Financial Impact of the Underserved Population - Research Paper Example

? Financial Impact of the Underserved Population Outline i. INTRODUCTION Explanation of the underserved persons The minority groups ii. THE FINANCIAL IMPACT Effect on the general population Effect on the individual Effect on the government Medicaid iii. PROPOSALS Proposals to the government Federal initiatives Total effect of the under service Conclusion I. Introduction The underserved population refers to the segment of individuals who cannot – in their normal conditions – access the quality health care due to barriers caused by poverty, cultural differences, race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and other factors that contribute to health inequalities. In the United States, the minority groups get substandard services, if any, due to discrimination and/or financial disability. The country has vibrant segments in its population that enrich the country with unique strengths, cultural traditions and other important contributions and hence receive different health quality access (Guy, 2009). Despite all these, the issue of racial and ethnic discrimination translates to underservice and maltreatment of minor groups. The healthcare system of the United States has purely neglected to respect and incorporate the values of the culturally diverse groups. The system has continuously misunderstood and misinterpreted the minorities and the unprivileged in the service offering system (Shi & Singh, 2009). Health care systems refer to the total sum of the organizations with the primary purpose of improving health in a large and complex system within the many components such as clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, and laboratories. Every health center aims at having an interconnected flow of patients and information in order to maintain and improve health. However, this is not the case with the United States since its health care system has poor structures in the delivery of care services biased on the privileged and the financially stable (Marshall, 2010). The underserved populations in the United States require more health services because they are prone to chronic health conditions because of the low life standards and elevated poverty levels, hence their social isolation. Millions of Americans lack the basic health care because they cannot afford it. Children and women form the vulnerable and underserved population that faces persistent and systemic barriers to the access of quality health care (Andersen, 2007). The minorities of low socioeconomic status, such as the pregnant women, disabled and others face profound health disparity. Such populations are typically diverse, of low-income brackets, and lack an adequate access to the quality health care often termed as the safety net segment (Teitelbaum et al., 2012). Due to its fragmented nature, the population background lacks preventative health measures due to financial inability. The underserved people in the United States suffer from some diseases at a much higher rate as compared to the white Americans. The poor persons, due to their lack of financial orientation, fail to insure their bodies against sicknesses (Shi & Singh, 2009). This group mainly comprises the homeless, those living in the rural areas, those living in poverty-stricken zones in urban areas, those with chronic illnesses, and the seasonal or immigrant farm workers. The number of these underserved people is very high and continues to increase due to the rise in living standards in the United States. Most of these underserved individuals are those that lack access to the health insurance coverage because their financial ability does not allow affording it (Guy, 2009). The underserved individuals more often only access the invasive procedures that could be relatively costly or conducted without the knowledge of the medical specialist. The underserved people, therefore, are those without the health insurances or those living in regions termed by the government as medically underserved areas. The migrant farm workers represent one of the most marginalized and underserved population in the health system of the United States (Marshall, 2010). These individuals are vulnerable due to financial circumstances that emerge as an obstacle for the access to quality health care; hence, they have an increased exposure to health risks. Poverty and lack of insurance lead to decreased ability to access the health care services of poor health too. These factors magnify exposure to environmental risk such as tobacco smoking and poor sanitation, safety risks including family violence or traffic hazards, and psychological stressors such as fear of crime. These factors together with lack of infrastructure support, such as counseling and educational services, contribute to increased poor health burden (Marshall, 2010). The United States has patient-centered environmental factors that make it difficult for the underserved population to access the general health care services. Language, finance and other cultural differences are major obstacles in the access and maintenance of positive relations between the patients and the care providers. These factors make the underserved persons view the medical professionals as superior due to their low health care literacy. This impedes the patients’ own initiative to actively take their own care. Generally, the United States has high cost for the health care services; hence, it is essentially available to the rich people. Among the most underserved groups are the women who fail to access the quality health care because of their gender identity and position in the society. The underserved women are at risk of health problems and prone to development of chronic health conditions due to unmet reproductive health care needs (Martin, 2005). Underservice for women may be due to elevated levels of poverty, geographical location, and social isolation. Of these, financial orientation is the main source of health care underservice. More often than not, the women are not associated with big monies. This is a universal case across the globe for all women (Committee on Oral Health Access to Services et al., 2011). The mentality of the medical specialist is that women cannot click the mark to deserve the quality health care. This leads to not only professional discrimination but also gender alienation in this professional field. Race and ethnic discrimination in the United States among the women is also evident in the health care system of the country. The non-white Americans in the United States, inclusive of Vietnamese, Asian, and Pacific Islanders, have higher incidences of invasive cervical cancer than the total white women combined have. In fact, the number of non-white sufferers doubles that of the white sufferers (Teitelbaum et al., 2012). These health complications attack women with low incomes because of the delayed necessary health care. Women also face the challenge of receiving critical service such as maternity care because of logistical factors that compromise access to health care. The uninsured women are more prone to these female diseases than their insured counterparts are because they have extra limited access to the health care (Anonymous, 2004). The limited access to quality health care is a major problem to America’s underserved. Those who lack access to this medical care are more likely to receive low quality care and often die in the infancy in spite of the myriads of other adverse health care deficit consequences. Access