Generally speaking, health is a state of complete mental, physical, as well as social well-being and not simply the absence of an illness or even infirmity. On that account, governments should ensure that they develop strong health systems to promote their countries’ health status adequately . Every individual is entitled to receive quality healthcare without discrimination based on religion, gender, race, income, belief, or social class (Pettoello-Mantovani, Namazova-Baranova & Ehrich, 2016) . The primary objective of healthcare organizations should be to supply high quality, accessible, as well as affordable services of healthcare. However, because of several challenges facing healthcare organizations including escalating costs, endless demands, and a shortage of resources, administrators and policymakers in the United States have advocated for strategies such as rationing to deal with the challenges (Keliddar, Mosadeghrad & Jafari-Sirizi, 2017) .
Rationing in healthcare is essentially the process of choosing which services of health care receive funding from the government, and which ones do not. These choices are ordinarily made bot implicitly and explicitly every day by public servants, politicians as well as healthcare professionals merely since governments do not have enough finances to pay for all the health services individuals need. The rationing healthcare methods include: targeting specific individuals since they are more likely to benefit from the healthcare program or service; denying access by coming up with eligibility thresholds for an individual service ; delaying access; and inhibiting use by establishing barriers (Linker, 2014) .
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Ideally, healthcare rationing in the U.S is based on age, an individual’s ability to pay, community engagement, and worth to society. Older people are generally less productive in the society; accordingly, policymakers believe that it is justifiable to ration health care based on age. Also, policymakers and administrators hold the belief that medical care should be accessible only to individuals who can pay for the services Pettoello-Mantovani, Namazova-Baranova & Ehrich, 2016) . In addition , it is believed that those who bring worth to society regarding being productive in the economy should be given the priority in accessing healthcare.
In my opinion, it does not make sense to ration health care based on the aforementioned factors . This is because all individuals regardless of either age or economic worth to society are entitled to receive quality, timely, and affordable health care as it is their right. Moreover, rationing deprives the aged of life-saving medical services leading to enormous costs. Because of a rationing policy, the youth will suffer from escalated levels of fear and anxiety as they approach old age. At the same time, the elderly will feel that the society has abandoned them because they do not wish to die consequently developing feelings of despair. Also, the young generation may also suffer from depression, fear, and anxiety whenever they feel they do not add value in the society since the society provides healthcare based on economic productivity.
Markedly, the population aged 80 and above is the fastest growing age group. This age group needs intensive and expensive medical care because they tend to suffer from many health issues. I firmly believe that the society should care for us past a certain age because we all have a right to healthcare regardless of our age . Also, we were once economically productive in the society; hence the government should acknowledge our efforts by proving us with quality healthcare.
In my opinion, our health care system is not doing an excellent job of caring for the elderly. This is because we do not have doctors with years of more training in the health of the elderly. For instance, when my grandfather got sick, he was frequently misdiagnosed because the doctors who were treating him had no training in the elderly’s health. Further, Medicare and Medicaid are poorly managed hence there is a lack of adequate resources to cater for the healthcare needs of the elderly.
Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has generated a lot of controversies in the healthcare system. The primary purpose of the act was to decrease the number of individuals who were uninsured by making health insurance more affordable as well as of higher quality. Further, ACA claimed to minimize healthcare costs for people and the health expenditures’ costs paid by the government.
Those in favor of ACA argue that it slows the increase in the costs of healthcare. It does this by supplying insurance for many individuals and making preventive care free. This implies that individuals get treatment prior to requiring expensive emergency room services. Additionally, insurance companies can no longer refuse anyone coverage for pre-existing medical conditions (Ciocchetti, 2013) . They cannot decrease or increase premiums if beneficiaries fall ill. Finally, proponents argue that the Act lowers the budget deficit in three ways. Firstly, it minimizes t he healthcare costs of the government. Secondly, it increases taxes on higher income families and some businesses. Thirdly, it shifts the burden of the expenses to pharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers.
Opponents of affordable care act, on the other hand, argue that the ac threatens heightened numbers of uninsured citizens, more cost-shifting, and more market destabilization. Congress estimates that in about ten years, more than twenty-three million people will remain without insurance. Given the laws surrounding the act and light penalties, many individuals will opt to pay the penalties instead of dealing with massive premiums ( Ciocchetti, 2013) . Thus, individuals will tend to get insurance if they fall ill and opt out when they feel better. Accordingly, an adverse selection case will arise as there will be a higher population of sicker and older enrollees leading to a lethal cost spiral.
References
Ciocchetti, C. (2013). Teaching the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) Case. SSRN Electronic Journal . doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2250943
Keliddar, I., Mosadeghrad, A., & Jafari-Sirizi, M. (2017). Rationing in health systems: A critical review. Medical Journal of The Islamic Republic of Iran , 31 (1), 271-277. doi: 10.14196/mjiri.31.47
Linker, B. (2014). Beatrix Hoffman. Health Care for Some: Rights and Rationing in the United States since 1930. The American Historical Review , 119 (1), 214-215. doi: 10.1093/ahr/119.1.214
Pettoello-Mantovani, M., Namazova-Baranova, L., & Ehrich, J. (2016). Integrating and rationalizing public healthcare services as a source of cost containment in times of economic crises. Italian Journal of Pediatrics , 42 (1). doi: 10.1186/s13052-016-0231-1
