Health Care Utilization

March 25, 2014
Katherine L Cavanaugh

Health Care Utilization

      Health care utilization measures the use of health care services that are available to the public. Personal home care, physician resources, and hospital resources are all included in the use of the health care services. These uses are closely related to the continuing rise of health care costs. This paper will discuss health care reform, the changes to access and utilization, the model of health care services utilization, and universal health care.
Health Care Reform
      Health Care Reform is a law, passed by Congress, which was designed to give a greater chance to health care. This law was passed by President Barack Obama in March of 2010. Currently, in 2014, it is required by law that everyone has health insurance. There are various ways the insurance can be obtained, via the employers, on their own, or through government assistance. The overall concept of the current law passed under the Health Care Reform, is that everyone is to share the risk while at the same time, everyone is being covered. In addition, the overall cost per individual should fall. Also, under this reform, the health exchange – sometimes called Health Insurance Marketplace, a place where each person will have the same information and will be able to make comparisons with other plans. The current law is also created to assist those with paying for health care.
Changes to Access and Utilization
      With health care reform law in place, the access to health care insurance is intended to become easier for Americans. As mentioned early, individuals have three different ways to obtain health care insurance. One way to access health care insurance being via the employer, another at the discretion of the individual paying out of pocket per month, and lastly through governmental assistance. Health care services are utilized in many ways for everyone. The most common use of health care services is through technological...