reserved for HIFSA

Healthcare Policy Concern, Solution and Advocacy

The health of American citizens highly depends on the accessibility to healthcare services. Social barriers, such as lack of insurance and individual’s underinsurance, result in many Americans missing out on quality healthcare. Recently implemented healthcare policies have not been able to secure coverage for all Americans, and some policy amendments at the state and federal level are necessary to bridge the gap. The house representatives recently passed the American Health Care Act, and the barrier is set to worsen if passed into law by the Senate. Through nursing advocacy, supported by evidence-based studies, legislators can lobby for policies that promote equitable access to healthcare for all citizens. This paper discusses the lack of health insurance as a social barrier to healthcare, its solution in policy amendments, and an advocacy intervention directed at a state legislator.

The implemented and proposed healthcare policies do not ensure that all Americans have health insurance cover. Due to their complexities also, most Americans are under-insured or paying high premiums for services they do not utilize (Williams, Phillips & Koyama, 2018; Spiltanic, 2017). Despite the introduction of Medicaid, the number of Americans without insurance remains at about thirty million. Also, passing AHCA into law by the Senate will see more than twenty million lose their coverage by public insurance. The Affordable Care Act provided a chance for states to expand Medicaid cover. However, not all countries have considered the expansion step, including Texas and Florida, whose large populations could benefit from public cover. The AHCA is looking to roll back Medicaid expansion by states, in an attempt to reduce the growing federal spending on healthcare. Apart from that, the repeal of the individual mandate will ensure more people do not seek health insurance.

Retaining of the Affordable Care Act, and various changes to the AHCA would ensure most Americans have health insurance coverage, thus accessing quality healthcare services (Buettgens, 2018). As provided by the ACA, most states could still choose to expand Medicaid and enroll more people into public funding, whereby the federal government covers up to ninety percent of the cost. All states accepting to expand Medicaid would see the national levels of uninsured people reduce by more than twenty-five percent. On the other hand, some provisions by AHCA such as subsidies for people with preexisting conditions and tax waivers on some healthcare products promote equity. However, before passing it into law, the Senate should ensure that it does not repeal relevant provisions of ACA. Bottom-line, it is critical to retain provisions that provide higher enrollment and reduced policy lapses such as Medicaid expansion, subsidies, tax waivers, and the individual mandate.

Households and individuals who cannot afford private insurance coverage, and are not poor enough to qualify for public insurance will benefit the most from the prescribed policy amendments. Other resultant factors would be the increase of coverage among the non-elderly citizens (Garfield et al., 2014). Expansion of Medicaid involves setting the eligibility level at 138% of the Federal Poverty Level. This means that the majority of the people who could not afford personal coverage, or who do not get covered by their employers can access public healthcare coverage. Apart from higher enrollment, waivers and subsidies would ensure that the number of insurance policies lapsing considerably reduces. Individual mandate also will prompt more people with the capability to seek coverage.

An elected official in the best position to lobby for the above policy concern solution is a congressperson who can effectively lobby. Lobbying through my state's current congresswoman would be possible since she is from the same district as me, and would be more obligated to lobby for relevant issues. Being a Republican, my senator is currently supporting the AHCA, but through evidence-based advocacy, he might be instrumental in influencing other party members and the rest of the Senate to support the proposed solution.

Elected officials in charge of policy development encounter a lot of communication attempts from a great multitude of people. Effective communication techniques would ensure their dedication to lobbying (Schraufnagel, 2013). Addressing elected officials through any media requires the advocate to identify themselves, stating the importance of the issue and providing contact information. Secondly, advocates need to be clear and specific in addressing a policy concern. This may require the provision of the bill's name and providing references that explain the issue without complications. The third technique is suggesting a call to action, such as asking the official to vote yes or no and pushing for proposed amendments. Finally, like other people, elected officials will be more willing to listen to a message delivered politely in a way that seeks to impact other than negative criticism positively.

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