The health care system was for many years thought to be resistant if not immune to the forces that shape economics (Amitabh et al., 2016). In the contemporary capitalist world, the US is the only nation in which the market has played a significant role in the provision of healthcare services as many other countries have a universal health policy. This has brought a lot of controversies. Healthcare as an industry is affected by this forces albeit slightly differently. This old wisdom is a wrong assessment as markets are good at aggregating information and disseminating it to consumers who will use it sensibly in this case, by picking hospitals with high quality. Health care stands out in the economy as one of those products that have a uniquely extraordinary price and the leading cause of bankruptcy as no one can forego treatment just because it is expensive. Even if it were not the individuals personally, someone would pay any price for the cure of a loved one. Interestingly in economics, research endeavors are driven by profit margin outcomes, but in healthcare, this is not the case. The funds that go into research are inspired by the pressing need of the problem, how many people are suffering and how many can be helped by the intervention.
Given the uniqueness of the healthcare sector, policy-making about health is a critical aspect of the economy. At one point in time, each one of us is bound to be in need of medical care. The policies that govern this all-important sector affect everyone in society. In this regard, this brief aims to show the role and impact of policy recommendations for stakeholders of the healthcare sector. How these policies shape the health sector both for the provider (the professional medics) and for the end user, in this case, the patients will be the focus
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The practice worldwide is to have evidence-based healthcare, and this concept is being applied to policymaking too. Health disparities have been with us since time immemorial with the infant mortality of blacks being twice as high as that of whites even in patients who receive equal health care, for example, the department of veteran affairs (Saha et al., 2008). This shows that there are factors outside the health care system that impact directly on health.
Income is a key determinant of health. Indeed, the level of income has a direct bearing on the health of the individual and his or her dependents. Income does not only affect the poor in society; studies of Americans at all levels of income have shown inferior health outcomes compared to the Americans with higher levels of income. Poverty has been shown to claim more than 250 million quality-adjusted life years meaning that it has a more significant impact than tobacco smoking and obesity combined in the United States (Muening et al., 2010). The current poverty and economic conditions have an effect on the health of the children. This has huge ramifications for the health of future American adults. Economic policies that aim to improve the life of these children like the Affordable healthcare act will significantly improve the health of today’s children and future generations hence reducing the spending on healthcare in future. Studies already show that America’s children of today will be the first generation to live short life spans compared to their predecessors.
The affordable healthcare act to some scholars is also just good at face value. It evokes the concept of scarcity of a resource in this context scarcity of money to finance health care. According to Bosch-Capblanch et al. (2011), it will increase the deficit by increasing the number of the middle class who access the very expensive health care. This will lead to a collapse of the economy or the policy when it infringes on another powerful player in the health sector. Demand for these services due to the low health status and a worsening trend for instance of obesity due to poor economic condition will put a demand on the healthcare services thus increasing the cost of the services and making it even more expensive.
The problem with economics and subsequent policy development in health is the constant misalignment between the current delivery system, the financing system, and achievement of value. Policies can be made at every one of these steps in the chain. The factors that influence health policy at each level are different for example patient expectations at each stage are different and addressing all of them adequately in one policy is close to impossible.
These observations and current health policies have implications on both the current state of affairs and the future. Indeed, these policies are made with assumptions that everything works well, and a status quo is maintained in the health sector, which has a significant influence on the evolution of healthcare system. The expected betterment of health by the affordable health care policy is, for instance, expected to raise the level of health among citizens. Consequently, this will reflect as lower costs for health thus freeing up funds for other sectors of the economy. To this end, policy recommendations should in the future be made to be inclusive. The policies should also look at both the long-term and short-term consequences of its use since sound policies help to protect all the stakeholders and reduce the general cost of healthcare.
References
Amitabh, C., Amy, F., Adam, S., & Chad, S. (2016, Dec 05). Research: Perhaps Market Forces Do Work in Health Care After All. Retrieved February 18, 2018, from https://hbr.org/2016/12/research-perhaps-market-forces-do-work-in-health-care-after-all
Muennig, P., Fiscella, K., Tancredi, D., & Franks, P. (2010). The relative health burden of selected social and behavioral risk factors in the United States: implications for policy. American journal of public health , 100 (9), 1758-1764.
Saha, S., Freeman, M., Toure, J., Tippens, K. M., Weeks, C., & Ibrahim, S. (2008). Racial and ethnic disparities in the VA health care system: a systematic review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23 (5), 654-671.
Bosch-Capblanch, X., Lavis, J. N., Lewin, S., Atun, R., Røttingen, J. A., Dröschel, D., ... & Oliver, S. (2012). Guidance for evidence-informed policies about health systems: rationale for and challenges of guidance development. PLoS medicine, 9 (3), e1001185.
