Article Four Review The purpose of this paper is to serve as an overview and summary of the major points found in “Health Care Reform and Equity: Promise, Pitfalls, and Prescriptions” (Fiscella, 2011) This article outlines both good, potentially bad of health care reform and possible solutions to improve on the program. Key Points There are six major take away points from this article. The first key point discussed is “improving health care system access” (Fiscella, 2011). The poor under privileged are typically the people who have the least amount of access to effective health care. Once ACA provisions reach its projected coverage it will “still leave 23 million persons, including undocumented immigrants, without any coverage” (Fiscella, 2011). The second key point focuses on primary care. To be able to have health care that is functional and effective it starts with primary care. “A robust primary care system is the cornerstone for a more equitable health care system” (Fiscella, 2011). Restructuring of this program in certain areas is important “payment reform, enhancing the training pipeline, transforming practice, and buttressing the primary care safety net” (Fiscella, 2011). The third key is health information technology. In order to really change primary care hinges on this technology. To be able to access patient’s health records will ensure better care is given and equality of care is paramount. The fourth key point is payment models. In order to make sure quality health care is given across the board you have to follow the money. In this section it talks about an idea of restructuring the payment scheme. Using bundled payments “offer the potential for promoting equity by redirecting resources to health care values... ... middle of paper ... ...etter alignment between patient needs and resources” (Fiscella, 2011). "But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish." (Psalm 9:18) MONITORING HEALTH CARE DISPARITIES Once health care is put into place that is really effective you need to sit back and monitor it. By closing the feedback loop between quality and equity reporting and corrective federal, state, and local policies will be critical given the enormous complexity of reforms” (Fiscella, 2011). “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5: 17). CHALLENGES First fundamental challenge is “aligning health care resources with patient’s needs” (Fiscella, 2011). The second challenge “relates to revitalization of primary care, particularly for underserved patients” (Fiscella, 2011). Words 877
One of the most controversial topics in the United States in recent years has been the route which should be undertaken in overhauling the healthcare system for the millions of Americans who are currently uninsured. It is important to note that the goal of the Affordable Care Act is to make healthcare affordable; it provides low-cost, government-subsidized insurance options through the State Health Insurance Marketplace (Amadeo 1). Our current president, Barack Obama, made it one of his goals to bring healthcare to all Americans through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This plan, which has been termed “Obamacare”, has come under scrutiny from many Americans, but has also received a large amount of support in turn for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons include a decrease in insurance discrimination on the basis of health or gender and affordable healthcare coverage for the millions of uninsured. The opposition to this act has cited increased costs and debt accumulation, a reduction in employer healthcare coverage options, as well as a penalization of those already using private healthcare insurance.
The aim of affordable care act (ACA) was to extend health insurance coverage to around 15% of US population who lack it. These include people with no coverage from their employers and don’t have coverage by US health programs like Medicaid (Retrieved from, https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/affordable-care-act/). To achieve this, the law required all Americans to have health insurance which is a reason of controversy because, it was inappropriate intrusion of government into the massive health care industry and insult to personal liberty. To make health care more affordable subsidies are offered and the cost of the insurance was supposed to be reduced by bringing younger, healthier people to the health insurance system. This could be controversial, if older, sicker people who need the coverage most enter the market but younger group decline to do so. The insurance pool will be unbalanced and the cost of coverage will rise correspondingly.
