Inferential Statistics - 1.5 pages

STATISTICS RESEARCH DESIGN /METHODS

The US healthcare system has had quite a number of flaws that have for a very long time been ignored due to the assumption that the two main methods of catering for healthcare in the US, Medicaid and Medicare, are sufficient and efficient. However, late developments have been made to cub the issues brought about by their inadequacies. These include the famous affordable care act famously referred to as Obamacare (Patient protection and affordable care act) (Pipes, 2013).

A closer look at there issues with all over the country shows that the two most common methods of helping individuals cope with healthcare needs mostly ignore children. Medicare is for individuals that are beyond 65 years while Medicaid is not a guarantee not unless there is clear evidence of low income levels which unfortunately, is also not a guarantee. Children Healthcare Program at least is available for people that are considered to have an income too high to qualify for Medicaid. All these however aren’t supported by the data at the North Memorial Hospital of Minnesota. Children continue suffering compared to adults at least in comparison and the benchmark on government help through health funding.

There is a great need to look at this close and find out whether these facts are so or it is an assumption and if the rest of the state of Minnesota is still in the same state.

Availability of Medicaid reduces chances of children receiving health care from the medical canter. This research design is going to rely on Medicaid as the independent variable. Health care on children received through CHIP (Children Health Insurance Program) is going to be the dependent variable. Therefore, the problem under research here is: Availability of Medicare to (some) families undermine the probability of children to get access to CHIP and thus resulting to less affordability and availability of healthcare to children through the medical center.

PURPOSE STATEMENT

This research method document aims at establishing the relationships between various Healthcare products and platforms that are provided by the Federal government in association with the state of Minnesota and the way they interact to affect accessibility and affordability of healthcare with the case study of the North Memorial Hospital in Minnesota.

It will identify the role of, and the statistics around, Medicare, Medicaid and Children Health Insurance Program and their interplay to understand if they have any effect on the healthcare affordability and availability to children. More to this is the number of children that are not covered by CHIP due to the role played by Medicare in bringing about assumptions that disadvantage the healthcare access of children. The dependent variable is going to be the number of families with access to Medicare and the dependent variable is going to be the number of children that lack Healthcare especially through CHIP and due to factors related to Medicare. These could be accessibility to or lack or accessibility to Medicare.

Research Question

R1. What is the number of families that have access to:

· Medicare

· Medicaid

R2. How many children benefit through funds saved due to accessibility of another member of the family to Medicare.

R3. How many children get treatment at the hospital through the help of:

· CHIP

· Medicaid

What is the ratio of recipients of health care services through:

· CHIP

· Medicaid

· Medicare

APPROACH TO PROVIDING SERVICE TO THIS POPULATION

Children need to be served in a way that won’t compromise or seem to discriminate on the basis of whichever rationale. At least, the hospital (and any other medical center) should offer services to all the needy children irrespective of the ability to pay of the families. Then this service would be paid for through progressive tax system where those from an upper social class and income level get to dig deeper to meet their tax obligations as compared to those from lower income families.

References

CMS congressional guide: Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP. (2011). Baltimore, MD: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Our Vision. (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2014, from http://www.maplegrovehospital.org

Pipes, S. (2013). The cure for Obamacare. New York: Encounter Books.