Health Care In The Twentieth Century

by Baby on September 4, 2009

HEALTH CARE COSTS and scope have become a dominant force in almost everyone’s life over the period of the past fifty years. Before many workers change job , they must weigh the value of changes in health scope . Large amount of people are left out of the insurance market, either because they can’t get it or can’t afford it. Patients gripe that doctors don’t listen anymore and are afraid to slap their physician with a lawsuit for the slightest imperfection in care. Physicians are tired of struggling under mountains of paperwork from the government and insurance companies when all they want to do is treat patients.

The first period of formalized health care in America (1880-1930) saw the establishment of the medical occupation , both through the expanded duties and formal education of the physician and the growth of the clinic system. The start of the twentieth century also witnessed the beginnings of health insurance as a type of prepaying health care costs, and the American Medical Association’s (AMA) growing control over the medical marketplace.

By 1930, the United States had as many medical, nursing, and dental schools and hospital beds per unit of population as it has today. The Great Depression, but , gentle the expansion of health care facilities and personnel. Many Americans had trouble they wanted . Doctors tried to make allowances for patients in financial straits, but hospitals, with large fixed costs, had much less suppleness . Between 1929 and 1930, usual hospital receipts plummeted from more than $200 per patient to less than $60. Hospitals then began to turn to insurance ideas as a way to guarantee a steady cash flow by spreading the financial risk.

The first plan was placed in 1929 at Baylor University Hospital in Dallas, Texas. By paying a monthly fee beforehand , a group of 1,500 school-teachers contracted with the hospital to provide care should they need it. The fee was paid whether or not the individual teacher ever used the services.

Soon , groups of nonprofit hospitals in several cities organized multiple hospital insurance methods . These methods gave subscribers a choice of medical care providers and therefore attracted more patients, strengthening the income to the participating hospitals. This manifold hospital plan served as a model for Blue Cross, established in 1932 in Sacramento, California. These hospital plans changed the concept of insurance and forever changed the American health care system. Unlike other forms of insurance, the primary purpose of these plans was not to defend users from large, unforeseen expenditures , but rather to keep hospitals in business by guaranteeing them a regular income. While these methods benefited buyers by giving them a predictable method of paying for their medical care, they contained serious flaws that would become increasingly apparent as our health care system developed.

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