Quality in Health Care

Quality can be measured in different ways: expertise of physicians and staff, attitude and manners of providers, availability of physician, concern for patients health, services provided in a timely manner, etc. etc. Quality is so difficult to measure because every health care program has a different set of standards, regulations, and funds that the services it delivers highly reflects the prices individuals must pay. Expense should not determine quality of health care, but from my experience, it seems that the more expensive the premium in a private insurance the better the quality of care. However, this is not to say that all those expensive insurances have great quality because that is not the case either. From my experience with all insurances (private and government), appointment waiting periods have always been long. I hate the co payments and premiums in insurances, but I love their health care facilities and staff. I hate the long waits in free clinics (Healthy Families), but I love the free service and prescriptions. Everyone has a different idea of what quality they look for in a health care insurance. However, I think that most importantly, people would like an emphasis on patients well being overall the other factors. I think that if a program did not have to worry so much about the costs (because of complex administration and clerical work), more emphasis would be placed on the quality of service.