Health Policy- Letter to Senator - Essay Example

 The legislation A 1968 introduced in the New Jersey Legislature proposes to increase the monthly personal needs allowance of the persons residing in the nursing facilities, state or county psychiatric facilities and state developmental centers from $35 to $50.

            As you know better than me that the details of this bill are available at the New Jersey Legislature’s official website. Still, it would be really an honor to brief you regarding the essential fundamentals of the Health Policy Bill A 1968. As per the available credible statistics, at present there are almost 35,000 residing in the state nursing facilities, state or county psychiatric facilities and state developmental centers. It would be very apt and logical to conclude that a great number of these people tend to be the elderly people suffering from chronic physical and mental ailments. Till today, these people were extended a monthly personal needs allowance of $35 by the state. This Personal Needs Allowance is primarily spent by these patients to purchase items of personal need like clothing, newspapers and books and personal grooming accessories, which are not provided for by these health facilities. Considering the nature of personal needs on which the elderly patients tend to spend this allowance, there is no denying the fact that the quality of life of these elderly people residing in the state nursing homes, state or county psychiatric facilities and state developmental centers is to a great extent dependant on this allowance. However, considering the ongoing recessionary economic circumstances and the shrinking health budget, it goes without saying that these elderly patients have a diminished access to their traditional financial resources accrued in the form of interest incurred from their lifetime savings and investments. This has immensely reduced the capacity of these elderly people to invest in improving the quality of their life. Under such circumstances, it is imperative that the state health policies come to the rescue of these elderly patients and must help them maintain a decent quality of life. If this bill gets passed, it will translate into an annual increase in the personal needs allowance of $180 per person residing in the state health facilities and institutions. This increase will help the elderly patients invest in augmenting the quality of their life, much better than before. In an ethical context, these elderly patients have contributed immensely to the state economy and social and political life during their youth. So it is the moral obligation of the state to help them maintain a good life during the ebb end of their lives.

            Being a professional healthcare worker myself, by the dint of my personal experience and observations, I have often found that the elderly patients residing in the state health facilities tend to go though much trouble and inconvenience owing to insufficient personal needs allowance. There is no denying the fact that even a reasonable increase in the personal needs allowance of these elderly patients would contribute immensely to their overall quality of life and their sense of wellbeing and satisfaction. In that context, the proposed Bill A 1968 is a step in the right direction. My group and I have started a campaign to support this bill. In that context, we have written letters, soliciting the support of many state senators and have received letters of reassurance from them. Almost, a heartening majority of them are confident about the efficacy of Bill A 1968 in ameliorating the quality of life of the elderly under the care of the state health facilities and institutions and have pledged their support for this bill.