¶ … health care issues that can be the basis for determining appropriate policy priorities.
Review current literature and fully discuss hot topics, current reforms and two issues that should be imperative to health care policies.
The health care industry is fraught with issues that will continue to impact policies on a federal, sate and local level throughout the coming years. Disease management, health care reform and the threat of terrorism are all critical issues.
The Impact of Current Health Care Issues
The following memorandum outlines and discusses several challenges that are currently facing the health care industry. There are many flaws in the current health care system in this country and eventually legislation and policy reforms will need to be implemented in order to return health care to a "healthy" state.
The issues facing health care policy makers are numerous but some are more critical than others and need more immediate attention. The following list is not all-inclusive but identifies 5 issues that can be considered life-threatening topics that will have a significant negative effect on the population and health care itself, if ignored. Next, two of these issues are discussed in more depth because of the nature of their significance.
Key Issues
HIV disclosure. The issue surrounds privacy and how much personal information needs to be disclosed to others by an HIV patient and their physician.
For years, manufacturers of brand name drugs have maintained a monopoly of medications. Costs of some medication have skyrocketed and Congress has initiated a generic drug bill that would bring down the cost of medication that is contributing to the dramatic rise in healthcare costs.
The costs of prescription drugs has risen nearly 20% annually (Washington Post, August 2002) for the past few years because of increased demand and consumer advertising. Not to mention the lobbying ability…
