Unit 6 Human Services Discussion - Research Paper Example

Unit 6: Human Services Discussion The essay aims to address a two-fold objective to wit to discuss social justice in healthcare policy; and (2) to share ones viewpoint in Johnnie Hamilton-Mason’s video of advocating for social justice.Human Services Discussion Healthcare policy in the United States is a complicated issue between justice and political factors. Questions arise as to the coverage of the insurance and the political factors involved in making the decision. Existing healthcare policies aim to maximize quality and accessibility while minimizing costs; however, the scarcity of healthcare services which increases the demand and costs complicates policy-makers as to who will receive the care and how and how much will Americans are able to pay.

These are called “medigaps” in U.S. healthcare system which does not pay for custodial nursing home care, most dental care (including dentures), private-duty nursing, eyeglasses and eye examinations, most routine physician examinations, hearing tests and hearing devices, very long hospital stays, and prescription drug costs (DiNitto, 2011, 282). In Maryland, 12.92% out of 5, 534, 528 residents are uninsured – 1,464,677 are enrolled in a health maintenance organization (HMO) while $964 is the average annual employee premium in MD employer-sponsored plan and $2,113 is the average MD hospital cost per inpatient day (eHealthInsurance, 2013, n.p.).

One can gleaned on the data that there is a significant number of individual who are uninsured but it is the cost of medical care which has the most astounding effect! Social justice in healthcare financing system is needed to broaden the healthcare insurance coverage and reducing the costs of healthcare. Equality and accessibility of healthcare could not be achieved without the help of different stakeholders such as policymakers, medical professionals, and payers. According to the study of Fisher et al. (2009), physicians possess the leadership to reduce healthcare costs by helping the patient: understand a more conservative treatment that is as safe as intensive, higher-cost care; argue against the need for further growth to oversupplied regions; and support changes in the healthcare system to achieve best possible care at lowest possible cost (850).

In the week’s video, Johnnie Hamilton-Mason (2013) talked about why it is important to advocate for social justice and emphasized that individuals should never feel being humiliated and that social workers must be empathic, supportive, and avoid labels (n.p.). She also said that it is essential to inform the individual that the healthcare financing system cannot support all of his needs and that the social worker can only give options. I agree with what she said in the video because we can only achieve unity in decisions about social justice in healthcare if policy-makers, medical professionals, and individuals are empathic, supportive, and informed about the suggestions, changes, and alternatives to improve healthcare at an affordable rate for all.

ReferencesDiNitto, D.M. (2011). Financing Healthcare: Can All Americans Be Insured? Social Welfare: Politics and Public Policy (7th ed.) (p. 276-323). MA: Allyn & Bacon, Inc.eHealthInsurance. (2013). Maryland Health Insurance. Retrieved on April 6, 2013 from http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/maryland-health-insuranceFisher, E.S. et al. (2009). Slowing the Growth of Health Care Costs — Lessons from Regional Variation. New England Journal of Medicine, 360(9): 849–852. doi:10.1056/NEJMp0809794.

Hamilton-Mason, J. (2013). Advocating for Social Justice. Retrieved on April 6, 2013 from http://media.pearsoncmg.com/pcp/pls_1256736872/index.html?wf=1&item=1