Iceland, Belgium, Romania, and the United States The United States has no single nationwide system of health insurance. Health insurance is purchased in the private marketplace or provided by the government to certain groups. Private health insurance can be purchased from various for–profit commercial insurance companies or from non–profit insurers (Ridic, Gleason, & Ridic, 2012). About 70% of the population is covered by private health insurance. In addition to private health insurance, nearly 26% of the United States population is covered by public health insurance. The two major types of public health insurance are Medicare and Medicaid (Ridic, Gleason, & Ridic, 2012). The United States health care …show more content…
health care system, just like any other system, still comes with weaknesses and flaws. Its most glaring weakness is exemplified by that fact that more than 42 million people are living without health insurance. The lack of health insurance creates medical access problems and subjects a family’s income to the vagaries of health status (Ridic, Gleason, & Ridic, 2012). The inability of successfully controlling costs is another major weakness of the U.S. health care system. Whether managed care can continue to slow the growth of health care costs remains questionable. Eliminating weaknesses while maintaining strength is a challenge faced by any plan for change in the U.S. health care system (Ridic, Gleason, & Ridic, …show more content…
Obesity is associated with a higher incidence of a number of diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer (Hurt, Kulisek, Buchanan, & McClave, 2010). Apart from the serious consequences on a person’s health, the economy is also affected by under-nutrition, because the high prevalence of this condition hinders economic development and perpetuates poverty both directly, through a loss of productivity due to poor physical condition, and indirectly, through poor cognitive function and learning deficits. Under-nutrition increases health expenses. On the other hand, the worldwide prevalence of obesity has been increasing in countries with a low per capita income, a state that co-exists with under-nutrition (Martins, Florencio, Grillo, Granco, Martins, Clemente, Santos, Vieira, & Sawaya,