This paper outlines and proposes a new health care policy—the Universal Health care insurance policy. The policy proposes a change in the American healthcare system to provide universal healthcare to all American people without favoring one group of people over the other.
The project is aimed at reaching the callings of the U.S. population. As the population of the United States grows, so does the access to healthcare, but it has to be noted that the figures are not consistent. Because some factors especially the cost of healthcare, many who cannot afford health insurance are left out. Daniel Smith, a local man, from Wise, Virginia needed to have his eighteen teeth (18) extracted but could only do it at a free remote health camp organized by Remote Health Medical, a medical non-profit (Kristof, 2017). There are many people like Mr. Smith who cannot afford health insurance. According to figures available from the National Health, Interviews Survey show that out of the 269.4 million Americans below the age of sixty-five 65, 28.7 million of them could not afford healthcare in 2005 ( U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2017, p. 3 ). Of these, 176.6 million had private insurance coverage, 154.7 million and 20.8 million had accessed employer private coverage and any other private coverage health insurance respectively.
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Although the standard of living is high, the cost of healthcare is even higher. Some Americans who are lower on the pay scale are unable to afford health insurance for themselves and their families. Using the example of Mr. Smith above, many like him fail to access health care because the United State has the highest rates of health care costs. According to Kliff and Oh (2016), Americans spent $6.5 billion on Humira multiple autoimmune diseases, mainly, they paid an average of $2,669 for the same drug. In Switzerland and the United Kingdom, the drug cost $822 and $1,362 respectively. The cancer drug Avastin costs $3,930 in America compared to $470 in the UK, an MRI which costs $1,119 in the US and $503 in Switzerland. A day in hospital in the US costs $5,220 compared to $424 in Spain. An appendicitis operation in the US goes for $15,930 compared to Australia’s $3,814 (Ibid, 2016).
In partnership with the World Bank Group, the Universal Health Insurance has over the years scaled its efforts to ensure the provision of quality healthcare to all people at an affordable fee since productive and quality life is believed to be the foundation of most countries' strong economies ( Ruger, 2010 ) . Universal Health Insurance/ Coverage is a systematic healthcare system that provides healthcare welfares to all persons in a particular nation ( Ruger, 2010 ). Countries like Germany and Canada are good examples that have used universal health insurance to provide health coverage to all its inhabitants despite the financial hardships ( Ruger, 2010 ). To adapt to the implementation of Universal Health Insurance, many advantages have been given in support of the idea such as boosting the health, social and economic status of people. On the other hand, there are also disadvantages that people are building onto oppose the implementation of the same ideology ( Ruger, 2010 ).
In a bid to tackle the challenges, other potential solutions can be considered. The single-payer system ensues as the most favourable one. Many Americans according to the poll by the Keiser Family Foundation approve of a single-payer system of health insurance. Similarly, the failure of the current Care Act gives it propensity that inciting a single-payer system will save the public millions in health care coverage as the states will be in a position to utilize the taxes (Galea, 2017). According to the Kesier Foundation, implement this plan is the most viable alternative to solving the ailing differences in medical insurance. For example, when the 53% who were for the single-payer system heard of the disadvantages of the system like giving government greater autonomy over healthcare, the opinion swung from the initial 53% to 40% to 60% in opposition. Besides those who could be swung in opinion over the benefits of a single-payer system, the rest fall under the category simply called “don’t know” because it is a mistake to make a population support or oppose a policy on face value (Hamel, Wu, and Brodie, 2017).
In comparison to the Obamacare, there is a need for a universalized insurance policy for the common man. As the care is gaining strides in the medical realm, the differences still have a stark contrast in the country highlighting the plight of American. It is this concern that ensues in a prospect of having a single-payer system country wide. After Obama had left office, according to Gallup’s poll, the policy became popular thereby receiving a 55% approval rate among people who had earlier on rejected it. The swing which was in favor of the policy started in 2012 even when there was nothing much that had changed in the policy to warrant its popularity. According to data provided by Gallup, by November 2016, only 42% approved of the health care law, but by April 2017, popularity had shot to a high of 55% (Norman, 2017).
