Healthcare Supply and Demand Options Menu, Research Paper Example

Health Policy Discussion

While in America, the new health care plan, labeled “Obamacare” is aiming to increase the number of insured people, there are still many without even the basic level of cover. Provided that several people get health insurance as an employee benefit, and the financial crisis hit the middle class of America the most, it is evident that there are often economic considerations behind a person’s decision not to get health insurance. Employee health insurance costs, on the other hand, have increased significantly in the past few years, According to Danis et al. (236) job-related health insurance coverage has dropped by 9 percent in the five years between 2000 and 2005. At the same time, those who have lost their jobs are vary of taking on an extra financial responsibility and commit to a policy in uncertain times. Therefore, poverty and the lack of affordable packages are responsible for the fact that several American families are without a basic level of health insurance. Those who live below the poverty line are unable to afford any cover. As a recent CEJA report (1) confirms:

“Medicaid, the federal program created in 1965 to provide insurance benefits to persons living in poverty, has been increasingly unable to meet this goal. In 1973, 63% of people with incomes falling below the poverty line were eligible for Medicaid.5 Currently, only 40% of those below the poverty line are eligible, leaving the majority of the poor         uninsured.”

The above statement clearly confirms that poverty, economic hardship and high costs are responsible for the low coverage of Americans.

Reflection on Response One

I agree with the argument of the writer that health care “with or without insurance” is expensive. However, I do not think that a larger number of insured people would compromise the level of service. Higher income for the health care department would provide funding for improvement.

Reflection on Response Two

Indeed, in many aspects, the health care system does not provide adequate services for many Americans. However, the occurrence of malpractices and medical errors, compared to he population served are not significant. While unemployment rate contributes towards low insurance cover take-on rates, it would be wrong to blame solely companies looking for options to produce cheaper in Mexico for the failure of the system.

References

CEJA Report 7 – I-93 (n.d.) Ethical Issues in Health Care Systems Reform: The Provision of Adequate Health Care. Retrieved from: <http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/code-medical-ethics/2095a.pdf>

Danis, M., Goold, S., Parise, C., Ginsburg, M. (2007) Enhancing employee capacity to prioritize health insurance benefits. Blackwell Publishing, 2007

Peterson, C., Burton, R. (2008) The U.S. Health Care Spending: Comparison With Other OECD Countries. Nova Publishers