The Role Of Federal And State Government

The role of the Federal and State government plays in health care plays a vital role in managing and payment of services. The states purchase healthcare from the Federal government to support low income or individuals who have disabilities. The insurance purchased is paid utilizing grants or matching funds. In the State of Tennessee, TennCare (TN state Medicaid program), paid approximately $4.6 million of the $35 million contact in which $468,000 was sponsored by state funding and as a result the U.S. Federal government provided 65% and the state 26% to provide coverage for individuals who otherwise would not have access to health services (Gordon, Long & Dungan, 2014). The states have the right to decide how their state health insurance is provided, controlled and regulated and state law supersedes Federal Government. The states right to decide on how their Medicaid should be controlled and dispensed was put to the test with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 20012 ruled that the U.S. Federal government could not mandate the Commerce Clause did not authorize Congress to order individuals to purchase insurance from private companies, and the mandate was not authorized by Article I to empower Congress to “make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper”, nor could the U.S. Federal government withhold payment from states who elected not to expand their state Medicaid under the ACA (Lambert, 2012). Moreover the state laws supersede federal government, but the federal cannot withhold payments based on Medicaid expansion under the ACA. The states have the authority to supervise, regulate and accreditation within the health care filed. They control the states Boards of Physicians,...

... middle of paper ...

...ncrease quality of care, but caused hospitals and providers to shift cost to private insurance. In addition, the cost shifting or a leas service cuts raise doublets that we would only be spending 14 percent of the GDP on health care if Medicare was in charge over the last 40 years (Edlin, Goldman & Leive, 2014). The federal government has failed to plan accordantly for other services, therefore they dip into Medicare. So why would I trust them to provide health services at the state level? In addition, it would give the federal government too much power and the constitution provides protection from federal government having a monopoly of power. In addition, we need reform from the ground up not top down. Therefore, the states need to use their power to create regulations to push for better care, preventative care and decrease hospitalization and lower drug cost.