Healthcare Issues in America
$11. Healthcare rules, laws and regulations are enacted as a means to enhance the quality of life and healthcare delivered to Americans. However, they have both positive and negative impacts on the healthcare system. The negative effects include the resultant increase in medical care costs including fees paid to practitioners. These measures are also known to influence availability of healthcare and healthcare practitioners negatively. On the other hand, these measures are also positive because they enhance quality by allowing only highly qualified practitioners to carry out medical procedures, and thus enhancing the quality of healthcare delivered to the people. Some of the measures are also positive because they increase accessibility to medical cover to people that previously may have found it difficult or expensive to afford cover due to their medical conditions or age. Therefore, the measures are both positive and negative in influence.
$12. There are two factors that greatly influence the choice of the source of a medical service provider. These include the cost and expertise of the practitioner. However, one factor precedes the other. All citizens would prefer to be served but most highly qualified practitioners. However, at times not all of them can afford the exorbitant fees that these practitioners charge. Therefore, they opt to seek cheaper services from “lowly” qualified healthcare practitioners that can offer similar services. This is because they may be unable to raise a lot of money for healthcare due to poor income. Therefore, the government’s action of banning midwifes (a cheaper option for the poor) contradicts the government’s effort of providing cheap healthcare services as well as to all people including the poor. It is also tantamount to discrimination, because if they ban midwifes without providing alternative options for those that cannot afford doctors’ fees; they will be creating inequality. Therefore, midwifes should not be banned, and if they have to ban them; they should provide a means to help the poor pay for services offered by doctors.
$13. The provisions of HIPAA on privacy of patient’s medical records are in good faith, because they serve to enforce constitutional rights on privacy. As such, the laws and regulations under this provision should be upheld. However, they should not be allowed to compromise provision of medical services. Therefore, more supportive legislations should be enacted to provide for cases that may be special so as not to compromise the goodwill enshrined in the provision. Exclusions of this kind may include allowing accessibility to law enforcement agencies for the purpose of criminal investigations.
$14. National licensure is meant to enhance high quality provision of healthcare across the board, and as such; it should set the highest standards possible for healthcare provision. Therefore, state licensure should be comprehensively reviewed and implemented. State licensure may also be advantageous because it serves to rectify and modify on areas of licensure that the national licensure may have failed to highlight. However, it could also be restrictive in nature, and thus affect quality or availability of healthcare services. This can be exemplified by licensure meant to bar practitioners from other states in practicing within the licensing states.
$15. State licensure is beneficial because it ensures that people within the state are treated with only qualified practitioners. However, it impedes availability of practitioners because it restricts practitioners from other states. This may reduce competition which could have lowered service fees and increased availability of healthcare practitioners. Therefore, state licensure should ensure quality, but also allow equally qualified practitioners from other states to practice within states that are not their own.
$16. State licensure’s biggest disadvantage is the restriction of health practitioners from practicing in their none-native states. This creates impedance on practitioners living in inter-state zones as well as traveling practitioners because they have to obtain multiple licenses. This problem would be easily overcome by harmonization of licensing standards. This would mean that other states can recognize licenses offered in states with similar licensing standards whether far or near by simply confirming the offer of the license. This would reduce the time spent in seeking several licensures.
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