NEW INTERNATIONAL SURVEY: Older Adults in U.S. Struggle with Health Care Costs More Than Those in Other Nations
- Wonjeong Hong
- Mar 24
- 3 min read
Source
Article Summary
According to the recent finding from the 2024 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy survey of Older Adults, it was revealed that majoirity of older US citizens struggle with the cost of Health Care, despite their Medicare coverage.
The survey took place from ten countries in Europe and North America regions, such as Australia, Canada, Germany, U.S. and etc, to examine the financial factors that affects the older adults’ health care decisions and differences between beneficiaries in traditional Medicare plan and Medicare Advantage Plan.
The result of the survey showed that US older adults took second place for spending the most in health care between the ten countries. By the effect of the high medical costs, the reserach showed that the percentage of older adults’ delaying medical treatment and skipping dental care due to financial reason was highest in America between the countries that participated in the survey.
In conclusion, the study from the Commonwealth Fund International shows how older adults in U.S. are servererly struggling by the cost of the health care cost compared to the other nations, and they are skipping the medical or dental treatment, which can cause the higher long-term costs and poorer health outcomes. The result calls for improvement in the Medicare system and lower cost-related barriers.
Reflection
Reading this article made me learn about how a wide variety of groups, not only the economically impoverished ones, are impacted and marginalized by the poor Medicare system of the United States. The survey in the article showed the apparent gap between the US health system and other Western or European countries.
The United States is undeniably one of the most economically wealthy and militarily powerful countries in the world. However, its healthcare system has been constantly criticized and condemned for a long time due to its high costs, low access, and poor outcomes. It seems paradoxical. Why is the health care system of America so faultily and defectively organized?
The problems in US healthcare are rooted in various systematic and socioeconomic factors. One of the biggest reasons is that healthcare is largely privatized in the US. Although privatization led to some efficiency increase, it ultimately caused economic inequality by limiting access for low-income patients and prioritizing profits over serving all patients.
Furthermore, the healthcare system in the US is very complex and fragmented, and there are transparency issues. Multiple payers, providers, and health insurance are involved in the healthcare system, which makes the payment and overall process unclear and hard to understand for patients. Also, it is difficult for patients to compare bills and check what needs to be covered, leading to unexpected bills.
To sum up, US health care is facing significant challenges in cost and accessibility. There were various efforts to improve US healthcare throughout history, such as the creation of Medicaid and Medicare in the 1960s and the Affordable Care Act(ACA), called Obamacare, in 2010. However, they also brought their own controversy and could not be the perfect solution to this issue. Therefore, the weakness of the American healthcare system was broadly exposed to the world during the pandemic. To avoid repeating these situations, the US government and health experts must try to reduce the economic inequality and the accessibility gap that burdens US citizens by creating new policies, systems, or reforms.
Comments