Your Jobs in Health Care Search Starts Here!

Hi, and welcome to what will probably be many articles about careers in the healthcare industry. This article is designed to give you an overview of the basics of the somewhat embattled US healthcare system. This is not an exhaustive review of the entire industry, but it should give someone who is considering jobs in health care a leg up. The United States is the only industrialized, wealthy nation without a national healthcare system. About 16% of US citizens do not have health insurance. However, Federal law mandates that a person cannot be turned down for emergency medical services because of an inability to pay for them. There are several different types of health care services provided by the health care system in the US. These include "ambulatory" or "outpatient" care, meaning that the patient is treaded outside of a hospital. There is also "home health care", usually provided by nurses but prescribed by doctors. There is also private sector outpatient medical care, which includes specialties in family medicine, internal medicine or pediatric medicine, or "specialty" physicians such as cardiologists, oncologists, or dermatologists. This type of care may also be provided by nurse practitioners or physician assistants. A small segment of the population (about 9%) chooses to purchase individual health care insurance. The government covers about 80 millio Americans, but in the year 2006, approximately 47 million people did not have health insurance at all. 37% of the uninsured live in homes that have annual incomes of over $50,000. Most health care coverage provided through a person's work is provided through managed care organizations which pay much lower prices for medical services than an individual would if they paid out of pocket. The thing that makes managed care different from traditional insurance is that the health plan organization has contracts with specific health care providers, as the managed care organization is able to bring their numbers to bear to negotiate price reductions. There are many individuals that are not covered by private insurance, but are covered by government programs such as Medicaid (which provides care to the poor), Medicare (which provides care for the elderly and disabled), or the Veterans Administration (which provides care to veterans, their families and survivors). In 2006, Medicaid provided coverage for 38 millio Americans while Medicare did the same for about 40 million. Another 11 million people are eligible for coverage but are not enrolled in any kind of government program. The number of physicians accepting Medicaid has decreased over the past decade due to high administrative costs and low levels of reimbursement. Another program, the State Children's Health Insurance Program was created in 1997 to provide coverage for children in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid yet can't afford to buy health insurance- however, this program is already losing funding in may states. Thanks for taking the time to read this; I hope it was as illuminating for you to read as it was for me to write! Keep this information in mind as you go forward in your hunt for jobs in health care and you will be well served in the future.