About Health Care Field:
Health care industry is an important sector in the U.S. It is the industry that Americans cannot live with and also at the same time cannot live without it. Health care industry comprises many fields including patient care, middlemen manufacturing and insurance companies. Even though health care is a volatile sector, it constitutes about 16 percent in the gross domestic product of the country. In the health care industry, total spending in 2007 was around $2.3 which is more than food or housing.
In spite of the overwhelming amount of money in this field, it is hard for the health care industry to earn a profit by preserving the benefits of both providers as well as patients. By 2016, spending in the health care will be about 20 percent of the nation's total GDP.
Existence of geriatric and bariatric patients is increasing day by day, and it is a challenge for the health care industry to provide attention to such patients. As per census, Americans are the fattest people in the world. About 25 percent of adults are termed as obese. Even though it is not life threatening to carry some extra pounds, obese people are always at a risk of having disorders like osteoarthritis, heart disease, stroke, certain types of cancer, Type II diabetes, and various long-term diseases.
The effect of obesity and overweight Americans are constantly studied by economists. Because of obese Americans, insurers lost around $80 billion in 2006 and this number is continuously rising. It is difficult to define the term obesity or overweight, however, there are various understated effects of it including low wages due to weight discrimination, and less productivity due to disability which leads to intense economic consequences. Also obesity in children is more than twice since 1970. According to some studies, obese children later become obese adults.
In 2050, the number of senior citizens will be more than children for the first time ever in the U.S., according to the American Association of Retired Persons. As around one million people will turn 60, the phenomenon called global aging will surely have a great impact on the demand of health care services. This turnaround will affect various issues regarding senior health including preventive care as well as programs promoting home care.
The citizens of the U.S. are also exerting some pressure on the national reimbursement system to do something for seniors and low earning patients. The Federal government has come up with a program called the Medicaid which is implemented by the states to assist low earning people, along with senior citizens more than the age of 65.
Please refer to the following articles regarding the Health Care Career: