Because this is my last post, I’d like to take this time to discuss the future of healthcare. There are a multitude of factors that go into the future of healthcare. Doctors and all medical professionals are necessary, the money supply for funding healthcare is crucial, the changes in population, the development of new medicines, and the facilities and the accessibility to such medical facilities is also important.
Many people have positive views about the future of health care and look forward to changes in society that will better the health of our citizens. After browsing articles about the upcoming changes and evolution in healthcare, I stumbled upon an article titled “The future of health care is social, and techie” by USA Today. The article highlights the evolution of our society through rapid developments in the social media and technological sector. It describes the potential creation of devises that would be implanted under the skin and monitor their health. The person would then be able to track his or her health and subsequently be able to track their own medical data. This technology would give much autonomy to individuals as well as make a lot of advanced medical equipment and some specialists obsolete. While this innovation would not be invented for years down the road, it creates access to one’s individual health, allowing them to track it more carefully and hopefully take preventative measures. This would mean there would not be a need for X-Ray machines, or a lot of medical equipment. It would also play a large role in the necessity of doctors, whether their purpose would still be as crucial, or if their services would be now be reached electronically.
This view sees healthcare in a positive and progressive light, without regards for costs or other potential problems. Others have very different and negative opinions on the future of healthcare.
Although breakthroughs in technology may solve the healthcare problem once and for all, many believe that before such medical equipment is invented and distributed to the population, our future for healthcare is not looking very bright. A common argument is one of supply and demand. According to an article by the Heritage Foundation, “The projected supply of workers fails to meet the demand associated with population growth and aging of the population.” (Workers, meaning doctors, nurses, and other medial professionals) According to this article, the number of primary care physicians is no match for the rapidly growing US population (see chart below). The problem of supply and demand will cause a decrease in the overall quality of the healthcare being provided as well as a demanding workload for physicians nationwide. As well as a supply and demand issue, health facilities nationwide need to relocate in order to fulfill all demographic areas of America. “In much of the nation, health professionals are highly concentrated in urban locations.” While this problem can be solved, the main issue is how to create new health centers without sacrificing the quality and quantity of medical professionals. To many, the ACA and universal healthcare in general are far reaching goals that our nation is not prepared to take on.
There are very different opinions about health care in America. Some believe that the ACA is doing well and new innovations in technology will solve the problem once and for all. Others believe that healthcare in America is going downhill fast and few solutions can solve the problem.
What are your opinions? What do you think healthcare will be like for your children? Or for your children’s children? Do you agree with either of the two arguments I just presented?
SOURCES
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/shinal/2014/03/08/health-apps-sxsw-shinal/6205491/