Health CAre Financing - Assignment Example

Health Care Access Affiliation: Access of care is the point at which a person or group can obtain required services in a medical institution (Millman, 1993). According to the Presidential Commission for the Study of Ethical problems, access is the “timely use of individual health services to attain the best possible health outcomes.” Further, the health services and health outcomes are used to determine if access has been provided.Access to care requires the availability of other services such as specialty care, inpatient services and emergency services.

Patients will visit health centers that provide other additional services. Patients from less well-off families lack insurance to cover their medical care, they are faced with the challenge of unaffordability or unwillingness of physicians to offer health services. Transport services hinder access to care especially in situations where ambulances are unavailable for patients who may be severely injured. Quality of care focuses on the health service provider, how patient’s inability to pay for the service affect the overall delivery of quality service.

Unpaid expenses and fees may ground efforts to offer service thus limit access to care.Equity of access shows whether there is any systematic variations in the use and outcome among individuals and groups in the community and if those variations are due to financial or other barriers to care (Gulliford & Morgan, 2013). Equity of access is commonly measured by utilization of indicators i.e. looking at the frequency of visits by the patient to a health center. The survey attempts to study the nature of access and the components of utilization (Aday et al.

, 1980 in Access to Health Care in America, 1993). Outcome indicators i.e. utilization rates are also used to measure access through; survival rate, physical and emotional health (Lohr, 1988 in Access to Health care in America, 1993).Outcome indicators such as mortality rates, ailments that require overnight stay highlights the barriers hindering access to care. Structural barriers, these are hindrances related to place, mode of operation of medical service providers. Individual and cultural barriers impede individuals who need health services, but be recommended as post treatment.

Financial barriers, limit patients ability to pay for the health services or doctors from offering services with limited finances.ReferencesGulliford M. & Morgan M. (2013), Access to Health Care, Routledge.Millman M., (1993), Access to Health Care in America, National Academies Press.