Although the United States spends a lot of money on healthcare when compared to other developed nations, the American healthcare system remains to be a failure. According to the study, approximately 16% of Americans do not have any health insurance. The country’s life expectancies and death rate is also said to be more. Technological advancements have drastically changed the lives of Americans. Thus, have a look at our write-up to get more information about the challenges faced by US healthcare.
- Rising Cost
When it comes to healthcare, the United States is said to be the most expensive country than any other nation. According to the survey in 2007, the United States spent approximately $2.2 trillion only on healthcare. Americans spend a lot of money on healthcare than on housing, food, or any other. Due to the increase in cost, the US healthcare system remains to be as the top issue that has to be effectively addressed.
- Shortage of Doctors
By estimation, the population of the United States is said to be 318.9 million and is also expected to increase by 20% annually. Every year nearly 20,000 doctors are getting retired. But, there aren’t enough new doctors and nurses to replace them. So, this shortage has led to the problems like accessibility, lack of care, expensive treatment, and declining quality and effectiveness of the healthcare system.
- Hospital Mistakes
Hospital mistakes and infections are the most important problems that every one of us is facing today. The United States has been ranked as the third highest nation for the death rate. The main aim of every hospital and doctor is to save millions of lives. But, thousands of people die only because of hospitals’ negligence. So, to save thousands of hundreds of lives, hospitals must incorporate services like electronic health records, e-prescriptions, and many others.
- Technological Impacts
Technology plays a vital role in advancing the healthcare system. They change the quality and effectiveness of healthcare. Many people in the US believe that their modern healthcare system is successful. But, the fact is that they are still lagging in terms of data availability, portability, and many more. By incorporating new strategies, they can stand out from other nations.
Some of the impacts of technology on healthcare are
- Information sharing- For better collaboration between doctors and patients.
- Information processing- To process the suggestions given by doctors using modern computing devices.
- To improve the healthcare organizations for providing accurate information for patients.
- International Healthcare Standards
As healthcare becomes globalized, many of the services from other countries will be available easily. Due to this, a lot of competition is rising between the countries. The United States is being largely affected due to this overwhelming change in healthcare standards. As a result, many Americans are moving towards healthcare services offered by other countries. So, all these factors have led to the downfall of the US healthcare system.