Role of Government in Long-Term Healthcare Delivery - Essay Example

"Role of Government in Long-Term Healthcare Delivery" is a worthy example of a paper on the health system. There is an increasing demand for health care among the elderly since health deteriorates with age. It is the role of the government to ensure that people receive the medical care that they require. The government of the United States of America does this through Medicaid. Medicaid is for the poor population, and they have to prove that they are destitute in order to qualify for long-term medical care. There was a program that was in a place that was fully funded by the taxpayers' funds only. However, it proved to be very expensive hence was abolished by the Obama government. At the moment, the government provides long-term medical aid to the poor who have to fulfill various conditions for them to qualify (Daskalakis, 2010). However, the government tries to discourage the long-term usage of Medicaid by imposing certain restrictions such as ass the applicant should not have a particular amount of money or assets to their name. The structure of most long-term insurance policies discourages people from investing in them hence the interest in Medicaid (Daskalakis, 2010).

The government is receiving a lot of pressure to produce healthcare medical aid for long-term care. The pressure in nursing homes is increasing as the number of old people left in the institutions of the old for all-round care is increasing. The government, however, finds it very expensive hence the need for individual waivers. These exemptions are given to a limited number of individuals in the population based on the type of disability or old age. For instance, waivers could be placed on a particular group of people such as the disabled who are restricted in terms of mobility (Ng & Harrington, 2012). Waivers could also be placed among people coming from a particular geographical area. A huge amount of Medicaid is spent on the elderly population in institutional care. However, even with the waivers put in place, there are still unmet medical needs that the government needs to look into to satisfy the needs of the people.

The Obama government decided to do away with the CLASS (Community Living Assistant Services and Support) program.  The program was to be voluntary for those with long term chronic illnesses, and the deductions were to be made from their salaries. The fund was dependent on the contributions of the people hence was unsustainable in the long-run (Monheit, 2012). The role of CLASS in the community was to bridge the gap between the public and private insurance systems. There was some unfairness with how the premiums would have been paid and the architects of the program had misjudged the number of people who would enroll in the program. It remains hard to ensure long-term medical aid for the citizens.

In light of the issues discussed, the government needs to find a balance between long-term medical care and a sustainable one for that matter. There is an increasing need for long-term care hence systems need to be put in place to ensure that everyone is catered for. There is the need for a program that is similar to the CLASS program and one that would be acceptable to most of the population and one that would not increase the burden on the government budget.

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