Population Health Policy Analysis
Ideal health is attained through high-quality services of health care that are both accessible and cost-effective. These services are also effectively coordinated. Policies of health offer actions, plans and decisions that enhance the success of healthcare objectives in the society (Loewenstein, 2017). The policies of health define future visions, develops consensus and informs the public on issues of healthcare. Thus, the paper below evaluates the publicly financed policy of healthcare in the United States and how it is created to enhance the quality access of a particular populace.
United States’ publicly financed healthcare policy is designed to meet all or some of the needs of healthcare from public funds. Medicare and Medicaid policies are involved in funding the costs of healthcare paid by the government (Sommers & Gruber, 2017). The sole objective of the policy is to enhance the population’s healthcare equity and cost-effectiveness as it meets a significant healthcare bills’ portion. As a result, this mitigates the economic population burden and especially the marginalized population having difficulties in obtaining care due to poverty. The policy also guarantees equitable healthcare services’ distribution through healthcare funds’ allocation. The plan also provides the population with an opportunity to select their insurance programs depending on their fiscal abilities, which subsequently shields the users from exploitation by insurance firms.
However, America’s publicly financed policy is not sufficiently fiscally sound. The costs of healthcare in the country are immensely higher. Furthermore, the prices are at a steep surge than the general economic nation growth. According to Martin (2016), healthcare costs were approximated to be & 3.3 trillion. The surging prices are likely to stress the country’s future economy since it has the highest costs of healthcare as compared to other nations. Besides, the United States spent 17.9% of the gross domestic product on healthcare costs. The percentage was significantly higher than other developed countries such as Germany, France, Sweden and Japan. Martin (2016) also asserts that healthcare costs for an individual American citizen in 2016 were approximately 9900 dollars, subsequently threatening unsustainability in the long run due to its probability of augmenting the national debt. The quality of life also decreases as individuals spend more on insurance and health. Their services and products’ costs augment, consequently leading to healthcare insurance affordability.
The public financed policy also ensures fare resources’ distribution among the public, notwithstanding their social or fiscal status, which subsequently supports the ethics’ justice principle that focuses on fairness. Besides, it fosters the protection of the susceptible population such as the minorities (Artiga, Orgera & Pham, 2020). It also guarantees that the treatment choice of the patient is respected. The policy also fosters culturally sensitive care subsequently improving cohesion between different groups during outbreaks through strategies of prevention and teaming up in eliminating sicknesses. The policy is also implemented so that the public will benefit in enhancing the healthcare quality and access and mitigating the costs.
In regards to legal factors, the legal public health foundation in the United States is ingrained in the rights to life, health and safety of the citizens. The government is mandated by the constitution to protect its citizens against any form of harm. Therefore, the states and the federal government should offer an operation system of public health. The public health policy was established through a political process that encompasses the Affordable Care Act legislations’ implementation (Obama, 2016). It is worthy to note that the policy revoking, amendment or removal depends on the nation’s political authorities.
The healthcare public funding program enactment should be centred on the patients and seek to mitigate the costs and increase the care quality. Therefore, nurses should influence their practice settings’ standards and processes to attain quality. Nurses should also nurture active inclusion of their colleagues and collaborations to ensure that successful policy enactment and sustainability. The health professionals should also consider acting as the community’s sources of information for essential information regarding coverage and access to healthcare insurance offered by the policy.
The public health financing policy is correlated with the Affordable Care Act Federal health policy. The objective of the ACA was to provide affordable coverage of health insurance to the public. The act also aimed to prevent insurance firms’ exploitation to the citizens (Glied, Collins & Lin, 2020). Thus, it was employed to decrease healthcare costs, especially for low-income individuals. The healthcare public funding policy is effectively designed to attain the ACA objectives. The design provides programs of healthcare financing for the citizens through diverse insurance programs, which guarantees that the healthcare costs are realistic and that they augment access as services of healthcare become more affordable.
The policy seeks to enhance healthcare quality, augment affordability and access and mitigate then cost. Therefore, one of the strategies of advocacy that I would implement on behalf of the population to ensure health policy’s benefits access is to offer a voice by providing information that will make the specific community understand the health policy and its subsequent benefits (Cohen, 2017). I will also provide information on how they can become beneficiaries of the policy. I will also permit the individuals to ask questions that will enhance successful policy implementation. Protection of the rights of the patients is the other approach. This encompasses having knowledge of the individual’s desires and conveying them to the policymakers as well as educating them on how they can optimally gain from the policy as well as enhance their quality care. I will ensure that patients are connected to resources both internally and externally to support their health policy understanding and welfare, which will help them obtain financial aid, hence meeting their needs.
From a Christian view, the advanced registered nurses have a moral and professional duty to support and foster health and avert illnesses among the diverse populace. The nurses can achieve this through beneficence, autonomy, justice and non-maleficence during delivery of healthcare (Johnstone, 2019). Thus, nurses should promote patient engagement during treatment and decision making in regards to healthcare policies’ implementation. The health professionals should also ensure equitable and fair healthcare services and resources’ distribution and attend to patients devoid of prejudice. They should also portray cultural sensitivity while dealing with patients from diverse backgrounds by conducting spiritual evaluation in resolving ethical dilemmas as well as practising per the legal mandates of the advanced nurse license. Lastly, nurses should always maintain an evidence-based and holistic practice.
References
Artiga, S, Ortega, K & Pham, O. (2020). Disparities in Health and Health Care: Five Key Questions and Answers. Retrieved from: https://www.kff.org/disparities-policy/issue-brief/disparities-in-health-and-health-care-five-key-questions-and-answers/. Accessed 22 July 2020.
Cohen, B. E., & Marshall, S. G. (2017). Does public health advocacy seek to redress health inequities? A scoping review. Health & social care in the community, 25(2), 309-328.
Glied, S. A., Collins, S. R., & Lin, S. (2020). Did The ACA Lower Americans’ Financial Barriers To Health Care? A review of evidence to determine whether the Affordable Care Act was effective in lowering cost barriers to health insurance coverage and health care. Health Affairs, 39(3), 379-386.
Johnstone, M. J. (2019). Bioethics: a nursing perspective. Elsevier Health Sciences.
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Martin, A. B. (2016). Healthcare expenditure increasing in USA. PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News, 768, 17-17.
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Sommers, B. D., & Gruber, J. (2017). Federal funding insulated state budgets from increased spending related to Medicaid expansion. Health Affairs, 36(5), 938-944.