In a country that’s rated as the number one industrialized country in the world why are we rated last in healthcare and ranked thirty-seventh overall in the world? Now it is without question that our health care system has failed. The problem that we face today is how we fix it? First we need to look at the history of our health care system. Followed by looking at examples of other countries health care system such has Canada, Great Britain and the worlds top rated health care system of France. Then closely look at the proposed public option. And lastly come up with a plan that will fix this detrimental problem Americans face today.
The early years of formalized health care in America (1880-1930) saw the establishment of the medical profession, both through the expanded duties and formal education of the physician and the growth of the hospital system. The start of the twentieth century also witnessed the beginnings of health insurance as a method of prepaying health care costs, and the American Medical Association's (AMA) growing control over the medical marketplace. By 1930, the United States had as many or more medical, nursing, and dental schools and hospital beds per unit of population as it has today. The Great Depression, however, slowed the expansion of health care facilities and personnel. Many Americans had trouble paying for the medical care they needed. Doctors tried to make allowances for patients in financial straits, but hospitals, with higher fixed costs, had much less flexibility. Between 1929 and 1930, average hospital receipts plummeted from more than $200 per patient to less than $60. Hospitals then began to turn to insurance plans as a way to guarantee a steady cash flow by spreading the financial risk.
Later the Internal Revenue Service ruled that the purchase of health insurance for workers was a legitimate cost of doing business and could be deducted from taxable business income. The IRS also ruled that workers did not have to...