The USA HealthCare System History
The
middle of the twentieth century was the time where transition has occurred not
only in the whole world (after world war II), but also in the healthcare field.
Since before the beginning of that century and healthcare system was not
regulated and there were not as many professionals and organizations that had
taken any steps to improve it. Resources at that era were very limited
(Hospitals, physicians and different health professions, technology, etc.),
physicians practiced their careers from their homes, and patients used to pay
their fees right out of their pockets as there was no such thing called health
insurance.
The
technology evolution was what made the spark in the healthcare system and rose
the quality of healthcare and increased the ability to provide more for
professionals and patients. Hospitals number increased as well as the services
provided, and drugs industry came into light when the first drug destroying a
disease was founded early 1900s. As more technology evolves, healthcare system
also evolves. Currently, healthcare providers are able to help millions of
people and treat them as needed, besides preventing and protecting from
different diseases.
For
the purpose of this assignment, I interviewed one of my friends who happened to
be part of this transitions stage and see how our healthcare system evolved
over time. He was born and raised in a small village Altoona, IA. Fortunately
for him, his father was the physician of that village, so he had seen his
father helping around a lot of people. His father did not work in a hospital;
however, he had his own small clinic at his house where he treated his
patients. Since he was the only physicians at that village, he was the
first-person people call in case of any emergency, so he used to receive a lot
of telephone calls (or people stop by his door) at nights. According to him, at
that era, there was no health insurance, and most people pay their fees out of
their pockets to his father which they were not that much at that time ($9-$20).
Also, there was not any pharmacy or a pharmacist, however, his father used to
deal with some resources outside of the village where he got some of the
important medications for patients in need. He used to be around his dad a lot,
so he would consider that as check ups (or visitation to a doctor). Since his
father passed away, he always goes to his doctor for general check-ups every
year. Thankfully, he is in a very good condition and health.
Nowadays,
our healthcare system has raised to be one of the biggest and complicated
field. The number of hospitals around us and the services they provide is out
of our expectations, and so the number of physicians and healthcare providers. The
number of pharmacies and pharmacist has tremendously increased in the past a
few years as drug discovery/industry evolved. With all those increases, health
insurance become a must in most schools and work-places. Hospitals emergency,
and doctors’ visitations become pricier (at least $100) as the quality of the
service has been the mission and the vision of our healthcare system. I think
our healthcare system is better than ever as it is growing to cover more people
who are in need.
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