The government in the United States is involved in healthcare by
creating many laws and regulations. Healthcare organizations are
required to follow many of the regulations set forth by the
government. An example of this would be the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
HIPAA is a federal law that protects patient health information from
being shared without the patient’s consent or knowledge (Health
Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) | CDC,
n.d.). Other examples of government involvement with healthcare
would be the Affordable Care Act, which increases health coverage
and improves quality of healthcare (Affordable Care Act (ACA) -
Glossary, n.d.). The HITECH Act, or the Health Information
Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, provides
financial incentives for organizations that prove meaningful use of
healthcare information technology (Office for Civil Rights (OCR),
2021). The American Recovery Reinvestment Act of 2009 promotes
the use of electronic health records and provided governance of EHR
(Burke, 2010). Medicare/Medicaid provides health insurance to
people with lower incomes (Medicaid | Medicaid, n.d.). The Agency for
Healthcare Research and Recovery has the goal of making healthcare
safer while increasing the quality and making healthcare more
accessible and inexpensive (Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality (AHRQ), n.d.). Almost all of these have the intent to create
higher quality healthcare and increasing the accessibility.
Health insurance has the ability to improve access to healthcare.
Patient’s who have active health insurance tend to have more
positive health outcomes. Health insurance can also decrease
financial strain and there are also programs available within insurance
plans that provide financial incentives for the appropriate use of
healthcare. An example of this would be an employer requiring yearly
physical exams to receive a financial discount on a healthcare
premium. The insurance that I have through my employer provides a
discount if we meet certain health goals over the year. This
encourages a healthier lifestyle for employees while also providing a
financial incentive.
Having health insurance can also improve medication compliance.
This can occur when an insurance program requires a person to use a
mail order pharmacy or receive a 90-day supply of maintenance
medications. People who use medication for diabetes, cardiovascular
disease, asthma, birth control, or any other chronic illness that can be
controlled through medication can benefit from these services
provided by health insurance. In my own personal experience, my
health insurance requires all maintenance medication to be
prescribed on a 90-day supply and sent through a mail order
pharmacy. Although my employer has their own mail order pharmacy
and insurance company (Geisinger Health Plan and Geisinger Mail
Order Pharmacy) and it is a self-benefiting program that they make
us use in order to save money on their end, I do find it convenient
and helpful to use a mail order pharmacy.
Reducing the number of uninsured people would need to be
done by increasing the availability of Medicaid. Expanding public
health services, like Medicaid, would allow for better health
outcomes, as mentioned above, for people with a lower income.
References:
Affordable Care Act (ACA) - Glossary. (n.d.). HealthCare.Gov. Retrieved
July 5, 2022, from https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/affordable-
care-act/
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). (n.d.). AHRQ.
Retrieved July 5, 2022, from https://www.ahrq.gov/
Burke, T. (2010). The Health Information Technology Provisions in
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Implications
for Public Health Policy and Practice. Public Health Reports, 125(1),
141–145. https://doi.org/10.1177/003335491012500119
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) |
CDC. (n.d.). CDC.Gov. Retrieved July 5, 2022,
from https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/topic/hipaa.html#:
%7E:text=The%20Health%20Insurance%20Portability%20and,the
%20patient’s%20consent%20or%20knowledge
.
Medicaid | Medicaid. (n.d.). Medicaid.Gov. Retrieved July 5, 2022,
from https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/index.html
Office for Civil Rights (OCR). (2021, June 28). HITECH Act
Enforcement Interim Final Rule. HHS.Gov. Retrieved July 5, 2022,
from
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/hitech-
act-enforcement-interim-final-rule/index.html
