Anyone current on America’s biggest issues would know that our health care system is experiencing some serious issues. Prices of receiving adequate health care are soaring and unfortunately quality of care hasn’t followed in this growth. Another impeding issue is the amount of uninsured people there are who end up costing the medical system millions of unnecessary dollars a year. There are still positive entities within the system, though, that need to be replicated and expanded on to improve the overall system. Particularly the private sector of medical care has elements within it that illustrate the qualities and potential of the American healthcare system. Although costs are unnecessarily high, privatization of health care results in improved health care outcomes because it creates patient-driven competition among providers, better doctor-patient relationships, and incentives for physicians to maintain high standards of medical care delivery.
Healthy competition between providers comes in the forms of excellent outcome statistics, maintaining the newest and best technology, and overall patient satisfaction. When a certain facility or provider is known to be the best at what they do they often strive to maintain their recognition. Additionally, providers who purchase and use the most update technological equipment for diagnoses and procedures generally lure more patients into choosing them for their care. For example, when the Norplant birth control implant recently resurfaced as an option for women, younger doctors had to go through a special training for certification in the implant procedure. The health facilities with doctors who received this training then gained all of the consumers desiring Norplant birth control. This patient – driven competition is especially evident in highly specialized areas. When a doctor, a practice, or hospital focuses on one area of research or treatment of a disease, they often have the highest ranked outcomes out of any more broad practice or hospital for that same disease or condition. For example, Fairview-University Children’s Hospital in Minnesota focused in on improving treatments for patients living with Cystic Fibrosis and because of this have become the top Cystic Fibrosis treatment facility in the nation- their patients having a life expectancy of 12 years more than that of the national average (Porter 4).
Private health care allows for patient satisfaction on a greater level than a fully public system. Patients can choose their own physician and appointment times. Patients are also sometimes heavily involved in the treatment method that is chosen for their particular disease. (Jindal 1). A physician being able to give the patient options and talk about each one with them strengthens the relationship between the doctor and the patient. The fact that the patient is not aggravated with having to come at a designated time or wait for hours in waiting room- common for public health facilities- also contributes to the betterment of the doctor-patient relationship. Improved doctor-patient relationships are key in better quality health care because they allow the patient to trust the doctor. Trust causes the patient to be more open during conversations about health and life-issues, which makes it more likely that the patient will reveal something key to their diagnoses that the doctor will pick up on. Overall, chances are better that the correct diagnoses will be made and proper treatment delivered.
When doctors know that the care they provide will directly affect how many patients choose to see them and consequently how much money they make, they are encouraged to provide better care. A private health care system allows the doctor to set up and grow their own practice based on the level of standard they want to achieve. Supporters of a one-hundred percent government-ran public health care system may argue that private health care drives up costs and leaves uninsured individuals in the dust. They say that paying each type of doctor the same to provide the same services equally to every individual will result in every individual receiving adequate health care. Unfortunately, with this system there would be no incentive for doctors to go above and beyond for patients, strive for better outcomes, or to continue improving their doctoring skills, because there would be no lucrative benefits. It is true that there are some entirely altruistic doctors who satisfied with nothing more than correctly diagnosing and treating a patient to a full recovery. There are also doctors who want to be rewarded for all of the time they spent in school and for improving their skills and patient outcomes (which doesn’t necessarily make them bad doctors). Overall, better health care is a direct effect of privatization of health care.
A private health care system is crucial in maintaining and improving health care outcomes today and in the future. Our current private health care system is not perfect, mostly because of uncontrolled insurance companies raising prices and reimbursing less. However, there are many aspects of the system that can be fostered and expanded to reach our country’s full potential in providing the best quality and most affordable health care.
Works Cited
Jindal, Surinder. “Privatization of Health Care: New Ethical Dillemas.” Indian Journal of Medical Ethics. 13 Nov. 2008
Porter, Michael. “Competition the Cure for Health Care.” Harvard Business School. 13 Nov 2008
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