The responsibility and burden of quality healthcare provision often raise the question of whether it is a business or a profession. According to Ward et al., 2016, medicine is a profession, but healthcare is a business. Therefore, this explains why more medical practitioners acquire immersive education in the business of employment contracts, competitive marketing, and other enterprise issues. When lives are at stake, the business aspect still comes out since medics aim at cost-cutting, maximum revenue while also ensuring the provision of quality healthcare.
Both profit and non-profit hospitals have differences such as taxation, the difference in the operational discipline, financial pressure associated with profit hospitals unlike the non-profit ones, and a difference in the scale of concentration. For instance, recent surveys by the American Hospital Association show that there are 5198 community hospitals whereby 1296 of the facilities are for-profit (Canady, 2020).
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A common name in the healthcare industry is Michael Dowling, the President and the Chief Executive Officer of Northwell Health, a renowned healthcare provider (Rosenthal, 2013). Michael joined Northwell in 1995 and started his career as a caseworker in New York City schools and has since then earned a reputable name. In his response to the measures of quality healthcare, "healthcare is a soccer game with 12 players and 50 referees," he meant healthcare is a system with few players but monitored by numerous significant parties with common interests due to its importance in any economy.
The costs of COVID-19 have been addressed by the US government. The formation of The Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act by the US Congress signed into law in March 2020 is tasked with ensuring that the economic and health impacts of COVID-19 are addressed amongst the American people (Canady, 2020). On the other hand, with Latinos’ and Blacks facing the highest unemployment levels, they are at risk of being uninsured since the individually purchased healthcare coverage is much more expensive than employer-sponsored coverage (Williams, 2017). It may have consequences such as huge medical expenses, low quality of healthcare, and reduced life expectancy. The pros of privatizing healthcare include better quality healthcare, increased accountability, and increased efficiency while the cons are increased expenses, profit-driven healthcare, and discrimination due to income levels amongst others.
Cohen et al. (2015) state that Medicare is a health insurance program that started in 1966 under the Social Security Administration that insures legitimate Americans aged 65 and older and those with disabilities. Other health insurance programs include, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966 (HIPAA) and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 (Adults, 2010). HIPAA was primarily created to modernize healthcare information and protect patient information while ACA was to constrain healthcare costs and reduced premiums for employer-based insurance plans.
References
Adults, Y. (2010). The Affordable Care Act: Protecting Young Adults and Eliminating Burdens on Families and Businesses. Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services .
Canady, V. A. (2020). CARES Act to help providers bolster care; supports communities, businesses. Mental Health Weekly , 30 (14), 1-3.
Cohen, A. B., Colby, D. C., Wailoo, K. A., & Zelizer, J. E. (Eds.). (2015). Medicare and Medicaid at 50: America's entitlement programs in the age of affordable care . Oxford University Press.
Rosenthal, E. (2013). The soaring cost of a simple breath. New York Times , 10 , 13.
Ward, M. J., Marsolo, K. A., & Froehle, C. M. (2016). Applications of business analytics in healthcare. Business Horizons , 57 (5), 571-582.
Williams, D. R., & Rucker, T. D. (2017). Understanding and addressing racial disparities in health care. Health Care Financing Review , 21 (4), 75.
