ABSTRACT
This chapter examines health care reform in the United States and the issues surrounding the rising costs of health care, problems in equity, and the unequal distribution of health services. It also examines the reasons for the rising cost of health care. The chapter identifies the main arguments for and against the Affordable Care Act. In 1980, an average of $1,100 per person was spent on health care in the United States, which was the highest in the world at that time. By 2014, this figure had risen to $9,523—the highest ever recorded anywhere. The rising cost of care is due not only to the aging of the population and demand by growing numbers of elderly for health care, but also because of increases in hospital expenses and fees for doctors, dentists, and other professional health services. Business corporations increasingly turned to lower-cost health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and preferred provider organizations (PPOs) to provide less expensive health care to their employees.
