How Coverage, Access, and Cost Adversely Affect Health Care Delivery in the US

The Future of Healthcare Delivery
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As noted in the assignment overview, healthcare delivery in the United States (U.S.) faces many challenges that undermine sustainability. On the forefront, issues of highest concern include coverage, access, and cost. Whereas these issues may not be permanent, healthcare leaders must take proactive measures to guide healthcare organizations and staff toward mitigating them. In this context, the coronavirus pandemic prompted major healthcare and economic disruptions that negatively affected healthcare delivery. People lost their jobs, undermining their ability to afford and access healthcare due to a lack of insurance coverage. This paper delineates the impact of access, coverage, and cost on healthcare delivery, recognizes the rising healthcare worker shortage, and recommends using financial incentives to address the high patient-to-provider ratio.
Adverse Impact of Coverage, Access, and Cost on Health Care Delivery
Healthcare access refers to the timely utilization of personalized healthcare services to attain optimal health outcomes. Barriers to healthcare services access negatively affect healthcare delivery in the country, especially when Americans face barriers that limit or prevent access to the required healthcare services. This may increase the risk of deteriorated health outcomes and escalate health disparities. Inadequate insurance coverage undermines health care delivery in the U.S. because it constitutes one of the primary barriers to health care access. In addition, unequal coverage distribution contributed to rising health disparities in the country. Cost also adversely impacts healthcare delivery in the U.S., especially when health care spending continues to increase at an unsustainable rate (Shrank et al., 2021). The rising cost also implies escalating financial insecurity for healthcare users, thus making people forgo or delay much-needed care because of the inability to afford high out-of-pocket healthcare costs. Uninsured populations often lack the financial ability to make out-of-pocket payments, which makes it challenging to deliver high-quality and effective care (Shrank et al., 2021).
Shortage of Healthcare Workers and Impact on Care Delivery
The healthcare workers’ shortage – especially nurses and primary care physicians – was well-established even before the pandemic and is anticipated to increase drastically due to the aging population and workforce. Older people are likely to face more health ...