NURS 8100 Week 1 DQ

NURS 8100 Week 1 DQ

The U.S. health care system is different from other developed countries in that it does not have a standardized health system or universal health care coverage. The U.S. has a hybrid healthcare system, while other developed nations have a single-payer national health insurance system, a national health service, or a multi-payer universal health insurance fund (Papanicolas et al., 2018). The uneven health insurance coverage in the U.S. health system is an important feature of interest to me. Many Americans do not have access to health care since it is restricted to: Persons with health insurance; Americans covered under government insurance programs; Persons who can afford to purchase private health insurance; Individuals who can get health services through safety net providers (Papanicolas et al., 2018).  

The feature is significant in relation to health policy and reform since policies and reforms are needed to increase Americans’ access to healthcare. Examples of approaches to address the issue include formulating policies that provide health insurance coverage to Americans from low-income families (Papanicolas et al., 2018). Policies on health insurance also need to be modified to allow the disproportionately uninsured Americans to access quality healthcare.    

The passing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) came with conditions that triggered legal and political controversy. It had a mandate requiring Americans to obtain health insurance or get penalties, with some exceptions, especially for low-income Americans who cannot afford insurance (Talbert et al., 2018). The condition was viewed as necessary to cover healthcare costs in the U.S. The controversy brought by this condition led to delays in the policy-making process. Policymakers challenging the policy argued that the condition overstretched Congress’s commerce clause power (McIntyre & Song, 2019). This explains why health reforms in the U.S. have been complicated since some policymakers argue that proposed reforms are unconstitutional.  

References 

McIntyre, A., & Song, Z. (2019). The US Affordable Care Act: Reflections and directions at the close of a decade. PLoS medicine, 16(2), e1002752. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002752 

Papanicolas, I., Woskie, L. R., & Jha, A. K. (2018). Health care spending in the United States and other high-income countries. Jama, 319(10), 1024-1039. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.1150 

Talbert, P. Y., Martin, L. F., Frazier, M., & Byas, D. (2018). Benefits and Challenges of the Affordable Care Act: What should be the Future of the ACA in 2018? Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 2.5, 09-16.