Some of Obamacare is appealing as noted in most platforms. Some Americans tend to like some provisions in the Obamacare health care law over others. They particularly do not like the individual mandate attached to it where one must buy insurance or pay a fine. But they like the exchanges involved in it where they can remain on their parent's insurance up to age twenty-six (26). Amongst all the provisions, the individual mandate was the one without any considerable support from the masses. Also, the elements of the law are more popular than the law itself. However, it's striking to note that the threat of punishment was reasonably less appealing than the comfort and security found in the “26-year” provision (Kurtzleben, 2017).
In the proposed plan, a single payer healthcare system will assume the support of states on a national scale to help curb the unhealthy numbers in the country (Hamblin, 2017). Similarly, with the ailing population, there is need to help the low income earning group in the country that faces health insurance debacles (Hamblin, 2017). With the proposal, each state will do a financial assessment of its population to determine the income projection of the people and devise a way forward for a better health coverage plan that fits within their wage bill (Hamblin, 2017). On top of that, it will assume the basic care for all starter needs for patients at healthcare facilities and assign the requirements for physician visitation to avoid overcrowding the facilities. Taking a leaf from the California pilot plan of the same health policy, a projected budget of 400 million dollars is an estimated low figure to what would have cost the federal government, which is expected to have been double (Hamblin, 2017).
For the support of the plan, according to a survey by Politico poll, it found out that 44 percent of the population was in support of the plan. It is taken from the same successful plan running in the Medicare system of Canada that makes the projected system a reality in America (Hamblin, 2017). Besides, the success of the plan has support from political and business figures like Bernie Sanders and Warren Buffet who are of a view that the single-payer health insurance coverage will save the American pay large health budget expenditure in taxes (Hamblin, 2017). In recent months, the call for a shift to the plan has picked momentum in the country, and for the people to get engaged there is a call for awareness for the need to see that federal government provides basic health insurer for all people regardless of their financial capabilities (Hamblin, 2017). Hence, like the movements in California and New York that have demanded the new state plan, similar televised and personal engagements will get the plan known on a massive scale.
In line with interventions, various policy interventions should be considered to implement the universal access to a health care insurance policy. First, the social media campaigns to sensitize citizens about the benefits of the policy (Klein, 2014). Besides, media advocacy so that attention is brought to the need for this policy which is long overdue. By taking on the political platform left by many advocates of the single payer plan, there is room for supporting the system from the congress and other politicians (Klein, 2014). Besides, using the media newspaper platforms provides a resounding view ship that is gaining a large following with (Klein, 2014). According to the Washington Post, public calls by like Michael Moore who are advocating for a unified health insurance policy are a driving force that can be utilized for the benefit of the plan (Klein, 2014). Aside from that, the closing gap between social media and traditional media houses can be exploited to rally the masses into voting for the system (Klein, 2014).
On the evaluation bit, taking figures from Forbes’ publication about the performance of the pharmaceutical business will provide an assessment as over 19 percent medical equipment and personnel are on changing wage bills (Klein, 2014). Hence, for the success of the plan, there will need to be an increase in medical providers, more insures entering the market and a reduction in the health budget as there will be a unified insurance policy for all citizens (Klein, 2014).
On the implementation side of the policy political support from state governors and senators will be the primary advocacy for the enactment of the plan (Bauchner, 2017). With the house of representatives discussing a cost effective health plan for the nation that spends more that some of the financially enable nations like Taiwan, there is a need to reduce the cost of medical provision. Besides, the limited medical access to low income earners will be scrapped due to the universalization of the health access in the US (Bauchner, 2017). Hence, by taking into consideration, the projected plan, there is bound to be a change in the state of medical practice in American states (Bauchner, 2017). Following the evaluation of the policy, with a clear sample population, the first implementation step will be the deployment of the system to selected states and healthcare facilities (Bauchner, 2017). For better understanding of the system, there will be continuous communication to and fro, with the purpose of improving service delivery. With a projection in place due to planning ahead for the implementation phase, different sectors will be contacted to provide an assessment of the general impact of the policy in reference to other medical plans. Hence, the implementation will commence upon proper planning and initiation of the policy.
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