28 Jun 2022

391

Healthcare Policies in the United States

Format: APA

Academic level: College

Paper type: Capstone Project

Words: 951

Pages: 3

Downloads: 0

Currently, the healthcare system is in a state of transformation, and it is moving to a more profitable coverage system. Most individuals understand that things are varying, but they are terrified to change. However, knowing where the current healthcare system is moving towards can aid in level heading opinions if not to bring peace to people's minds. In the coming decade, the American healthcare system will evolve and undergo massive changes in structure. The policies will not only have an impact on patient care but also on care providers. In short, the rising cost and number of uninsured individuals will proceed to impose stress on the healthcare system. 

Generally, the number of patients is increasing, and ten years from now, the ability to provide treatment to patients with chronic infections will be threatening. The growing technology will also increase the efficiency of treatments. Through electronic health records, automatic billing of plans will advance, allowing life extension of individuals in critical condition. Also, technology will boost delivering of data from patients care ( Marmor & Wendt, 2012 ). Using the internet, which among its features will offer confidentiality of care information, the electronic medical record will have the capability to keep the facility's bulk details, thus providing quality care to individuals. 

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Possible Barriers for Implementation 

America has subscribed to a philosophy that the most efficient and best design of offering anything is via a private market; their administration has applied that ideology in healthcare. They distribute health care like a commodity, basing on capabilities to pay, according to the need for medical care. Contrary, there is a considerable mismatch between payment abilities and medical necessity. Mostly, individuals who highly require healthcare are the ones who least afford to pay. Thus, there is a significant problem concerning those who cannot afford to pay without government interventions or adequate care. 

Social Barriers 

Cost is the major problem in implemented healthcare policies and future policies. The well-known Affordable Care Act (ACA), also named Obamacare, is not affordable. In America, health policies are influenced mainly by social factors like education, occupation, wealth and income, and experiences based on ethnic or racial identification. Although this science of social determinants is still evolving, social science studies have indicated universal and robust relations between the range of a social factor that shapes working and living conditions and a massive variety of health outcomes ( Poon et al., 2006 ). However, future access to Medicaid and Medicare, and ACA will be dependent on these social determinants. Though future policies will make healthcare easier to access, poverty levels between social classes will still hinder care access. The care meant to be affordable is still too high for low-class families to pay. 

Political Barriers 

Implementation of a new healthcare policy in America requires more than offering instructions or a document with a set of standard operating programs. However, the major political challenge for implementing a healthcare policy is that the responsibility for health policy implementation mainly incorporates more governmental actors than those who took part in designing the policy. Primarily, policy designers fail to know implementers' views; therefore, the implementation policy needs to work with a set of actors and agencies in communicating policy objectives, ensuring resource availability, managing conflicts, and sustaining policy changes. Thus, a joint effort is needed in starting and maintaining a healthcare policy. 

Limitation of Plan 

New healthcare reforms will perceive patients like consumers. Moreover, as consumers, patients demand quality service provision; they will have expectations and demand rights to make decisions. Therefore, the future of healthcare will perceive a more informed patient, a patient who will ask for better care outcomes. 

Scope 

Although America's health system provides health insurance to individuals, most Americans lack health insurance, which is a deadly consequence since they are less likely to acquire preventive healthcare and complete care for distinct illnesses and conditions. For instance, many uninsured citizens will get diagnosed with more advanced cancer than those with private insurance and analyzed at the early stage of the illness. Although some programs like Medicare pay for individuals' medical care, it is not enough to pay for thousands of dollars in copayments, deductibles, premiums, and coinsurance. Similarly, Medicaid pays for the needy individuals' health costs; many low-income families are not poor enough to get covered by this program. Families' eligibility for Medicaid is different in every state, and the poor enough families acquiring Medicaid in one state might be considered not poor enough in another state. 

Another apparent limitation in the American future and current policies is racial and gender biasness in healthcare. From research ( Ku, 209 ), African Americans are less likely than whites are with similar health conditions to acquire medical procedures. There is also gender biasness. Compared to men with the same health problems, women are less likely to receive a recommendation for particular medications, policies, and diagnostic tests, including kidney dialysis, lip-lowering treatments, and cardiac catheterization. 

The shortage of nurses and physicians could slow American healthcare facilities; it is a general problem for the whole country. The first set to face this challenge is the emergency rooms. The reason is that emergency rooms work complex; still, low paying, and many physicians do not volunteer. Therefore, in the future trends, most emergency rooms in the nation are likely to face a shortage of care for patients. 

Cost 

As a wide range of individuals strives to live longer, more active, and healthier lifestyles, healthcare facilities concerns rise and costs. According to Wasim (2013) , spending on healthcare is at high risk of growing beyond inflation and is expected to increase. Evidence indicates that healthcare expenditure s will lead to an increase in uninsurance rates among individual households. Additionally, a significant proportion of the population, mainly those who are not insured, get burdened by debt due to high medical care costs from new policies. The rising healthcare costs will also affect the market outcomes and minimize non-health usage and other non-wage benefits. 

In conclusion, although there are incoming future trends in the American healthcare system, including Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the changes will still be faced by a considerable number of barriers and limitations in implementations. Therefore, the government should consider solving the current healthcare issues like inadequate nurses and physicians, racial and gender biasness in healthcare, among others, before incorporating new healthcare policies in the nation. 

References 

Ku, L. (2009). Health insurance coverage and medical expenditures of immigrants and native-born citizens in the United States.  American Journal of Public Health 99 (7), 1322-1328. 

Marmor, T., & Wendt, C. (2012). Conceptual frameworks for comparing healthcare politics and policy.  Health policy 107 (1), 11-20. 

Poon, E. G., Jha, A. K., Christino, M., Honour, M. M., Fernandopulle, R., Middleton, B. & Kaushal, R. (2006). Assessing the level of healthcare information, technology adoption in the United States: a snapshot.  BMC medical informatics and decision-making 6 (1), 1-9. 

Wasim, A. (2013). An Analysis of Administrative Costs of the Healthcare Systems in the United States.  SSRN Electronic Journal . doi:10.2139/ssrn.2212377 

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StudyBounty. (2023, September 15). Healthcare Policies in the United States.
https://studybounty.com/healthcare-policies-in-the-united-states-capstone-project

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