American healthcare is in a state of flux right now. Nobody knows what condition it’s going to be in a year from now, due to how politicized the subject has become. The Affordable Care Act recently survived an effort to repeal and replace because of public outcry, but that doesn’t mean that Americans’ healthcare is safe.
The Importance of Healthcare
American healthcare is more important than it’s ever been. In 2012, the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine), announced the current generation of children and young adults here in the U.S. would be the first generation to experience fewer healthy years of life as well as shorter life spans than their parents. In 2015, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), reported that the average American life expectancy went down for the first time in over 20 years.
These recent discoveries on the state of American health are worrisome, to say the least. In order to ensure the U.S. moves in the right direction to help improve the health of Americans, there are three things that must be done:
Americans will need better access to health insurance – Although the Affordable Care Act managed to help insure an additional 20 million Americans, there are currently still 28 million people who are uninsured as of 2015.
The country has to invest more in health and prevention – Around 75 percent of healthcare costs are related to conditions that are preventable, including tobacco use and obesity. Investments in prevention can help lower these costs as well as save lives.
Health disparities among various demographics must be addressed – There are health inequalities that are related to income and access to coverage across different demographics. For example, Hispanics are 65 percent more likely to develop diabetes than white Americans.
To help American healthcare head the right direction, tell Congress to continue to support the Affordable Care Act and to authorize Medicaid expansion. To stay up-to-date with all of the latest healthcare related news, be sure to visit us at The Benefits Store today.