By doing well in school, going to college, and receiving a high paying job it comes with good healthcare coverage. Without healthcare, hospitals are less likely to assist people. The reason is because of their uncertainty that the uninsured will be able to afford to pay for the service on time or even at all. Obama in his speech says, “This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don 't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.” Obama is saying that because of political influences on hospitals those who do not have insurance are forced to wait until there is a chance they might be treated. The reason that they are uninsured is because they cannot afford it. Since insurance is controlled by companies who will not provide fair rates to those who have medical conditions or do not have a job. Robert Pear a writer for The New York Times says, “From 2013 to 2014, the bureau said, the overall rate of insurance coverage increased for all racial groups and for Hispanics, who may be of any race. The increases were comparable for blacks, Asians and Hispanics (just over 4 percentage points) and lower for non-Hispanic whites (about 2 percentage points).” Even though this is 6 years after the speech by Obama it still shows that healthcare is still a problem in America, but
For decades, one of the many externalities that the government is trying to solve is the rising costs of healthcare. "Rising healthcare costs have hurt American competitiveness, forced too many families into bankruptcy to get their families the care they need, and driven up our nation's long-term deficit" ("Deficit-Reducing Healthcare Reform," 2014). The United States national government plays a major role in organizing, overseeing, financing, and more so than ever delivering health care (Jaffe, 2009). Though the government does not provide healthcare directly, it serves as a financing agent for publicly funded healthcare programs through the taxation of citizens. The total share of the national publicly funded health spending by various governments amounts to 4 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, GDP (Jaffe, 2009). By 2019, government spending on Medicare and Medicaid is expected to rise to 6 percent and 12 percent by 2050 (Jaffe, 2009). The percentages, documented from the Health Policy Brief (2009) by Jaffe, are from Medicare and Medicaid alone. The rapid rates are not due to increase of enrollment but growth in per capita costs for providing healthcare, especially via Medicare.
Healthcare has been a topic of discussion with the majority of the country. Issues with insurance coverage, rising costs, limited options to gain coverage, and the quality of healthcare have become concerns for law makers, healthcare providers and the general public. Some of those concerns were alleviated with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, but new concerns have developed with problems that have occurred in the implementation of the new law. The main concerns of the country are if the Affordable Care Act will be able to overcome the issues that plagued the old healthcare system, the cost of the program, and how will the new law affect the quality of the health delivery system.
With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, most Americans are concerned with their private insurance or the benefits with Medicaid or CHIP. However, there is another population that was left out of the new bill almost entirely: undocumented immigrants. There is an ongoing debate as to whether illegal immigrants should be eligible for public health care benefits presented in ACA. The two viewpoints are obvious: to give illegal immigrants health insurance and allow them to reap the benefits of a public healthcare system or to not. However, the issue is not so simple. There is a large group of people whose lives will forever be affected by the decision made on the issue.
This in turn means that 17 percent of the total United States population are Hispanics. They are a diverse ethnic group and as the years go on the population of Hispanics keeps growing; they are the fastest growing and by 2050 Hispanics will make up 30 percent of the United States’ population. They’re the highest number of uninsured among the racial/ethnic groups. Statistics show that one out of three Hispanics lack medical insurance coverage. There are more Hispanic children than there are Hispanic adults over the age of 65 and one in four of the total amount of Hispanics are non-citizens. They all continue to face troubles in health coverage and care. Hispanics are more likely to work in low-income positions as well as being more likely to work in agriculture and construction jobs. Most of these jobs do not offer health care coverage, and when they do, Hispanics cannot accept it due to their already low incomes. When it comes to Medicaid, they cover over half of Hispanic children and since more than half of all Hispanics are already said to be in low-income families, this means that they will be able to receive Medicaid just like their children are. The fathers and husbands of Hispanic families are more likely to stop their children from going to the doctor until the very last minute and are more likely themselves to not do anything until they get so sick they must go to the
In recent years, the number of Americans who are uninsured has reached over 45 million citizens, with millions more who only have the very basic of insurance, effectively under insured. With the growing budget cuts to medicaid and the decreasing amount of employers cutting back on their health insurance options, more and more americans are put into positions with poor health care or no access to it at all. At the heart of the issue stems two roots, one concerning the morality of universal health care and the other concerning the economic effects. Many believe that health care reform at a national level is impossible or impractical, and so for too long now our citizens have stood by as our flawed health-care system has transformed into an unfixable mess. The good that universal healthcare would bring to our nation far outweighs the bad, however, so, sooner rather than later, it is important for us to strive towards a society where all people have access to healthcare.
