America's Bitter Pill By Steven Brill

Improved Essays
Mike Ferguson once said, America 's doctors, nurses and medical researchers are the best in the world, but our health care system is broken. The employees inside the U.S. health care system are some of the best in the world, but the way the system is implemented is broken. The book America’s Bitter Pill, written by Steven Brill, takes an in depth look at the health care system in America. It goes in depth about Obamacare and how it was written, being installed, and changing or failing to change the system. The writing of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was a tedious and difficult project. Also, the initial release of Obamacare was an utter failure, the day people were able to access the website it crashed. After the website was fixed and people were able to begin signing up it started to change things in the health care system, others it could not fix. Finally, the system has to change, lower …show more content…
health care system works is either you have insurance or you cannot afford health care. Big businesses were running the system, they were able to do what they wanted. They had prices wherever they wanted because people need hospitals and whatnot when they get injured or sick. Once released they are billed, this is an enormous amount to come out of pocket if they do not have insurance. Even if they do have health insurance their rates are raised. The health care system in America is expensive, a simple box of gauze pads are $77. People are refused attention because they cannot afford it, Brill watched as patients were denied cancer treatment at a hospital. If you do not have insurance you cannot come out of the hospital in debt, but insurance is not cheap either. Obamacare would have helped me personally growing up, I have not had insurance until I came here. My family was never able to afford health care for me or my brother, this would help consumers. This goes to show how broken the system was, it has improved but it needs to keep getting

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Steven Brill, author of America’s Bitter Pill, is very passionate about systems that the government controls and if they are controlling them correctly. Brill has been featured in several famous New York magazines, where he was born and raised. One main idea Brill talks about in these magazines is health care and how corrupt and broken it seems to be. The central idea of America’s Bitter Pill is that it informs people about how awful the healthcare system is so that the government can start fixing it. The health care system has had corruption issues, money problems, and many people has tried to change the system.…

    • 552 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Along with a detailed history of insurance and political background on how has the health care system changed over the course of a few years, the book presents case studies that shows the financial strain and medical hardships caused by the declining health care system and why it is in a desperate need to reform. Some Americans cannot afford the medicine they need or cannot afford to pay the doctors for any medical help. “Hospitals try to keep out the uninsured because treating those patients will just divert hospital resources away from paying customers” (219). Some companies cannot provide insurance as an incentive with employment like previously either.…

    • 1007 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Natalie Dixon, information generated from government and scholastic sources have previously highlighted the continuing disparity in health care in general. Across the globe there are contrasting policies and systems that have been implemented to meet the requirements of those nations constituents. Some are remarkable in their approach to delivering health care, the quality of care and their specific level of government control. The Affordable Care Act had both its positives and negatives in its designed approach to a continuing issue, but the fact remains and has been documented that for every action there is a reaction. Some of the negativities have complicated the issue, but then again it all depends on which side of the bandwagon one wishes to address or champion in their approach.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Obamacare Pros And Cons

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Since March of 2010, the American people have had to suffer under the incredible economic burden of the Affordable Care Act—Obamacare. This legislation, passed by totally partisan votes in the House and Senate and signed into law by the most divisive and partisan President in American history, has tragically but predictably resulted in runaway costs, websites that don’t work, greater rationing of care, higher premiums, less competition and fewer choices. Obamacare has raised the economic uncertainty of every single person residing in this country. As it appears Obamacare is certain to collapse of its own weight, the damage done by the Democrats and President Obama, and abetted by the Supreme Court, will be difficult to repair unless the next…

    • 1093 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 2010 the Affordable Care Act became one of the most talked about pieces of legislation that has brought many mixed reviews. Healthcare is a necessity that each of us need to maintain our lives. While we have an excellent source of healthcare service in the United States, it’s the access to that healthcare that has been a problem for many American’s. There are countries that have already turned to government healthcare. The Affordable Care Act was designed to help each of us have the access to Health care that we have not been able to afford in the past.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obamacare Research Paper

    • 207 Words
    • 1 Pages

    What would the U.S. be like without Obamacare? Obamacare was created by President Barack Obama. President Obama’s goal of Obamacare was to give affordable quality health insurance to more Americans and to reduce the growth in the U.S, health care spending. Obamacare is affordable and can be provided for everyone who normally can’t get insurance. Obamacare is health insurance that everyone can afford.…

