Competing Needs Impacting Selected Issue/Stressor
The high cost of healthcare services among the patients made it impossible for all the inpatients and outpatients of Americans to be treated equally as they deserved. Most healthcare facilities charge the high cost of administration to the patients hence leading to the high cost of services offered. Therefore, low-income families get it difficult to access the quality healthcare service in different health facilities. There, they experience a high number of readmission cases than those from well-off families. There is stiff competition among healthcare facilities, which makes the hospital offer low quality of care at an average cost and attract people from low background facilities, which results in a high number of readmission cases ( Fleck, 2018). Patients with low income will prefer hospitals with cheaper services and poor services since that is all they can afford, even if the quality of care is low. This is drive by rapid growth in population, demographic shifts, and progresses in medical technology.
Few practitioners in the field lack some basic training practices. Due to the high influx of patients, practitioners tend to strain themselves, yet they receive low pay for their services due to poor administrative management. Additionally, the high charges that are at the hospital are used to support health care practices. When the health care facilities are charging low cost, they are low chances of lowering innovation in the field of healthcare. Therefore, it will result in a reduction in the advancement of healthcare services.
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Relevant Policy or Practice in that May Influence the Selected Issue or Stressor
There is a need to offer insurance coverage to all American citizens, and former president Barak Obama in 2010 as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), implemented this. The act obliges all the citizens of America to have Health insurance coverage; whoever will fail to secure this insurance is penalized. Employers have also supported this as they provide health insurance coverage for their employees. Following the sanctioning of this act led to the formation of Health benefit exchange among the citizens of America, where they can perform analysis and match insurance plans. This act has enabled health care workers a platform to participate in modeling the delivery of quality services to the patients ( McIntosh, 2012). The medical arena can greatly profit from the input that supports in delivery of quality services to the ever-growing patient population as they lower care expenses. The price of universal coverage is lower than the uninsured. Still, the cost meant to be used by the uninsured will be cut since the patients who lack admittance to primary care presently use costly emergency-room care as an alternative.
Imperatively, it is essential to offer educational programs to medical professionals; they will, in turn, educate the public on the importance of health insurance coverage. Most citizens have not applied for the insurances due to a lack of information on its importance.
Critique of Ethical Considerations’ Policy, and Its Strengths and Challenges in Promoting Ethics
The policy of mandatory insurance brings forth essential ethical issues in the health sectors. The policy aims to expand health care coverage, target the prevention of some diseases, and control the cost. Due to the act, the insurance companies will not drop their client when they become sick. Therefore, it brings forth the ethical principle of act utilitarianism, which aims that an action should be that which brings happiness to the majority of people in the country ( Mims et al., 2014). It also has the capability of improving the health outcome and bringing forth the principle of equity and equality.
The ethical challenge associated with the policy is that it denies people the freedom to choose whether to have the insurance. Therefore, it is against the ethical principle of beneficence that needs a person to be treated ethically by protecting them from harm and respecting their decisions. The employers are forced by the policy to provide insurance coverage to their employees, which lowers their freedom of choice. Secondly, it forces people to share the cost of healthcare services; this makes even those keeping a healthy lifestyle to share the cost with the people who may not take concern for the lifestyle. Therefore, it conflicts with an ethical principle of justice, which requires a person to bear the actions' burdens.
Recommendation of Policy or Practice Changes Designed to Balance the Competing Needs of Resources, Workers, and Patients
The recommended policy for this practice for the healthcare quality and the cost of health care services is to provide mandatory insurance to the people diagnosed with life-long diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, HIV, and so forth. The recommended policy also considers only those with these underlined diseases and is earning below the poverty line or has a high dependency, which might lower the earning. The policy will ensure that justice is provided, and the ethical principle of justice is realized since the insurance will only be mandatory to those who have to underline life-long diseases ( Freeman, S. (2018). Due to the recommended policy, no sharing of the healthcare cost between those who are careful with their life and those who have might not be much concerned about their lifestyle. Therefore, addressing the shortcomings associated with the ethical principle of justice. Secondly, there is an association of the policy with the ethical principle of utilitarianism, and it ensures that the majority of people are given the freedom of choice to be involved in the health insurance and pay for only what they need. Only the people with the underline life-long condition will have mandatory insurance for their benefit ( Paris & Post, 2016). Therefore, address the conflict with the ethical principle of beneficence. The harm is prevented for those who have life-long diseases from the harm and providing the freedom of choice for the rest of the citizens.
The evidence that informs this healthcare issue is the one associated with the presence of continuous high healthcare costs, which has been not affordable for some of the people in the country. It makes it difficult for them to access health care services by the people who are living below the poverty line. Even those at average economic status sometimes find it difficult to pay for healthcare costs; therefore, insurance will help these people pay for their healthcare-related costs and receive quality care.
References
Fleck, L. M. (2018). Controlling healthcare costs: Just cost-effectiveness or "Just" cost-effectiveness? Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , 27 (2), 271-283.
Freeman, S. (2018). Rawls on distributive justice and the difference principle. Oxford Handbooks Online , 2 (1), 38-50. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199645121.013.2
McIntosh, M. A. (2012). The cost of healthcare to Americans. JONA's Healthcare Law, Ethics, and Regulation , 4 (3), 78-89. https://doi.org/10.1097/00128488-200209000-00007
Mims, A. D., Pederson, J. C., & Gold, J. A. (2014). Healthcare Changes and the Affordable Care Act: A physician call to action quality improvement organizations. Healthcare Changes and the Affordable Care Act , 13-31.
Paris, J. J., & Post, S. G. (2016). Managed care, cost control, and the common good. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , 9 (2), 182-188.
