo in American health care serves to give insight capable of forecasting the future trends in the health care. The critical examination of both systems of medical provisioning affords an average reader an elaborate basis for understanding the phenomenon (Jacobs & Rapoport, 2004).

Besides the extensive study of the article in illuminating the concept of single-payer system, the article could draw numerous benefits by offering statistical analysis in order to create a succinct theory. Although the application of relevant historical and qualitative data offers the basic understanding of the scenario, a mixture of primary and secondary research design would blend well to issue a compact sense of the phenomenon.

The article by David DeGrazia provides the best approach for establishing an insurance health care plan capable of yielding multiple benefits to the American population in terms of cost-effectiveness, availability and access. when measured against the goals of provision of health care insurance, the method offers a strategic route toward a reformed and progressive health care insurance for all (DeGrazia, 2008; Jacobs & Rapoport, 2004).

References

DeGrazia, D. (2008). Single Payer Meets Managed Competition: The Case for Public Funding and Private Deliver. The Hastings Center Report, 38(1):1-11.

Jacobs, P., & Rapoport, J. (2004). The economics of health and medical care. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publications.