Description
Post a thoughtful response to at least two (2) other colleagues’ initial postings. Responses to colleagues should be supportive and helpful (examples of an acceptable comment are: “This is interesting – in my practice, we treated or resolved (diagnosis or issue) with (x, y, z meds, theory, management principle) and according to the literature…” and add supportive reference. Avoid comments such as “I agree” or “good comment.”
References:
- Response posts: Minimum of one (1) total reference: one (1) from peer-reviewed or course materials reference per response.
Words Limits
- Response posts: Minimum 200 words excluding references
Please follow the response part of the attached rubric……
Peer discussion 1
In this discussion post I will be going over civil rights and healthcare. I will go over how healthcare policies are related to quality, equity, access, and cost if applicable. I will go over why not if none of the above are applicable to the policy. I will go over what healthcare reform mean to those who are uninsured or underinsured. I will go over the implications of patients who are vulnerable and have limited access to healthcare. Finally, I will go over things that nursing can do to help increase awareness of the civil rights in healthcare.
Civil rights and healthcare gone hand in hand and are both important. The civil rights act was passed in 1964, as well as the Medicare and coverage passed in 1965 (Newkirk II, 2017). These two healthcare polices and the passing of the affordable care act in 2010 have all been beneficial in expanding healthcare to more people in American than ever before (Newkirk II, 2017). The health care reforms above all have helped to serve as building blocks to help gain health equality. They make for equal treatment of patients by not excluding people without private insurance. The quality of care is issued ethically to all and makes it easily accessible to each person in need. The cost is regulated some by the amounts that the government will pay for different services (Newkirk II, 2017). Health equality us known as acquiring the highest level possible for healthcare for all persons (Mason, Gardner, Outlaw, & O’Grady, 2016, p. 220). Healthcare reform is a means that through passing programs to cover healthcare for more people and to improve the care available to those who are underinsured, we can propel healthcare in America to the best coverage offered so far. We have to remember that not all people have transportation or a support person to help them get to their healthcare appointments. We also need to consider that not all areas of the country have the same amount of health services offered in those more remote locations (Mason, Gardner, Outlaw, & O’Grady, 2016, p. 221). A way that nurses can help with increasing awareness of the civil rights in healthcare are to acknowledge that they exist, joint nursing groups that work toward improving the civil rights in healthcare, and to know that we can do better by all patients everywhere.
In conclusion we went over information on civil rights and healthcare. We went over how healthcare policies are related to quality, equity, access, and cost, if it was applicable. We went over why not if none of the above are applicable to the policy. We have gone over what healthcare reform means to those who are uninsured or underinsured. We covered the implications of patients who are vulnerable and have limited access to healthcare. Finally, we went over things that nursing can do to help increase awareness of the civil rights in healthcare.
References
Mason, D. J., Gardner, D. B., Outlaw, F. H., & O’Grady, E. T. (2016). Policy & politics in nursing and health care (7th ed.). St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier.
Newkirk II, V. R. (2017). The fight for health care has already been about civil rights. Retrieved from https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/…
Peer discussion 2
Diversity, economics, ethics, and civil rights all play a role in the development of healthcare policies and healthcare reform. For the purpose of this discussion, I will explain what the healthcare policies related to access, cost, equity and quality are if applicable. I will explain what healthcare reform means to the uninsured and underinsured. I will discuss the implications of limited access to vulnerable populations. I will then include what nursing can do to help increase the awareness of civil rights in healthcare.
