President George Bush
President George Bush contributed immensely to the healthcare system policy in the United States during his eight-year tenure. The most significant reforms in the healthcare history of the country were done during Bush's reign. However, three of these reforms are considered the most significant in the last forty years: the prescription drug benefit, tax-free health savings accounts, and increased funding for medical research for modern illnesses.
More than forty million Americans were provided with access to prescription drugs through the Medicare prescription drug benefit program. Through this plan, Bush enhanced the competition levels among private drug plans, which contributed to a decrease in the average premiums for Medicare drug insurance by more than 30% by 2008. Also, the overall spending on the program reduced significantly by 40% compared to initial spending on Medicare programs, tentatively $240 Billion. Additionally, the president improved the quality of healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries through inclusion of preventive screening services to detect illnesses at early stages of development. The enrollment to the Medicare Advantage program was increased to more than 10 million Americans, especially for the private plan programs. Funding for the National Institute of Health was also increased by more than 40% between 1998 and 2003 and further by more than 20% by 2008 to improve the quality of medical research. Through this efforts, vaccines for HPV and advancement in cell programming were accomplished. Last, the tax-free health savings account for Americans was established to help them take control of their healthcare decisions and save money for future medical expenses (Talbert, 2018).
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President Obama
President Obama is remembered for the Obamacare health reforms, also known as the Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. The purpose of Obamacare was to reduce the costs of healthcare as well as the quality of healthcare services in the United States. Mandatory spending on healthcare was highly expensive and unsustainable for Americans, even after taxes and premiums cater for approximately 57% of the costs. The direct impact of the Act targeted the cost of emergency rooms and chronic diseases through increasing coverage accessibility for more Americans regardless of their financial status, providing preventive care at low costs, as well as emergency care. The Obamacare was funded by taxes from higher income individuals, insurance covers for every citizen, and more so high taxes for health care providers (Center et al., 2017).
President Trump
President Trump has not done much about healthcare since most if his work is still in progress while some are still plans. However, President Trump's administration has categorically rejected the Obamacare plan since it is pricy to both low income earners and small businesses (Saltzman & Eibner, 2016). Through increasing the access of short-term duration plans, among other options that at cheaper than Obamacare by approximately 60%, millions of Americans have successfully felt less economic impact on healthcare spending. Among prominent plans of President's Trump's administration are, expansion of the Health Reimbursement Arrangements to allow flexibility in choosing healthcare plans, expansion of the association health plans for employees and employers, and reduction of the cost of medical drugs through partnership with Canada.
How I would it differently
Clearly, high costs of healthcare in the United States is the core problem millions of Americans are facing. Therefore, the most effective reform would be to fix the cost problem. From my perspective, the issue of high costs of medical drugs should be solved by introduction of Federal monitoring of pricing by pharmaceutical companies, which is currently nonexistent. Through this action, pharmaceutical companies would have to observe ethics as well as the laws of demand and supply and market dynamics in pricing, such that, Americans can get fair and affordable drug prices.
References
Talbert, C. (2018). Failure to launch: A short history of health care reform in the United States.
Center, H., Woods, C. A., Manchikanti, L., & Purdue Pharma, L. P. (2017). A critical analysis of Obamacare: Affordable care or insurance for many and coverage for few. Pain Physician, 20, 111-138.
Saltzman, E., & Eibner, C. (2016). Donald Trump’s health care reform proposals: Anticipated effects on insurance coverage, out-of-pocket costs, and the federal deficit. The Commonwealth Fund, 32, 1-14.
