Budget Woes and Public Health - Essay Example

"Budget Woes and Public Health" is a wonderful example of a paper on the health system. The most obvious adverse effect of budget cuts on the public health of the citizenry is the non-availability of certain prescribed medications and surgical procedures which are now no longer allowed to be reimbursed. In this regard, Medicaid which supports some fifty million senior American citizens for their primary and preventive health care is considered for a budget cut (Siegel & Lotenberg, 2007, p. 188). This population segment is the most vulnerable because they depend on Medicaid for their essential well-being and in many cases, for their survival too. Senior citizens no longer earn income actively since they are already retired and depend on these government health programs for their medical and health care needs.

Besides the older or more senior citizens, another vulnerable population segment is the young children and kids who belong to poor families. These kids depend on the government's free school breakfast and lunch programs to avoid hunger and be able to attend school. An example is a proposal to reduce or eliminate the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) which helps about 3.9 million poor people (children, young adults, single parents, disabled persons, and senior citizens) which enables these groups of people to obtain nutritional diets at cheap costs. It had been cut before and is in danger of not being restored in the new budget proposal for 2013.

It is vital for many young school children to attend school on full stomachs; otherwise, their time in school is greatly compromised due to reduced learning from the suffering of the hunger pangs. Education is a big equalizer for people to get out of poverty and move up the economic or social ladder.  These two groups of people are quite vulnerable as they do not have strong voices in political discussions unless there is an advocacy group that speaks for and on their behalf. The public discourse should give more attention and focus on these two groups (FRAC, 2010, p. 1).

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