to the quality health care is the utilization of personal health services to achieve the best possible health outcome (Martin, 2005). The financial position of the underserved population is almost in the doldrums; hence, it bids the greatest barrier to access of quality medical service. The minority in the United States population represent almost a half of the country’s population with race and ethnicity being very diverse (Andersen, 2007). The racial diversification is one of the country’s greatest assets. However, the same is the main source of disparity in the access to quality health care in America. The disparities prevail according to the prevalence of specific clinical conditions, particularly in the chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart diseases. The disparity even persists in not only the prevalence specific clinical health condition but also in the access to medical health care especially if the victim lies under the brackets of the underserved population. The racial misfit, the financial disabled, and the social misfits form the minority (Guy, 2009). Black men in the United States are termed as underserved persons. In the country, black men are twice more likely to suffer from the prostrate cancer than their white men counterparts. They are less likely to receive screening or the treatment that their white counterparts do get (Shi & Singh, 2009). The underserved population refers to the groups whose economic characteristics prevent their access to the quality health care services. The list of the underserved population goes beyond the racial and ethnic boundaries to the financial and cultural factors. Despite the ethical and moral limitations, the disparities in health care cost the American society over seventy five billion US dollars per year (Martin, 2005). The underserved populations have caused the country great financial losses. The future leaders of the country will have to think and act wisely and creatively to counteract the losses due to health care underservice of some population. The country is leaving the traditional systems and approaches, as it is simply not far reaching to significant society members. New approach methods are alternatives to reach a wider coverage such as statewide or nationwide areas (Marshall, 2010). The country proposes the interpersonal partnerships as well as other approaches such as as school based teaching and media intervention in order to reach a wider society. The government has plans to expand the capacity of delivery of oral health care in the pursuit to meet more of the underserved people (Aday, 1994). These state oral health programs are essential as they direct resources and monitor their impact on the oral health efforts. The state has the ability to monitor and analyze the burden of the oral diseases and conditions that face the personal behaviors. With the expanded infrastructure and the capacity of the monitoring scope, the players are now in position to extend the resources to the local health agencies and communities that implement the health strategies (Marshall, 2010). Medicaid programs in the state of Georgia The government of the state of Georgia has introduced a Medicaid service, which facilitates insurance programs for the indigent and the underserved. The Medicaid program includes financial revolution as well as changes in the ACA (Guy, 2009). The program is based on the actuarial risk program that ensures beneficiaries of the less healthy advantaged. It provides private health insurance plans. The federal agency administers the Medicaid program as defined in the statute. The medical specialists in the state of Georgia have been looking down upon the uninsured individuals in the health sector. This is because they generally assume that these choose not to purchase the health insurance since each employee is offered the medical insurance facility (Martin, 2005). However, the raw fact is that these people encounter the primary reason of financial incapability where an individual is not in position to raise the insurance cost with no much strain. Forty percent of the uninsured persons earn income that is below the federal poverty level. Therefore, there is a strong correlation between income earned and the insurance cover. Uninsured persons in the United States rate among the poor population in the national average analysis (Teitelbaum et al., 2012). Though women in the states of Georgia enjoy life expectancy of more than eight years longer than men do, they suffer great morbidity and poor health outcomes (Marshall, 2010). The women also have higher prevalence of certain health problems as compared to men in the lifetime course. Notably, the women are really segregated in the health care provision system due to their lack of financial exposure (Martin, 2005). This has claimed lives of many women who fall in the productive age. Therefore, health implementation measures are very essential to improve the accessibility to medial medical care in America. The government is involved in the promotion of the national health services remuneration in the medically underserved areas. Federal initiatives to eliminate health care disparity The federal government of the United States should establish programs that eliminate socioeconomic disparity in the health care system (Andersen, 2007). The government should instill a community health program, which can improve the accessibility to health care services specifically for the poor population. The government should start public housing care program that delivers services to individuals living near public housing or those benefitting from the public rent subsidies. The government should also instill a health care program for the homeless individuals. On average, financial burden is the most significant cause of the underservice in the health care in the United States (Guy, 2009). This neglect of the minorities in the American population has caused the country a lot. Underserved population has cost the government of the United States lots of cash because of the effect caused by this population. It, therefore, bids wisely for the government to enforce the policies that ensure equal health care distribution and curb the discrimination due to gender, sexual orientation, and financial orientation. References Aday, A. (1994). Vulnerable populations. Gaithersburg. MD: Aspen. Andersen, R., et al. (2007). Changing the U.S. health care system: Key issues in health services policy and management. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Anonymous. (2004). United States of America Congressional Record 111th Congress, vol. 155 - part 7. Washington D C: Government Printing Office. Committee on Oral Health Access to Services, Institute of Medicine, National Research Council. (2011). Improving access to oral health care for vulnerable and underserved populations. Washington, D.C: National Academies Press. Guy, C., et al. (2009). Health systems policy, finance, and organization. Massachusetts: Academic Press. Marshall, E. (2010). Transformational Leadership in Nursing: From Expert Clinician to Influential Leader. New York: Springer Publishing Company. Martin, G. (2005). Health system innovations in Central America: Lessons and impact of new approaches. Washington, D.C: World Bank Publications. Shi, L., & Singh, A. D. (2009). Essentials of the U.S. health care system. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Teitelbaum, J. B., et al. (2012). Essentials of health policy and law. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Read More