The Letter To The Editor | The Issue Of The Health Care Reform

I am writing to you to continue the debate and to express my position on the issue raised in the letter to editor, Health Care: Fairness for Medicaid patients, where the author raises an important problem of the fairness for Medicaid patients and health care professionals in the context of the contemporary health care reform. The author of the article refers to one of the major problems in the contemporary health care system of the US. The US government attempts to conduct the health care reform, known as Obamacare, which though brings quite controversial effects since changes introduced in the health care system increase the risk of the deterioration of the quality of health care services, if health care professionals are not motivated and cannot receive decent income for their job and if the number of patients relying on the government support becomes too high or government regulations turn out to be very strong. At the moment, the health care reform rather raises questions than gives clear answers. One of such questions is the fairness of Medicaid and government support in regard to all patients and the position of health care professionals, who have to provide health care services.

In this respect, the letter to the editor, Health Care: Fairness for Medicaid patients, uncovers the two-fold nature of the current health care reform. On the one hand, the health care reform may lead to the shortage of health care professionals, whose income may drop in the result of the growing role of government and increasing reliance of patients on the government support rather than health care insurance provided by private companies and covered either by citizens or their employers. For example, the author of the letter points out the shortage of health care professionals in rural areas and insists that this problem is the result of the health care reform. On the other hand, there is the problem of the fair access and quality of health care services provided for patients in terms of Medicaid. In this regard, the author identifies the major problem which is the growing number of patients that are likely to rely on Medicaid. The increased number of patients will naturally raise the problem how to provide them with health care services of the same quality. The direct effect of the health care reform means that Medicaid will simply lead to the increased number of patients enrolled in Medicaid. This is why the author concludes that the problem emerges because the growth of the number of patients may leave many patients without proper health care services without the qualitative improvement of health care services or the increase of funding or the employment of more health care professionals.

In fact, the position of the author is quite strong but the author should expand the scope of the problem without limiting the problem by Medicaid only. The current development of the national health care system still needs further changes since the reimbursement for health care services is still the problem and improvements are needed. What is meant here is the fact that, today, health care costs are rising, while the economic recession has made health insurance unavailable for many Americans, who relied heavily on their health insurance. At the same time, they cannot afford paying for the health care services they need to maintain their health or to treat their health problems. In addition, there is a large part of uninsured Americans, who live in poverty and cannot afford health care insurance and paying for health care services. In such a way, the further rise of health care costs is likely to increase in the future because the profit-oriented health care system, in which health care organizations, health care professionals and insurance companies are concerned with their profits above all, stimulate the rise of health care costs, regardless of the availability of health care services to citizens.

Therefore, changes are essential to provide health care services for all Americans. In fact, the rising health care costs raise barriers on the way of Americans to health care services. Ironically, the progress of modern technologies and medicine allows the treatment of many diseases but the lack of money leaves many Americans face-to-face with their health problems, whereas health care organizations cannot provide them with health care services for free. In such a situation, many Americans are left aside of health care services, while the access to health care services widens gap between the rich and the poor and the number of the poor grows progressively as the US stumbles though the economic recession.

In actuality, insurance companies and health care organizations have proved their inability to provide health care services for all Americans. Instead, health care organizations and insurance companies focus on their profits mainly, while needs of patients remain secondary for them. In fact, they do not provide health care services for patients, who cannot afford health care services of the high quality. Therefore, they contribute to rising barriers on the way of Americans to equal access to health care services. The lack of financial resources becomes a crucial factor for Americans to receive health care services or not that makes the availability of health care services to Americans dependent on the socioeconomic status of an individual.

In such a situation, the government support is essential to decrease health care costs, set national health care standards, and to provide health care services for all Americans. What is mean here is the fact that the government support will provide the national health care system with financial resources through the budget funding of health care organizations at the federal as well as state level. In such a way, the federal and state budget funding of health care organizations will allow the government to influence the performance of health care organizations. In this regard, the state will be able to set health care standards, which health care organizations and professionals should match to receive the funding from the state or federal budget. In such a way, health care organizations and health care professionals will be motivated to work better and to provide health care services of the high quality to match the set health care standards. In such a way, health care organizations and health care professionals will be interested in the quality of health care services and customer satisfaction. At this point, it is worth mentioning the fact that it will be taxpayers, who actually fund the new health care system through public funds. In such a way, health care organizations will serve directly to the public. At the same time, insurance companies will become unnecessary mediators between the government and health care organizations. Therefore, the government will be able to save costs on health care services through the direct funding of the national health care system.

Hence, the government support will eventually make health care services a public good but not a privilege as they are now. To put it more precisely, the government will set high standards of health care services and the public funding of health care system will save costs and decrease health care costs. More important, the new health care system will provide health care services for all Americans that will actually make health care services a public good but not a mere commodity or privilege available to the few, who can afford paying for health care services. Naturally, the public funding of the health care system through the federal and state budgets will need the creation of a special fund and the increase in revenues of the federal and state budget. For this purpose, the government can introduce fiscal changes and introduce taxes, respectively to the socioeconomic status and income of taxpayers. As a result, the rich will pay higher taxes to fund the national health care system, while the poor will pay as much as they can afford and some categories of the US population may be free of the health care tax.

Therefore, the problem concerning the current health care reform and Medicaid does exist as the author of the letter to the editor Health Care: Fairness for Medicaid patients insists. However, the author should not limit the scope of the problem by Medicaid solely. Instead, the problem should be rather viewed at the federal level and the level of the national health care system because the core of the problem is the funding of the national health care system. In this regard, private insurance companies and the government should rather share their responsibility and cooperate closely to ensure that all Americans have equal access to health care services, while heath care providers should have decent income and motivation to provide health care services to all patients, regardless of the source of coverage of their health care costs.

 

Works Cited:

Davis, K., et al. (2006). “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An Update on the Quality of American Health Care through the Patient’s Lens.” The Commonwealth Fund.

Health Care: Fairness for Medicaid patients, The Seattle Times, 2015. Retrieved from http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/health-care-fairness-for-medicaid-patients/

Jaspen, B. (2002). Low-Quality Health Care Costs United States Nearly $400 Billion Annually. Knight Ridder Tribune Business News. Washington: Jun 11, 2002, p.1.

Lasser, K. E., Himmelstein, D. U. and Woodlander, S. (2006). “Access to Care, Health Status, and Health Disparities in the United States and Canada: Results of a Cross-National Population-Based Survey.” American Journal of Public Health, 96(7), p.1300.

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

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"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

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freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
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[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 28, 2024]
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