Health Policy 1 Heading: Health Policy Your name: Course name: Professors’ name: Date Health Policy 2 Is access to health care a right/entitlement? In the United States, today, there is a debate on whether access to healthcare is an entitlement or a right to all residents. This discussion takes place among different groups of the society that include the conservative, progressive, practical and the authorities (government). To the conservatives, they claim that access to healthcare by all citizens should be enhanced as it is part of the natural rights that God has provided for all to enjoy. By contrast, the progressive group asserts that healthcare is a right to all in US because it is one way of furthering the highest social justice cause. According to the Boss group; the authorities, access to healthcare by all in US is a right because the president or government has decreed to be so (Morone, Litman & Robins, 2008, pp. 180-105). On the other hand, the practical position argues that healthcare access by all Americans is an entitlement since the authorities have decreed to be so. Nevertheless, from a neutral point of view, Americans regard healthcare as contractual right. This is because all citizens have entered into a contract, in which they are paying for implied considerations. This means all Americans are in one way or the other contributing to the medical schemes, such as, Medicaid and Medicare through tax payments (Morone, Litman & Robins, 2008, pp. 180-105). Do all individuals currently have equal and open access to health care? Explicitly, not all individuals in the US access open and equal health care. Despite the medical schemes put in place by the government, there are still thousands of Americans that do have access to open and equal medical care as others. This specifically involves numerous citizens that are poor or unemployed. Studies demonstrate that over 46 million people are uninsured, while more others are underinsured with high co-payments and deductibles. Additionally, about 60 million other individuals, even those with insurance cover, cannot access Health Policy 3 healthcare centers, and over 18, 000 Americans annually succumb to preventable complications since they cannot access a doctor in time (Farmer & Currie, 2009, pp. 53). What are your thoughts on universal health care? Universal healthcare is a necessity in every country in the world so as to improve people’s health statuses. Everybody in a country, like in the US, is covered for primary healthcare services, and none is denied the coverage provided that they are legal residents of the geography covered. Do you think there should be a universal health plan? There ought to be a universal healthcare plan in the United States, as a wealthy nation that can provide coverage to all its legal residents. This is because universal healthcare allows all legal residents to obtain open and equal healthcare services; hence boosting their health conditions. What role do you think you might play in health care policy? In the healthcare policy, my role is to identify the urgent issues to be addressed and mobilize the government and other agencies to effective implementation of the policy. I will also play a role in the payment of taxes and provision of education on the importance of good health in the society. This way, I will contribute to the success of the healthcare policy enforcement in my country. What do you think are the most urgent health care policy issues that must be addressed while society deals with issues challenging the health care delivery system? Among all the proposed healthcare policy issues, there are urgent ones that the US government ought to address first before the others. These include safety, cost, insurance, open and equal access, quality care, and women health issues in the country. The government should Health Policy 4 consider enhancing safety to all legal residents in the country through the provision of healthcare services. Secondly, it is imperative that the government addresses the issue of cost of healthcare services so as to ensure that everyone affords them. Thirdly, it is vital that the government ensures that all legal residents are insured with minimum co-payments and deductibles. This will ensure that everyone is fully insured in the country (Morone, Litman & Robins, 2008, pp. 180105). Open and equal access to healthcare services in the US is another urgent issue that the government should consider. The government should also strive to provide high quality care to all citizens by ensuring that there are adequate facilities, and competent personnel. Lastly, women health is a vital issue in the US because women have many health complications. Therefore, the government ought to ensure that they access affordable and quality medical services. Do you think globalization affects the delivery of health care? Globalization is said to have both positive and negative effects on healthcare system. Explicitly, globalization leads to economic growth, knowledge exchange, trade, lifestyles, culture and social interactions, conflicts, immigration, and food and water security issues. The aforementioned issues are health determinants in a country. For instance, globalization leads to exchange of lifestyles in terms of eating habits. Economic development enhances healthcare systems, while exchange of knowledge helps in the promotion of health conditions among health providers and clients (Lavis, Permanand, Oxman, Lewin & Fretheim, 2009, pp. 1-6). Additionally, social interactions can lead to migrations that strain the government capacity to offer universal care. It can also lead to conflict that result in terrorisms; hence, Health Policy 5 compromising people’s health statuses, and government resources. Food and water security is also a health determinant in countries involved (Harrington & Crawford, 2004, pp. 59-75). How do you think the government has handled Medicare? According to Carpenter (2009, pp. 23), Medicare is one of the United States’ insurance plans that were designed to provide improved healthcare services to patients, at the same time saving money. It was aimed at encouraging specialists, hospitals and doctors to collaborate in the treatment of a patient’s particular state during one hospital stay and healing. However, the government is said to have mishandled it in that it now bases its payments on quantity of healthcare, instead of the quality of healthcare. Currently, there is hardly ant financial incentive that offers a certain type of care collaboration, which can help a patient from revisiting the hospital. What are some possible solutions to treating a growing population of immigrants who are not citizens? The United States government is striving to reduce the number of illegal immigrant in the country at all costs. This is because these illegal residents are causing a lot of strain on the government’s budget as regards effective implementation of the healthcare policy, and other economic sectors. There are certain proposed ways of reducing immigration in the country that include the establishment of border barriers; attrition by enforcement; promotion of intergovernmental cooperation; and employment of legislative initiatives. This way, the United States government will manage to minimize the rates of illegal immigrations in the country. Health Policy 6 References Carpenter, C. (2009) .We’ve been down this road before-- health reform in the United States. Journal of Financial Service Professionals, 63(4), 23. Farmer, J., & Currie, M. (2009). Evaluating the outcomes of rural health policy. Australian Journal of Rural Health, 17(1), 53. Harrington, C. & Crawford, C. (2004). Health policy: crisis and reform in the U.S. health care delivery system. Sudbury, Mass, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Pp. 59-75. Lavis, J., Permanand, G., Oxman, A., Lewin, S., & Fretheim, A. (2009). Support tools for evidence-informed health policymaking (STP) 13: Preparing and using policy briefs to support evidence-informed policymaking. Health Research Policy & Systems, 7(1), 1. Morone, J. A., Litman, T.J., Robins, L.S. (2008). Health Politics and Policy. (4thed.). Delmar Cengage Learning. Pp. 80-105. Name: Description: ...