Healthcare Rationing

Healthcare Rationing

What exactly does that mean? What is rationing our healthcare based off of (ex: age, worth to society, community engagement),

Rationing healthcare means denying the patients possible beneficial healthcare services. A decision is made on what services and goods are to be restricted and which patients should have access to limited services (YouTube [Video], (n.d.). Rationing healthcare is unavoidable, and this is done based on age, the well-being of the society, the engagement of the community, what the government insurance is willing to pay for, and the willingness and the ability to pay by the insurance provider.

1. And in your opinion, does it make sense to ration healthcare on these factors?

I think rationing healthcare basing on these factors makes sense because it is practically hard to provide healthcare services to all the people that require it because there are limited resources while the demands are unlimited. Having this priority set and rationing can help in the proper utilization of the available budgets.

2. What age brings the most considerable number of health problems?

As any people turn 85 years of age, to some, this means the age of retirement, and others get to enjoy the peace and joy for having lived a good life. However, it is an age that brings in the greatest number of health problems and concerns. Some of the health problems that might set in include Arthritis, Alzheimer’s, cancer, Heart diseases, Diabetes, Influenza, Obesity, Osteoporosis, and depression among other diseases.

3. Should society care for us past a certain age, or does the cost outweigh the benefit?

Society should only care for us up to a certain age, beyond that, one should seek an alternative method of financing their healthcare because the costs of financing for this care outweigh the benefits. It is approaching a phase whereby the American society will not be able to provide for every American the health care they want regardless of the cost. This, therefore, makes sense when the only solution now becomes to restrict healthcare for a given segment of the population and provide the best care to those that are insured.

4. In your opinion, Is our healthcare system (USA) doing a good job caring for older adults, why or why not? Give any personal examples you may have (with parents, grandparents, patients, etc.).

The healthcare system in the USA is not doing a good job caring for older adults. The American older adults are still experiencing more sickness and are more likely to go without the necessary care because they cannot afford it. It is not that they cannot access insurance because, at 65 years and above, aged Americans are covered by Medicare. It is only that Medicare is not that generous, especially when it comes to the older adults, and many of them have to spend on healthcare out of their pockets, which many of them cannot afford because it is costly. Personally, my grandfather succumbed to cancer.

He could not go to doctors when he needed his regular check-ups or even get the recommended medical procedures and tests because of the high costs. The Medicare that was supposed to be his only savior could not cater to all these expenses, and since we were poor, we had to accept the reality and watch him suffer until he died. The U.S must put in place a social safety net that is more powerful, more so for the elderly who have pressing needs. This would play an essential role in reducing spending and improve their health outcomes.

Additional Question

Explain the Affordable Care Act, present an argument for or against why this system

works or does not work.

The Affordable Care Act refers to the comprehensive law on health care reform that was enacted in 2010, March, also known as the “Obama care.” According to Blumenthal, Abrams & Nuzum, (2015), this law has three goals namely, to support the delivery methods of innovative medical care which are designed to reduce the overall costs of healthcare, to make health insurance affordable and available to more people and to expand the Medicaid program to cover all adults having incomes below 138% of the federal levels of poverty. In my opinion, this system does not work because it failed to achieve uniformity in terms of health care affordability. Access to health care in the United States is still the most expensive in the whole world, and the coverage is still out of the financial reach of many Americans.

The marketplaces and Medicaid expansions of Obama care make health coverage a deal that is attractive to the people near the poverty lines. At the same time, the poor earners struggle to pay for health plan premiums and encounter with deductibles that are higher than those appearing in the employer’s typical health plans. How the ACA law works is not clear; it is complicated. It is stated that 20 million Americans gained health insurance, but in 2016, the rate of the uninsured hit an all-time law. The health insurance selection might be more natural to choose presently, but it remains a complicated product.

Choosing the right health plan frustrates many Americans, and to some, it seems impossible because they do not know what their health needs are. Even after these Americans have chosen their insurances, they still struggle to use it, and some get stuck with bills that come as surprises. In some cases, they face lengthy negotiations with their insurance companies. Many of the Obama care health plans are trying to keep their prices competitive, and as a result, they have limited the number of hospitals and doctors that the plan will cover. This makes these plans narrow and therefore making it hard for some customers to get a plan that includes their desired providers.

References

Blumenthal, D., Abrams, M., & Nuzum, R. (2015). The affordable care act at five years.

YouTube [Video]. (n.d.). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/timedtext_video?v=c9SAiyc-Lig&=&=&o=U&ar=1583483085084