The History Of Healthcare In The US

Many people don't spend very much time learning about healthcare because lets face it, it isn't all that interesting. However, when dealing with the rising healthcare costs that most Americans face today, it makes you wonder how things got so bad in the first place. Was healthcare always so expensive, or was it cheaper in the past than the present.

The question is an interesting one, and takes us back to the 1920's where the first healthcare system was formed as a way for non-profit providers to help citizens in exchange for a tax break. These organizations, called Blue Cross organizations later evolved into Blue Cross and Blue Shield, although that didn't happen for several years later.

When they began to see the healthcare industry as a way to make additional profit, the private corporations eventually adopted this model and took it for themselves as a way to compete for workers. Jobs were abundant and employers used this as a way to compete against each other. Instead of the government seeing this as a bad idea, they followed suit and started rewarding companies for providing healthcare to their employees. Had this not been the case, then maybe the healthcare system in the US wouldn't be stuck in the model where healthcare is most often provided by employers.

Oddly enough, President Harry Truman proposed a national health care scheme, which was voted down by opponents in favor of civilian healthcare providers providing the service. Blue Cross organizations charged an even premium for everyone at the time, regardless of their health or history. However, when the private companies began offering healthcare, they figured out ways to charge more by basing rates and premiums off of risk. This led to the Blue Cross organizations to do the same, which essentially turned them into less of a philanthropic organization and more of a business.

Eventually, those that were in most need of healthcare could not afford it, while those that didn't could pay far less. As costs continued to rise, due in large part to the funding of technology on the part of private providers, healthcare merged into managed care in the 1970's.

Eventually the healthcare merged into what it is today, which is a bureaucratic and overweight business that is poorly managed and poorly maintained. The people that end up suffering are the people that need healthcare, as they are continually forced to pay more for less. Hopefully at some point in the future, someone bright enough to fix this broken system will come along to save it. In the meantime, don't hold your breath.

Nationalized healthcare is touted as the answer by many policy makers, but only time will tell if it will solve the problem, or make it worse. As President Obama ushers in a new era of policy, he promises to fix the broken healthcare system. One way or another, something will change for the good, because otherwise healthcare providers are going to be out of business while the average American continues to struggle to pay premiums.

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