Health Care Planning
INITIATIVE PLANNING
Introduction
The issue of health care planning has been one of the contentious issues in the history of the United States. Successful governments have come with policies that are likely to address the issue but there have been not success in coming up with a policy to address the issue. The insurance health scheme has been one of the most contentious issues in the health sector with the government fighting for the control of the sector with the private sector. The issue of health care has elicited a lot of debate in the State with many calling for the need to have government full control of the sector while others argue for complete liberalization of the sector with the private sector being given the first hand in the management of the health care. The control of health sector by the private sector dates back to the time when of development of medical sector and hence it has been difficult for the government to take full charge. (Hartman, 2007)
This paper will come up with an initiative that will provide a plan that can be used by the government to change the heath care system in the country. It will review various aspects of the health care scheme including tax, insurance, government health centers, and other which can help to streamline the health sector.
Health care plan initiative plan
This heath care plan will come up with various recommendations that can be used as remedy for some of the thorny issue in the health sector. The following are the recommendations that I can make to change the health care system in America
Employer cost on the health scheme
The health insurance scheme in the US has continuously become a burden for the employers. There have been various complain from employers that the cost of health insurance scheme for the workers has been having a heavy impact on the budget and therefore some of the companies have resulted either to reducing the size of the employees or to altering the terms of employment. Although there has been a massive companies to encourage the companies to contribute to the health insurance scheme of their workers, the cost of this contribution and tax has reduced their profits by a large margin.
Therefore my suggestion would be to reduce the amount of contribution that employer make to the insurance scheme for their workers. This can be carried out in many ways. First the amount of contribute per employee can be reduced. Second the cost of this contribution can be shard between the employer and the employee. This relieves the employer of the burden and act as incentives to employ more people.
Reducing the insurance among the unemployed
The list of those who are employed who are not insured has been increasing as companies take drastic measures to reduce the cost of health insurance on their budget. As such there are those who are considered employed and hence not insured since they can afford their medical expenses. However this has been contrary as most of them cannot meet their daily expense and at the same time meet their medical expense. Therefore the most important way to address this issue would be adjusting the criteria for insurance qualifications among the employed. This adjustment will see the admission of those with a lower salary scale who are not likely to meet their medical expenses. This has to be reflected in adjusted qualification criteria for children which means there should be the same adjustment in the children health insurance scheme to admit children of those who are not insured and are employed.
Changing health related licensing laws
Throughout the history of the United States, there has been contribution of the government and the private sector in provision of health care for the people. As such there has been need to give the private sector strength in order to provide for health care. It has been observed that most the people in the United States purchase their insurance premiums through the private sector. Therefore there is need to look into the laws that regulate the licensing of the private sector in order to make it more responsive to the need of the health care of the people. There has also complains from the citizens about the way some private practitioners have been handling them and therefore there is also need to look at some of these issues in order to streamline the operation of the private sector in provision of heath services. Changing of some of the related licensing laws will give the government power to regulate the operation of some of the private sector practitioners. (Truffer, 2004)
Developing or regulating better insurance rates and options
Insurance rates consist of the amounts that the insured people have to pay as premiums for their medical cover. Those who wish to purchase health insurance directly must first undergo through medical underwriting. In this case insurance companies always screen the applicants and they may reject an applicant or quote for them increased rates for those who are found to have some preexisting condition. As a result, some individuals are given high premium rates depending on their conditions which some cannot afford to pay. This has been criticized for failing to meet the need for insurance health premiums for some individual who have minor conditions or forcing them to pay higher premiums. Therefore there should be an accepted medical insurance underwriting that is conducted by the government which will respond to the needs of all people. (Jack, 2007)
Creating tax incentives
The health sector is one of the most regulated sectors in the country. In this regard, the health sector is highly taxed by the government which keeps away some of the private practitioners from the sector. There are less tax incentives in the sector which could attract more practitioners so as to lower the cost of health services. As such the government should come up with a way of creating tax incentives in the country so as to make it appear like a lucrative business. The pay-for-service approach the sector has taken means that it is being conducted like any other business and therefore it has to be given tax incentives like other sectors.
Tax incentives will assist the private practitioners to invest more in the development of the heath scheme. The government should target tax incentives for private practitioners who extend their services to those who are not insured. In this way they will be exempted from tax depending on the services that they are giving to those whoa re not insured.
Closing tax loop holes for for-profit health care organizations
Although the health sector is highly regulated, there have been many loop holes where health care organizations have been losing money and at the same time the government has been losing money as far as taxing of the sector is concerned. As a result, some of the health organizations have been making more profit than other as they find tax loop holes through which they evade paying taxes to the government. In order to play the playing field, the government should come up with a comprehensive tax regime that will ensure that it taxes all the organizations in the health sector. This will standardize the cost of service and improve service delivery. Sealing all the loopholes will require review of the current tax system in order to make amendments where there are loopholes which give undue advantage to some of the companies leaving the others out.
Increasing the efficiency and lowering the operating costs of state-run hospitals
The cost of health has been rising in the US despite the efforts that have been put to mitigate the situation. As a result, there has been rising cost of operation of the state-run hospital which are mostly located in the rural areas. Most of them have become inefficient and thereof not able to meet the demand of health care of the population that they serve. This initiative plan would propose to hag a new look at the functions of these state run-hospital in order to cut the operating cost and make them more efficient. This would involve coming up with such measure in hiring, staffing, and other areas which continue to raise the cost of operation. (Khan, 2005)
Expanding state health care services
The government of the United States has been striving to meet the heath care need of its population and therefore there is need to make it more responsive in order to serve the citizens well. This will help to change the current position of the government in the health care system where it is working as a dysfunctional system of third-party payments. This would enable the government to play a major role in the health care of its citizens. The government needs to take a new approach to the programs like Medicare and Medicaid in order to make them more responsive to the need of the people. In liberalizing the health care sector, the government needs to play central role in regulation of the private sector to ensure that they offer quality service to the citizens. This would make the government become more responsive to the needs of the people as far as health care matters are concerned. (Jefferey, 2000)
References
Hartman, M. (2007). US heath spending for the year 2004. Health Affairs, November 2007
Jack, H. (2007). Insurance coverage, Medial care use and health changes. JAMA, March 2007
Jefferey, R., (2000). Medicare and Medicaid services. Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Vol. 28(1): 23-86
Khan, J. (2005). The cost of heath insurance administration in California. Health Affairs (Millwood), Vol. 24
Truffer, C. (2004). Insuring American Heath. Institute of Medicine of the National Academics, October 2004
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