    • 207 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In 2010, The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, was implemented across the United States to address the foremost issues in today’s Healthcare. These problems include lack of accessibility to quality healthcare, growing cost of care, and quality of care. While the affordable care act addresses concern of access to care for the underprivileged, it creates other new complications regarding cost and quality. Obamacare has succeeded in making care more accessible and now millions of Americans are now newly insured under government subsidized healthcare exchanges. However, the cost of care for those previously insured from either their employer or privately has increased dramatically.…

    • 1942 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The first thing to take into account is the fact that healthcare accounts for approximately 6% of the U.S. economy. The Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, or other unsavory names is actually in my mind making the medical field and the availability of care for patients more difficult. Regardless of its benefits to some patients, the Obamacare is making things much more difficult for doctors, nurses and anyone in medicine. It has done nothing but increase paperwork and costs, and has done nothing to increase the quality of care.…

    • 769 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obama Care Argumentative

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages

    First off, what is the Affordable Care Act/ObamaCare and how did this affect people's lives? This was a government owned insurance that was supposed to be ‘providing better and more effective healthcare to Americans’ and more. This was officially passed on June 28th 2010, when President Barack Obama was in office, after 2010 millions of people did save money from their insurance around the country. There were also millions of people who lost insurance and panicked over ObamaCare. Why you might ask?…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obamacare has recently become a poison to the American people like a TV ad. Americans have signed up for this “healthcare program” without reading the fine print. They do not realize that Obamacare does not really give people healthcare. It actually taxes people who do not have insurance. Although Americans have signed up for Obamacare, Obamacare has actually crippled the U.S. healthcare system.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    "The Affordable Care act (Obamacare) main focus is on providing more Americans with access to affordable health insurance, improving the quality of health care and health insurance, regulating the health insurance industry, and reducing health care spending in the US." Yet five years since the implementation of Obamacare, 30.1 million people lost there private insurance,because it did not meet the 10 essential health benefits. Another 3-5 million people will lose there company sponsored health insurance, since companies find it cheaper to pay the penalty than buying there employees health insurance. Also medications will become more expensive due too new taxes that will increase prescriptions for individuals. Americans will find it cheaper…

    • 1605 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Obamacare Federalism

    • 1087 Words
    • 4 Pages

    For 86% of Americans, health care as they know it will not be changed. The Affordable Care Act, arguably President Obama’s largest achievement in office, has faced much backfire, both with lack of support, as well as raised issues of Constitutionality. This being said, Obamacare has been implemented and now has goals to be fully functional by the year 2016. Many Americans did not know how this change in national health care effects them, which is why many people are against it, simply because they don’t like change, and they don’t like not knowing what to expect. With Obamacare though, the majority, 86% of Americans, will not see extensive changes in their health care, if they even see any changes at all.…

    • 1087 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Effects Of Obamacare

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Obamacare will upend health insurance coverage for millions (“Losing Health..” 1-2). Obamacare allows Americans to stay with whichever insurance provider they choose; however, the insurance plan must meet the requirements that Obamacare mandated. The Obama Administration set regulations stating that other insurance plans cannot be used if there is “an increase in co-payments of more than $5, or an increase in the employee’s share of premiums paid by more than 5 percent” (1-2). Americans who rely on themselves to purchase health insurance tend to seek out economical insurance plans because they are living paycheck to paycheck just like millions of other Americans. These economical plans to do not meet the mandated requirements of the Obama Administration, so this has directly led to a 20% drop in insurance coverage for Americans(1-2).…

    • 1139 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Today many Americans are increasingly concerned about their health care. About 18.7% of Americans currently do not have healthcare. This is due to individuals not having enough money to pay for it. And not even as individuals but as a married couple there still is not enough to cover that horrid bill. On top of the cost not many people get medical treatment so that 's wasted money that could be used for other bills.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The right to affordable health care is as sacrosanct as the right to be free, if not more. The most important issue is making medical care a right for everyone at an affordable price. American health care has an insurance-based system; thus, to get affordable and efficient medical help, you should be insured. Currently, there are about 44 million uninsured Americans. According to Elizabeth Bradley, the author of the book The American Health Care Paradox, the paradox of today’s system is that “United States spends so much on health care but continues to lag behind in health outcomes” (33).…

    • 1634 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays