Health care Reform

Beginning the lecture, Dr. G. Timothy Johnson, a doctor, author, and television journalist, describes the condition that was identified at the American Medical Association back in the late 1960s. He highlights the actual problems and occasions that made him eligible for a full-time position on the ABC News channel. Dr. G. Timothy Johnson focuses on a situation that occurred while he was working with ABC News and explains how it caused him to shift his perspective on health care from the idea of focusing on new clinical developments to swiftly shifting his focus to health care policies that were intended to improve society positively. He says that at that point someone came with an idea of comparison where they had to compare the health care system of the United States and that of the Republic of Canada. When they visited a particular health facility they were astonished to find in an office of four there are only four and the other two are busy selling the insurance policies.

The benchmarking experience he did experience on how the birth of a baby in the Republic of Canada was so natural and smooth as compared to the birth of a child in New York back in the USA kept him thinking and it is an issue that still bothers his mind up to date. The doctor discusses in detail the situation of the America healthcare and his lecture was based on three items which include access to healthcare services, quality of the healthcare products and services and the cost of the American health care services. He claims that it is not just the United States of America alone, but the same issues faced in most developing countries. In my review am going to focus on cost because that is one of the things most Americans struggle with especially the middle-class community.

Dr. G. Timothy Johnson records that the USA spends about ten thousand dollars per capita on medical cost which when you take a comparison of the most developed countries like France, Japan Taiwan Germany they only add up to the half amount we spent on health care cost. Something that makes it look crazy is that after all the much value on the healthcare department the life expectancy of the USA is still low as compared to other developed countries. This means that the state cannot give us raw results for our overspending on healthcare. In the lecture, an exciting story that Dr. G. Johnson talks about is the custom or the normal believe the people of America have trusted to be true.

The American people think that anything new is the healthcare category is the best. This force has led to the growth of another power that has soon driven up the cost of healthcare in the USA. The second effect is the medical, industrial complex that affects the production of new drugs, devices, testing and treatments at a high cost. These means the American people will slowly shift to the new product in town regardless of the price enquired. The dramatic force of expectations and the medical, industrial complex has majestically driven the costs of healthcare to rise to a point where the inflation rates on the medical department alone are twice as much as the general inflation of the country. A perfect example of such is when the new bone marrow transplant where a lot of people were treated unnecessarily at a higher cost just because it was believed to be a new machine.

Almost a third of the amount spend on healthcare are categorized as unnecessary spending which according to DR. Timothy Johnson is approximately a trillion dollars spent on extraneous issues. The government should establish a robust political mechanism to transform the situation and make things much better in the healthcare system. Although it may take much time and requires a vigorous and determined political technique, it will be able to make the healthcare sector become more transformed and avoid the unnecessary spending.

The ethical dimensions and considerations revolve around the cost of the healthcare services and majorly the impact of the new devices that are pumped into the healthcare sector every year. The cost of the healthcare sector is growing at an alarming force which is making most of the middle income earning individuals and families unable to acquire the necessary medical care offered in the market. This means many individuals in the market will lose out on primary health care services because of the costly nature the sector is. Many people will suffer under such conditions. This is very unethical because the government needs to take care of the basic needs of all the citizens.

The other ethical issue is the pumping of new drugs, medical devices, and machines, treatments, tests, and products that are not tested and proved to be of better standards to be used or consumed by human beings. This act leads to the formation of many products that are not human-friendly and many people end falling victims of the same which in many ways has possess a lot of complications on the victims especially health complications. This is very unacceptable and unethical because many lives are put in danger over these untested new products in the health sector. The government should come up with new measures to counter and prevent such products to enter the market.