A number of low-income earners in American are struggling to get health insurance covers that match their budgets and meet their needs. Deductibles and premiums, on the other side, are costly for them. On average, monthly personal health insurance premiums as of 2018 rose by 105%; that means from $232 to $476 ( Schreck, 2018 ). Even for those who are enrolled with the Medicaid, face delays when they try to visit a doctor. Under Medicaid, patients are made to wait between 30 and 180 days in advance. For those living in rural areas, most of them die before they get medical help. The number of Americans without health insurance coverage in 2018 rose to 27.6 million (Park, 2011). These 27.6 million individuals without medical insurance represent 8.6 percent of Americans, which more than 7.9 percent or 25.6 million in 2017 (Schreck, 2018). Congress needs to address the gap in medical insurance coverage by introducing block grants that will operate at the state level.
An increase in the number of Americans without medical healthcare cover is a big challenge for both the federal and state governments. Because of the increase in the cost of medical insurance coverage, data from various studies show an uptick in the number of insured persons, particularly the younger generation aged 30 years and below ( Safriet, 2016). Learning from these statistics and coming up with formidable policy measures will increase the number of health insurance holders. The introduction of the Affordable Care Act further heightened these problems because people were forced to pay highly for policies that hinder, instead of expanding their chances of accessing health coverage.
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A healthcare policy that discriminates citizens is undesirable and unsuitable in America. Medication costs are rising in America. This means American needs to have a medical cover or be certain that their medical expenses will be taken care of whenever they fall sick or visit a doctor. For this assignment, my policy proposal is based on block grants. Through block grants, Congress can decide in advance the most significant measure of federal spending, which offers both consistency and a moderately simple approach to modify the program's expense to meet more extensive spending objectives. In this policy, a multidisciplinary committee involving the federal and state officials must be formed to review the weakness of Medicaid and the benefits of implementing block grants. Based on the high number of uninsured persons, the committee will classify the impacts of not being medically insured ( Park, 2011) .
Medicaid Block Grants
Block grants are a singular amount from the federal government that is given to the states. Introducing block grants will regulate what the national government spends on Medicaid every year. The fixed spending depends on the state and government spending and would expand yearly to represent inflation . Through block grants, states will be more flexible in designing Medicaid programs of their own choice. This policy proposal will enable states to determine who is eligible for the medical coverage without segregating who could be covered and who will not. According to Cunningham (2019), block grants will save the federal government close to $180billion by 2022.
Through the Medicaid block grants, states will no longer be restricted to the comparability requirements that restricted states that wished to research on emerging therapies and treatment modalities. States will further have the authority to implement sufficient pilot programs meant to assess their potential cost-effectiveness and clinical efficacy ( Safriet, 2016). Currently, states are encountering new infections, through the block grants; states can rollout various researches to determine vertical disease transmission among children, pregnant mothers, and newborns.
Policy for Managing Medical Health Insurance Coverage
Each year, those without medical coverage suffer a great deal while trying to access medication. Some do not even manage to pay for their medical bills after treatment. This policy proposal will act as a guide and blueprint for state governments to tackle the rising challenge of Americans without medical coverage at the state level rather than at the national level. These recommendations and guidelines will yield a framework that will ensure that coverage is issued to those in need at a particular time.
If fully implemented, block grants will reduce the chances of patient dumping that was witnessed when the federal government passed the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) (Schreck, 2018). The policy will minimize practice variation across multiple entities. This policy will further ensure that health care services are offered even at homes for those patients with travel challenges.
The Scope
The policy applies to the federal government, state and local governments, hospitals and care practitioners. All the concerned bodies and individuals will be responsible for ensuring that everyone gets the insurance cover provided he or she needs. The Medicaid block grants will be sent as a lump sum, this means that proper training will be provided for those who will be managing the funds. Already, states have refused to expand Medicaid to all Americans. This act has locked out more than 400,000 adults who otherwise be insured (Schreck, 2018). This policy proposal that includes everyone will be taken to the president for further review.
The policy will cap federal spending for; currently eligible poor adults and children and pregnant women, disabled children and adults and the elderly. Rather than the costs emphasized by the Medicaid, block grants will be adjusted to over a period of three years to match with the annual growth. During the first two years, expenditure for newly eligible individuals, drug prescription, dully eligible Medicare-Medicaid enrollees, program administration and access to hospitals will be excluded from the cap.
Guidelines for Implementing Evidence-Based Strategies
A multidisciplinary team that will ensure this proposal is successful will be composed of accountants, medical directors, pharmacists and medical officers from the federal and state governments. This proposal will operate at the state level, where people can easily reach out for help. The committee must assess those who don't have medical coverage and established those who need cover at all times. The committee further needs to evaluate the expenditure trends for those with cover and ask open-ended questions those who don't have coverage when they visit various health centers. These questions may include: What is your age? Why is your occupation? Have you been covered before? How much do you spend on medication annually? The committee should also be taking time to know if patients have been made to wait before seeing a doctor (Cunningham, 2019).
Before enrolling any patient to the Medicaid block grants, the states’ admiration efficiency must be observed (Schreck, 2018). The privilege of this policy proposal is that it allows states to handle their Medicaid program without any interference from the federal government. This proposal is based on the notion that states are well suited than the federal government to direct states spending effectively to meet the requirements and promote the health of their residents ( Safriet, 2016) . The flexibility demonstrated in this proposal will enable changes in the enrollment procedures, service delivery schemes and compare programs without additional clarification from CMS. States will further be free from unnecessary and predictive federal regulations and requirements like 42 CRF Part 438 (Schreck, 2018).
Conclusion
This proposal acknowledges that medical coverage is essential to every American. The best and suitable way to ensure this is by introducing Medicaid block grants at the state level. These block grants will accord the states the flexibility and comparability they need to cover for patients who cannot afford to pay for their medical bills. While the federal funding through the Medicaid is only limited to a particular group of people, Medicaid grant block will provide cover to whoever who need medical cover at any time.
References
Cunningham, W. (2019).Health 202: The Trump administration is working on Medicaid block grants. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-health-202/2019/01/24/the-health-202-the-trump-administration-is-working-on-medicaid-block-grants/5c48b5b51b326b29c3778c91/ .
Park, E. (2011). Medicaid Block Grant or Funding Caps Would Shift Costs to States,
Beneficiaries, and Providers. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Schreck, R. (2018). Overview of Health Care Financing. Retrieved from
https://www.msdmanuals.com/home/fundamentals/financial-issues-in-health-
care/overview-of-health-care-financing
Safriet, B. J. (2016). Closing the gap between can and may in health-care providers' scopes of practice: a primer for policymakers. Yale J. on Reg., 19, 301.
