Free Essay Sample: Health Care Policy and Economics

Healthcare policies are sets of laws and regulations that are implemented to help in the functioning and shaping of health services delivery. Health policies cover a wide range of aspects such as disability, public health, and chronic health, the long-term care that finances the mental and general physical health of any person who takes covers. The healthcare policy is effective in acting by paying up the bills in case a person who is covered and insured suffers from a particular ailment and requires medical attention. There exist two healthcare models which include the social and single-payer insurance systems. In the model of the single payer, the government collects taxes which are used to pay healthcare physicians such as doctors, dentist, radiologists and nurses to give medical attention to the citizens. The social insurance system requires the individual to buy the health insurance from the insurance companies that are non-profit objected. The purchased health insurance is applied in the paying for the services that the providers give to the patients (Ayanian et al. 2000). In this case, the healthcare is funded employing a private insurance company which is accessible through the employers. In the case of uninsured citizens in America, there exist three methods that are involved which are comprised of Medicaid, Medicare and The State Children's Health Insurance Program.

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The Medicaid mainly caters for the low-income group whereas the Medicare covers the American population consisting of the disabled and over 65 years of age. The State Children's Health Insurance Program covers the uninsured people or children (Mills & Bhandari, 2003). America is one of the nations across the globe that provides a national health care system whereby the government as the healthcare giver finances the healthcare to its citizens. However, the private sector is one of the leading financiers of the healthcare provider. Nonetheless, most of the citizens of America do not prefer the government being involved in matters relating to healthcare delivery, financing, and policy formulation. They believe America as a capitalist nation should leave the private sector to operate and organize on the healthcare financing for the people other than the government being engaged.

The healthcare policies are steps initiated by the government or the healthcare organizations to achieve the desired outcome in healthcare. The healthcare policies are developed at three levels; local, state and federal legislation level which is mandated with the responsibility of healthcare services provided. The issue on healthcare policy is dependent on the US government intention on the minimization of the Medicare and channel funds budget to the new health insurance policy that makes the inclusion of the older adults who are uninsured in case it is made a law. In this case, all the citizens' levels will be included in distinct ways as no one is left behind. Additionally, the U.S passed reform legislation on comprehensive health insurance in 2010, referred to as the Affordable Care Acts (ACA). The main aim of the reform is to increase the healthcare provided by the inclusion of a wide variety of subjects (Hoffman, 2008). In this case, more Americans can get access to affordable health insurance and assist the people who live under the poverty standards. ACA establishes a market of regulated health insurance referred to as insurance exchange that gives subsidies to the individuals participating in the insurance exchange, increases the Medicaid, and imposing a mandate on health insurance.

Healthcare affects not only on the lives of people but also America's economic system. There is the risk that is associated with lacking health insurance. Kaiser Family Foundation accords that more than 60% of the American population requires a health insurance policy (Center, 2002). Most of the people fail to access the systems as they consider the cost of the insurance to be very high as provided by the private health insurance premiums. On the other hand, the majority of them are comprised of the retrenches and the people coming from the low-income working families. Since the lack of health insurance presents excellent health and financial risks to the American population, the government passed a bill about health insurance in 2014. It is a requirement that every citizen in America to have the minimal health insurance level which is clearly defined under the patient protection care Act, or otherwise, there are penalties accrued to the defaulters. The primary purpose of passing the bill was as a result of the importance of the health insurance. There is an effect on the patients who lack the health insurance coverage as they receive less medical care. Such people when contracted by chronic ailments that require substantial financial investment to meet their management such as cancer (Ayanian, Kohler, Abe & Epstein, 1993), they face difficulties in raising the money to cater for the treatment. The health care providers also get affected by the patients' lack of insurance coverage. This is exhibited when the provider is willing to offer the required services to the patient who is consequently limited by lack of adequate finances which would have otherwise been provided by the health insurance policy.

Although the government has made a milestone in ensuring the health insurance bill is mandatory for every citizen in America by the introduction of penalties, a lot of people still have no access to the coverage (Smith & Medalia, 2014). The main reason for the lack of coverage is the cost of getting the policies which are very high. The government should partner with all stakeholders, and private insurance provider in ensuring the system is affordable to all. This can be achieved through price regulation and availing of many level coverage to achieve equity among all income-earning levels.

Reference

Ayanian, J. Z., et al. (2000). Unmet health needs of uninsured adults in the United States. Jama, 284(16), 2061-2069.

Ayanian, J. Z., Kohler, B. A., Abe, T., & Epstein, A. M. (1993). The relation between health insurance coverage and clinical outcomes among women with breast cancer. New England Journal of Medicine, 329(5), 326-331.

Center, P. H. (2002). Kaiser Family Foundation. 2004. National survey of Latinos: Education, 57.

Hoffman, B. (2008). Health care reform and social movements in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, 98(Supplement_1), S69-S79.

Mills, R. J., & Bhandari, S. (2003). Health insurance coverage in the United States: 2002. US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau of the Census.

Smith, J. C., & Medalia, C. (2014). Health insurance coverage in the United States: 2013. Washington, DC: US Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau of the Census.