It is no secret that the current healthcare reform is a contentious matter that promises to transform the way Americans view an already complex healthcare system. The newly insured population is expected to increase by an estimated 32 million while facing an expected shortage of up to 44,000 primary care physicians within the next 12 years (Doherty, 2010). Amidst these already overwhelming challenges, healthcare systems are becoming increasingly scrutinized to identify ways to improve cost containment and patient access (Curits & Netten, 2007). “Growing awareness of the importance of health promotion and disease prevention, the increased complexity of community-based care, and the need to use scarce human healthcare resources, especially family physicians, far more efficiently and effectively, have resulted in increased emphasis on primary healthcare renewal.” (Bailey, Jones & Way, 2006, p. 381).
In America the affordability and equality of access to healthcare is a crucial topic of debate when it comes to one's understanding of healthcare reform. The ability for a sick individual to attain proper treatment for their ailments has reached the upper echelons of government. Public outcry for a change in the handling of health insurance laws has aided in the establishment of the Affordable Healthcare Law (AHCL) to ensure the people of America will be able to get the medical attention they deserve as well as making that attention more affordable, as the name states. Since its creation, the AHCL has undergone scrutiny towards its effects on the government and its people; nevertheless, the new law must not be dismantled due to its function as a cornerstone of equal-opportunity healthcare, and if such a removal is allowed, there will be possibly detrimental effects on taxes, the economy, and poor people.
As I began watching Reinventing Healthcare-A Fred Friendly Seminar (2008), I thought to myself, “man, things have changed since 2008.” And as the discussion progressed, I started to become irritated by how little had changed. The issues discussed were far-reaching, and the necessity for urgent change was a repeated theme. And yet, eight years later, health care has made changes, but many of its crucial problems still exist.
What Seems To Be The Problem? A discussion of the current problems in the U.S. healthcare system.
Reforming the health care delivery system to progress the quality and value of care is indispensable to addressing the ever-increasing costs, poor quality, and increasing numbers of Americans without health insurance coverage. What is more, reforms should improve access to the right care at the right time in the right setting. They should keep people healthy and prevent common, preventable impediments of illnesses to the greatest extent possible. Thoughtfully assembled reforms would support greater access to health-improving care, in contrast to the current system, which encourages more tests, procedures, and treatments that are either
In order to achieve health wellbeing, the co-payment plan should be rejected since it poses negative effects on health especially for the underprivileged people and deterioration in health intervention due to the decreased efficiency in primary health care system. This lack of short term financial resources could not be full-filled by a $5 surcharge. In the ABC news video (2014), health policy expert Jennifer argued that key to maintain health care budget in other international countries is maintaining well-resourced and cost effective primary sector and creating the synergy between GP, nurses and other allied health practitioners. Therefore this policy is not efficient and needs to be rejected for future. Strong primary health care system yields positive outcomes in a long term since it helps to save finance and avoid the aggravation of illness.
Primary health care is the indispensable care based on the real – world, systematically sound, socially adequate technique and technology which made unanimously available to the families and every individuals in the community through their fully involvement where the community is capable to afford at a cost to uphold at every phase of their growth in the essence of self-reliance and self-government. Primary health care in international health is associated with the global conference held at Alma Ata in 1978; the conference that promoted the initiative health for all by the year 2000. “Primary health care defined broadly at Alma Ata emphasized universal health care across to all individuals and families , encouraged participation by community members in all aspects of health care planning and implementation and promoted the delivery of care that would be scientifically sound , technically effective , socially relevant and acceptable” (Janice E.Hitchcock,2003). Primary health care is commonly viewed as a level of care or as the entry point to the health care system for its client. It can also taken to mean a particular approach to care which is concerned with containing care, accessibility, community involvement and collaboration between other sectors. The primary health care policy has some principals that have been designed to work together and be implemented simultaneously to bring about a better health outcome for the entire society.