QUESTIONNAIRE US SOCIAL SERVICES / HEALTH CARE

1. How would you describe the US health care system?

U.S. and Mexico are the only countries of the 34 members of the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that do
not have universal health.
The U.S. health care system is a hybrid system mixing a single-payer
national health insurance system (as we have in Spain) and a multi-payer
universal health insurance fund in which the prices are not regulated by the
state, what leads to pay much more than other countries do for the same
things.

2. What is the role of the health insurances that the citizens have
to sign in order to be medically covered?
The role of insurances is to provide health assistance to their insured, who
pay a premium to be medically covered. Due to the fact that the U.S. health
care system has not universal coverage, every citizen needs to have a
health insurance in order to get assistance when they need it.

3. Do you think that one of the main aims in the US health care
system is to get as much profits as possible?
It should not be, but the trend is the commercialization of health care, what
means the system trying to get as much profits as possible.

4. Do you think that the US health care system has been overrated
by both the US population and by the foreign patients?
In my opinion, the US health care system has indeed been overrated.
On the one hand, according to OECD data, the U.S. health care system is the
most expensive in the world but in spite of spending more on health care
than most of the countries, U.S. has one of the lowest life expectancies of
any developed country. The survey published by The Common Wealth Fund
in 2014 shows that the U.S. still ranking last on indicators of efficiency,
equity, and outcomes, compared with 11 developed countries.
On the other hand, as a consequence of lacking universal coverage, there
are people who cannot afford medic care. In the editorial article of the New
York Times of Nov. 17, 2013 uses data from the same survey to point out
that about 37 percent of American adults did not see a doctor did not have
the drugs because of costs. Furthermore a study cited in the Department for
Professional Employees website: three out of five bankruptcy filings in the
U.S. were linked to expenses from medical bills in 2013.

5. Do you think that doctors totally comply with the Hypocratic

Oath they sign before they start working?
Judging from some examples as the ones shown in A Healthy Bottom Line:
Profits or People? it seems to be that some doctors do not always comply
with the Hypocratic Oath. In some cases it may appear that keeping the
patients from harm and injustice is not affordable for profits.

6. Do you think there is any possibility that the US health care

system becomes universal and free for all the US citizens,
regardless of their origin, race, income or social position?
In 2010 Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. Since 2014 insurance
companies are not allowed to refuse coverage or to no renew policies
because of pre-existing conditions of people, such as health conditions, age,
gender or race, so the number of citizens with coverage is increasing.
Although this fact has been an improvement, in my humble opinion the
power of the huge medical companies as well as the deep American feeling
of letting the market regulate everything is going to make very difficult to
get a health care universal and free for all the US citizens.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
"21 Graphs That Show Americas Health-care Prices Are Ludicrous."
<i>Washington Post</i>. The Washington Post. Web. 2 Apr. 2015.
&lt;http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/26/21graphs-that-show-americas-health-care-prices-are-ludicrous&gt;.
Gongloff, Mark. "The U.S. Health Care System Is Terrible, In 1 Enraging
Chart." <i>The Huffington Post</i>. TheHuffingtonPost.com. Web. 2 Apr.
2015. &lt;http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/22/american-health-careterrible_n_4324967.html&gt;.
"Key Features of the Affordable Care Act By Year." <i>Key Features of the
Affordable
Care
Act
By
Year</i>.
Web.
3
Apr.
2015.
&lt;http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/timeline/timelinetext.html#2014&gt;.
"Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health Care System
Compares Internationally." <i>- The Commonwealth Fund</i>. Web. 3 Apr.
2015.
&lt;http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fundreports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror&gt;.
"The U.S. Health Care System: An International Perspective - DPEAFLCIO."
<i>DPEAFLCIO</i>. Web. 3 Apr. 2015. &lt;http://dpeaflcio.org/the-u-shealth-care-system-an-international-perspective/&gt;.