Universal Healthcare in the US - Essay Example

HEALTHCARE It is the intention of the current investigation to act as a proponent for universal healthcare in the US, based on community health principles rather than the principles of the business and market. This is a divisive issue, and there are many sides, so the current report must remain objective and see both, to a certain extent. For some, universal healthcare represents a threat. Yet, the US is currently alone among advanced industrialized countries in the disparity of its healthcare, and universal health care is the only answer because of lack of healthcare is a national crisis. Healthcare is a human right, also in the Constitution under life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but many Americans do not feel its benefits. Universal healthcare is the only answer because it will also save money. “We can eliminate wasteful inefficiencies such as duplicate paper work, claim approval, insurance submission, etc. We can develop a centralized national database which makes diagnosis and treatment easier for doctors” (Universal, 2009). There are many reasons to support universal healthcare supported by community health principles. Universal healthcare is about representing a true community healthcare principle of access for all, not just for all who can afford it. In terms of base arguments, supporters of national healthcare tend to argue that there should be a single-payer system in which healthcare is financed by the government but the government does not take control of the system in a way that diminishes privatized options. But on the other hand, “The current crisis in the U.S. healthcare system may be more one of perception than fact. While it is true that in certain areas of the country and for some segments of the population there are real healthcare access and coverage problems, coverage is available in most places and for most individuals. The magnitude of the crisis may not be significant enough to justify the major changes in the healthcare delivery system that will result from present reform proposals” (Kalkhof, 1994). It is the recommendation of this report that the current system of managed care observed at modern healthcare facilities should be changed from a consumer-based platform to a patient-based platform in which there is universal coverage and a renewed attention to upholding patient rights. “According to principles of American paternalism, no American should go without food and water, shelter, clothing, sanitary facilities, protection, physically and legal, equal opportunity, education, vaccination, and basic medical care” (Kotlikoff, 52). This means a community healthcare model rather than a consumer one, which then opens access care for all who need it, not just those who can afford it.. The results of such a system have varied benefits. Within a universal healthcare system, the number of uninsured citizens would go down instead of keeping on growing by the tens of millions, as immigrants and others are unable to afford healthcare. Universal healthcare is justified by simple humanity in a society where healthcare has become unaffordable for many. “During the last third of the twentieth century, all of the participants in the national healthcare policy discussion, including some of the most hard bitten conservatives, either avowed the virtues or conceded the necessity of a national healthcare program” (Derickson, xi). The duty of medical professionals should be to treat the patient, not to worry about insurance documents and coverage liabilities; millions of patients today who have so called pre existing conditions, are out of the system, and would be included in universal healthcare. The constituency for a universal healthcare plan in the US can be developed by gauging interest in the problem of access to quality healthcare and knowledge of its history that is mixed with issues of poverty and social and economic status systems. There are various theoretical and practical measures that can develop to solve this problem domestically, ranging from class-struggle theory to the more practical application of healthcare advocacy and systemic delivery of access from private and public entities. Advocacy on the issue of equity within a universal healthcare system will be developed on a targeted and specific level by expanding the definition of the problem to focus on the people who are living in homeless shelters and impoverished situations, and can examine development based on accessibility, the cycle of poverty, and attention to the local level in examining the problems on a policy level as well. “The key question for policy makers and the public at large is what types of changes in healthcare delivery could happen and would these changes be acceptable? For this reason, policy makers should focus on the effect of government controls on the delivery of healthcare services before they embrace one concept or another” (Primary, 2007). Policy level changes may have to precede the changes at individual healthcare facilities and their attendant professionals.. Within a universal healthcare system, people can meet the two different kinds of income problems that can plague an individual and hinder their access to healthcare. These categories separate income problems into absolute and relative terms. The focus of universal healthcare is on the relative income problems, which are seen to be perhaps more mutable and changeable than the situation experienced by those with absolute income problems, who may be homeless or destitute. Basically, the difference between relative and absolute income problems that can be addressed by universal healthcare lies in the fact that those individuals with relative income problems can provide for basic survival, but have trouble with shifts in income and lack of security. As mentioned above, the issue of immigration also comes up in terms of access, because these communities are often hit hard by poverty and are also isolated from access to healthcare information, or have a distrust of the western concept of the large hospital. “The researchers note that immigrants vary on numerous factors that affect their access to, and quality of, health care. Those