Most of the population within the United States still have issues gaining access to healthcare which is a serious problem in this day in age. As it is stated in our textbook, access to healthcare is one’s ability to obtain needed, affordable, convenient, acceptable, and effective care in a timely manner (Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, 2015). As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, there is a growing disparity between people who have insurance, those who do not, as well as those who can pay for their healthcare needs and those who cannot. To this day, many migrants and immigrants living in the United States that are not yet citizens have limits on their ability to access many public benefits which is unfortunate and a health risk to everyone (McElfish, Hallgren & Seiji Yamada ,2015). The cost of healthcare is increasing and is becoming more difficult for some families to afford. When we think of the costs associated with healthcare we tend to think about the cost of purchasing healthcare goods or supplies. To put the cost into perspective we must also include insurance premiums, co-pays, deductibles, taxes, services for aging adults or sick children, specialty services, or any out-of-pocket costs that are not covered by insurance, or the total cost for someone who does not have insurance at all. Financial costs often play an opaque, but important, role in medical care and treatment discussions for individuals and their healthcare providers (Cherry, 2015). When we think about healthcare quality, we tend to think about desired outcomes, life expectancy, infant mortality and vaccine preventable deaths. When we think about equity in healthcare, we think about fairness and impartialness. When we cannot provide healthcare to a population who simply cannot afford it, we greatly reduce the quality and equity of healthcare our systems are able to provide. As Cherry (2015) states, it is inappropriate for physicians or healthcare systems to impose judgments regarding quality or quantity of life for patients simply because they unable to pay for services upfront or do not have health insurance coverage.
One of the most current and talked about policies that involves all four of these concerns and is a big part of healthcare reform is the implication of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The goal and purpose of the ACA is to extend insurance coverage to over thirty million uninsured Americans and improve access to care by enabling these Americans to gain health insurance coverage through both private insurance regulation and expansion of public insurance programs. It is expected to impact healthcare costs by containing them and making them affordable to all (Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, 2015). Although it will take many steps and attempts to get it right and reshape how healthcare is paid for and offered for all, it sets a tone that everyone has a right to quality, fair healthcare regardless of status. Healthcare reform will make differences in both the uninsured and underinsured populations. These populations are expected to see the ACA to offer subsidizing for low income families so that they can purchase health insurance, expanding the Medicaid program, and requiring certain preventive services to be provided at no out-of-pocket cost to nearly all insured people and uninsured individuals will be able to sign up for the program (Buerhaus, 2020).
Access is affected by many factors, including culture, language barriers, geography, insurance coverage, price of healthcare, and the numbers and types of available healthcare providers (Buerhaus, 2020). Limited access to healthcare for vulnerable populations creates a problem for everyone. When healthcare access is limited, we are unable to emphasize important health education, disease prevention and make improvements in specific community and population health outcomes. We allow and create more problems in healthcare by avoiding and limiting certain populations. Nurses are able to help bridge the gaps and break down barriers to address and solve these problems. Nurses are the providers with the greatest presence during health care delivery, and they provide the most holistic approach to patients while advocating to meet all of their healthcare needs. This includes looking out for basic civil rights that need to be protected and it matters what nurses say and how they say it (Buerhaus, 2020).
In conclusion, nurses can help increase the awareness of civil rights, and discrepancies within diversity, economics, and ethics in relation to the development of healthcare policies and healthcare reform. By speaking up and standing up for fair, quality, affordable and accessible healthcare for all, nurses can help ensure that the uninsured, underinsured and vulnerable populations are getting their healthcare needs met.
Buerhaus, P. I. (2020). Demystifying National Healthcare Reform Proposals: Implications for Nurses. Nursing Economic$, 38(2), 58–64.
Cherry, M. J. (2015). Medicine, Morality, and Mortality: The Challenges of Moral Diversity. Journal of Medicine & Philosophy, 40(5), 473–483. https://doi-org.proxy.library.ohio.edu/10.1093/jmp/jhv023
McElfish, P. A., Hallgren, E., & Seiji Yamada. (2015). Effects of US Health Policies on Health Care Access for Marshallese Migrants. American Journal of Public Health, 105(4), 637–643. https://doi-org.proxy.library.ohio.edu/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302452
Policy and Politics in Nursing and Health Care, Elsevier Saunders, 2015, 7th edition
