Purpose: Comment on the Discussion
Thing to Remember:
- Answer this discussion with opinions/ideas creatively and clearly. Supports post using several outside, peer-reviewed sources.
- 1 References, find resources that are 5 years or less
- No errors with APA format 6 Edition
To Comment:
Discussion Topic 1: Third-party Payment
In health care, third party payments are derived from insurance companies. Insurance companies have driven up the price of health care, therefore “distorting” the market. Insurance companies can only cover insurable risk. For example, getting hit by a car is an insurable risk because the chance of such an occurrence is small, but the required medical services are too expensive for many individuals to afford, so insurance companies spread the risk over a large group to make the premiums are affordable (Buff & Terrell, n.d.). The problem is that many of the services covered by health insurance do not fit this definition, and instead involve predictable expenses or minor care (Buff & Terrell, n.d.). It is in my opinion that wealthy countries continue to encourage the use third party payors to promote incentive to consumers with coverage, while using their premiums to add to the wealth, and unfortunately driving up the cost of health care in general.
Despite general improvements in the economic situation of the elderly population over the last 3 decades, many elderly Americans continue to struggle to pay living expenses on low or modest incomes (Rowland & Lyons, n.d.). When medical care is needed, these 6 million poor and near-poor elderly Americans depend on Medicare for assistance with their medical bills (Rowland & Lyons, n.d.). Aside from the abilities to pay for health care, people in the U.S. are living longer than ever before and many seniors live active and healthy lives, but as they age, their bodies and minds change which may be may just be part of normal aging, while others may be a warning sign of a medical problem (“Seniors’ Health: MedlinePlus,” n.d.). Because of this increasing demand for seniors seeking health care and limited ways of paying for service, a separate payment program is carved out for them.
References
Buff, M., & Terrell, T. (n.d.). The Role of Third-Party Payers in Medical Cost Increases. Retrieved from http://jpands.org/vol19no3/buff.pdf
Rowland, D., & Lyons, B. (n.d.). Medicare, Medicaid, and the Elderly Poor. Retrieved from https://www.ssa.gov/history/pdf/RowlandandLyons.pdf
Seniors’ Health: MedlinePlus. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://medlineplus.gov/seniorshealth.html