health

Running head: HEALTHCARE ACCESSIBILITY 1

HEALTHCARE ACCESSIBILITY 4

Healthcare accessibility

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Healthcare accessibility

The US healthcare system has undergone major reforms to improve the healthcare accessibility to its citizens. Healthcare provision is a social justice that requires government involvement in ensuring equitable access among its citizens. The government is responsible for ensuring that the wellbeing of its citizens is given priority. The capitalist approach on healthcare creates a system where the quality and access to healthcare services depends on the affordability. It rations healthcare services to patients. According to the UN cited by Levesque, Harris, & Russell (2013), healthcare is a fundamental right that individual countries must attain by ensuring equal access to healthcare services.

The two viewpoints (capitalists and socialists) have had major influences on different sectors of the economy including the healthcare. Their implications have lead to major reforms that have changed the quality and access to healthcare. The capitalist view healthcare as a commodity to be bought therefore, the wellbeing of the patients is not a considered element in the industry. It risks the quality of life of the citizens and the productivity of the population. The capitalists view healthcare access as a responsibility of individual and not a collective effort.

The socialists approach view healthcare access in a humane manner unlike capitalist who consider it as a commodity. This view considers the government as the central organ in organizing and distributing access to healthcare. The implications of this approach include coordinated approach in planning and distributing healthcare services within the country. It ensures that healthcare resources are distributed equally. The accessibility of services is also a priority that the socialists consider as fundamental to ensuring the wellbeing of the citizens. The approach is also cheaper because of the planned approach in the distribution of resources.

One of the major social reforms on healthcare includes the Affordable Care Act under Obama presidency (Obama, 2016). This is a major reform in attaining a centralized healthcare system. This Act ensures coverage of more than two thirds of uninsured US citizens. Many low income citizens have been insured under the Act which a major collective obligation that the socialists consider a major achievement in making healthcare access a fundamental human right.

The impact of the conflict of interest between the socialists and capitalists on the healthcare system has lead to creation of regulations (Jackson, & Jackson, 2011). The three major issues that continue to affect the provision of healthcare services include cost, quality and accessibility. The private sector is profit driven which therefore require regulation to ensure that cost and quality of services do not exceed the expected standard. The healthcare system cannot be completely centralized therefore regulation on the industry must be in place to contain the sector. During the Bush Administration, the subsidies on drugs for the elderly under the Medicare prescription drug ensured accessibility to medication among the elderly. These reforms reduce monopolies in the sector by ensuring equal distribution and accessibility of care. The healthcare industry has a major influence on the productivity of the citizens hence the government must ensure that they access quality and affordable care.

References

Jackson, M. S., & Jackson, H. M. (January 01, 2011). Social Justice, America, & African American Children.

Levesque, J. F., Harris, M. F., & Russell, G. (2013). Patient-centred access to health care: conceptualising access at the interface of health systems and populations. International journal for equity in health, 12(1), 18.

Obama, B. (2016). United States health care reform: progress to date and next steps. Jama, 316(5), 525-532.