Health care reform is a big issue in the United States. As one of the only industrialized nations without a universal health care plan, the U.S. has been under a lot of pressure to provide a plan for its citizens. Additionally, the private health insurers in the country have worked against the U.S. government in being able to provide a good universal health care plan. In 2010, under President Obama, Congress did pass a new health care reform bill. It didn't come without debate, though, and the future of health care in the U.S. is still not clear.

What is Reform?

Health care reform is a term used to define changes in policies, creation of policies and changes within the health care system of a country. Reform is used to help increase the number of people who have health insurance coverage. It can be used to increase the number the number of health care provider choices. Reform can also be used to improve health care and lower the cost of insurance coverage.

The Private and Public Health Care System

The U.S. has long had a mixed health care system that involved both public and private entities. There are options for government health care, but it is only available to certain low income segments of the population and those individuals who are over a certain age. The private sector is by far the largest area of health care in the country, providing the majority of citizens with heather care coverage. Health care reform has been discussed at length for quite a while in the country.

There has been much debate over how to solve problems within the health care system. There has always been a concern about too many people being without insurance, problems with individuals not qualifying for health insurance and issues with the cost and availability of health care coverage. The U.S. has had almost more health care expenses and a higher per person health care cost than any other member of the United Nations. In addition, the quality of health care in the United States is below that of other countries.

Health Care Changes

Health care reform in the U.S. is largely focused on providing more insurance coverage. The idea is to get all American's covered by insurance and to make sure that they have adequate health insurance coverage. The Patient Protection and Affordable Car Act, passed into law in March of 2010 is the first major move towards health care reform in the country in decades.

This new law is putting into place a number of health care provisions that will aim to expand health insurance coverage, make insurance more affordable and make sure that all American's will have access to health care coverage. This law will make changes over a four year time period. There is hope that this health care reform will help to protect American's and make sure that they have the health care coverage they need to be healthy. This is a major step towards completely changing health insurance in the United States.