Effects of Health Care Reform in America on Women and Children - Assignment Example

Children and women may not receive this scarce health insurance cover, since they may not be in full-time employment, and even as dependents do not receive the benefits. The rhetorical situation or issue in the form of a question is as follows: What are the Effects of Health Care Reforms on Women and Children in America? Analysis of Reader/ Audience The specific groups of people interested in this issue are those who do not receive health care insurance in most cases. These are women, particularly pregnant women, and children.

The number of uninsured children has risen, with the implementation of welfare reforms and the reduction of welfare rolls (Patel & Rushefsky, 2006). Most children and many women are eligible for health insurance only as dependents of a parent’s or spouse’s employment-based insurance, and often do not receive insurance coverage. With increasing numbers of single women responsible for raising their children alone, the majority of them are working part-time and at inadequately paid jobs.

From this emerges the issues of increasing poverty and poor health among women and children, which need to be addressed by the government. Further, health care policy and reform efforts are frequently unsuccessful due to lack of assessment (Kronenfeld, 2004). Particularly in the area of children and low-income pregnant women, automatic assessments of the effectiveness of state efforts to enroll people needs to be improved. Additionally, a continued evaluation of assessment methods is required to be undertaken.

The Constraints that Influence How these Groups Think or Feel About the Issue NRC (1996) has stated particular constraints that influence how these vulnerable groups: women and children, feel about the issue. These include policy reforms that should not pit the comparatively small health care needs of this population against other groups and health care demands. Besides the predominant financial obstacles, other barriers include the inadequate provision of health care facilities particularly in inner cities and rural communities.

Moreover, overall improvements will be needed in several other areas such as education, vocational training, employment, housing, civic amenities, family environment, and other factors, along with increased access to basic health care services. Only then can health care reform for the vulnerable groups, have sustained, long-term and effective outcomes. Those people who remain uninsured for any reason should be assured access to “community-based outpatient and preventive care services, rather than having to rely on emergency room and hospital-based care only” (Kronenfeld, 2004, p.198) since they are often delivered too late to be useful.