factors include: socioeconomic background, immigration status, limited English proficiency, residential location, and stigma and marginalization” (Kalkhof, 1994). The modern healthcare facility could be doing more to reach out to these communities. Basically, the system as it exists now is not a universal healthcare system, but instead, it works as a market based system. .Basically, businesses are ruthless. They do what it takes to make money. The center of healthcare in the US is on a business model. It treats the patient like a consumer and even refers to the patient in consumer terms like client, in its own literature, which it dominates. The healthcare system of the modern US is one in which a business model is operating, not a community healthcare model. “Consumer-driven health care” is the euphemism for high-deductible health plans with savings accounts. It is based on the theory that increased financial exposure will encourage patients to act like consumers, comparing quality and costs and negotiating lower prices. It also, according to the rhetoric, gives people greater control over their health care” (Universal, 2009). This theory may seem ridiculous when compared to systems in which there is no advertising by doctors and drug companies on television, in other countries where healthcare is considered the responsibility of a highly-developed industrialized society, rather than a marketplace. Cost effectiveness is another important part of universal healthcare. There are many perspectives that show he risk that formulating a change-based strategic plan entails. There are also drawbacks to this situation: this hearkens back to competition in healthcare. This could be an unforeseen circumstance in the organizational environment of the HMO strategy. If I were the medical director of an HMO that was a full risk for inpatient, outpatient and ancillary services, I would want to see strategic reports every day on cost effectiveness. With an HMO that is at full risk, it is wise to keep a cost effective strategy in mind because this will reduce the bottom line of operations, which is profit. In previous times healthcare was motivated more purely by a concern for quality of care standards and benchmarking and evaluation was more strictly controlled and structured. However in contrast the HMO is working at full risk in this situation within a competitive and business like environment, because of changes in healthcare that have taken place replacing community healthcare with a business model in which profit is the main concern. Therefore, I would want to see daily, weekly and monthly reports on how inpatient, outpatient and ancillary services were valuing cost effective solutions to save the organization’s bottom line, and therefore I would urge a manner that was more controlled. I would not want the benchmarks requiring corrective action to be based wholly on cost-effectiveness and breaches in this regard. In terms of corrective action, I think the best plan is to base conclusions on the quality of care received by the patient. This, not the financial bottom line, should be the main goal of corrective action: to correct lapses in treatment of the patient, which also relates to cost effectiveness because if the patient is not satisfied or treatment is shoddy and quality of care is low, the patient is going to be in a position of caveat emptor and the healthcare organization is just going to pay attention to premiums instead of offering premium service to all, not just who can afford it. Generally, cost effectiveness can be defined through its impetus, because it is itself an impetus to cost-effective decision-making and a reflection in the optimized scenario of strategic thinking within the HMO’s organizational structure. Cost effective planning can focus on the future in terms of long-term and short-term organizational goals of the HMO, but the impetus of the process is on founding a vision based on teamwork within the organization. Strategic planning for cost effective reporting “begins by identifying its vision and mission. Once these are clearly defined, it moves on to a series of analyses, including external, internal, gap, and benchmarking, which provide a context for developing organizations strategic issues. Strategic programming follows and the organization develops specific strategies including strategic goals, action plans, and tactics. This process blends change with the status quo in the optimized organizational structure of cost-effective planning at the HMO, which is defined on the basis of the goals of the organization (short-term or long-term). These goals are defined by a set of individuals acting as a collective team in the organization. “The United States is currently facing a healthcare crisis. Fourteen percent of its total gross domestic product is spent on healthcare, and, alarmingly, costs continue to grow rates far outpacing inflation” (Cummings, 263). Universal health care is the only answer because of lack of health care is a national crisis. Health care is a human right ( also in the Constitution under life liberty and the pursuit of happiness), and universal healthcare is the only answer because it will save money. REFERENCE Cummings, N (2005). Universal Healthcare. New York: Routledge. http://books.google.com/books?id=S0hrAAAAMAAJ&q=universal+healthcare&dq=universal+healthcare&ei=lazlSq2FL4zyMtLB-Z0M Derickson (2002). Health Security for All. Baltimore: Johns-Hopkins. http://books.google.com/books?id=7iWbaI6L_1wC&printsec=frontcover&dq=universal+healthcare&ei=lazlSq2FL4zyMtLB-Z0M#v=onepage&q=universal%20healthcare&f=false Kalkhof, C. (1994). Alternatives to federal regulatory realignment of health care - US healthcare system management. Healthcare Financial Management. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_n1_v48/ai_14980651/?tag=content;col1 Kotlikoff, L (2007) The Healthcare Fix. Cambridge: MIT Press http://books.google.com/books?id=ZrEPSNlLp3gC&pg=PA52&dq=universal+healthcare&ei=lazlSq2FL4zyMtLB-Z0M#v=onepage&q=&f=false Universal healthcare (2009). www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/02-5 Universal healthcare (2009). http://www.balancedpolitics.org/universal_health_care.htm Read More