Health care bill formulation and policy development

Health Care Bill Formulation

Oral health is a state of oral and related tissues structures in the body that contribute to physical, mental and social well-being positively, enabling the individual to enjoy all the possibilities of life. A good state of oral health allows a person to speak, eat and socialize without any hindrance by discomfort, embarrassment or pain (Mason, 2010). Oral health is thus essential for the general health and the quality of the being of the personage. It is a state of being well from the mouth, facial pain, oral and throat cancer, oral infections and sores, periodontal disease, tooth decay and loss and other disorders that affect the ability of the individual to bite, chew, speak and smile. It is clear the inseparable connection between the oral health and the overall well-being of the person.

The Target Legislation

Sitting next to a person with a bad breath is probably the most annoying situation a person can face. This raises eyebrows as to what causes the bad breath that people struggle to evade. Most people spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in America trying to maintain clean breath, buying expensive toothbrushes and toothpaste. However, this is not the effective and efficient course to follow when it concerns the oral health of the American people (Phillips, 2009). The situation worsens with the care that people can access to have their dental health status checked. This is the origin of the focus of this proposed legislation, aimed at curbing and regulation the dental healthcare service delivery in the country. The legislation will focus on vast aspects included in the dental health care to make certain that the citizens get access to quality service. The connection between quality oral health and the well-being of the whole individual is remarkably inseparable. Therefore, this legislation draws from the desire to implement quality and effective oral health service, protecting the patients, people and the medical practitioners, as well.

The target of the legislation is to handle the rising cases of people suffering from ill oral health. There is the article by HuffPost blogger Deepak Chopra, who wrote on the topic of "Your mouth is the gateway to your body and not a very pristine gateway." In this article, it said and alluded that there are more bacteria in the mouth of an individual than the number of the people on earth. This is an unbelievable comparison and shocking revelation. However, shocking as it is, it is true, and thus the target of this bill is to ensure that the American people receive quality oral health care that will boost their lifestyles and individual development (Iritani, 2010). In the same article, two new studies showed the outcome about the surprising effects of the poor oral health on the overall body. Rounding up a handful of these research outcomes brought the reality of the mouth-body connection. The effect of the poor oral health affects and borders along all ages in life. The poor oral health does not select a certain group of individuals, but rather encompasses every person at the risk of getting an infection by these bacteria. The multitudes of bacteria in the mouth pose a wide form of possible illnesses associated to poor oral health. Therefore, the target legislation will focus on eliminating the possible causes of infections and providing quality and effective healthcare services to the people. It focuses on all the stakeholders in the health sector, the patients and the health professionals.

The focus of the legislation emanates from this connection between the poor oral health status and the professionals handling of the situation. Professionals keep giving advice to the public on how to maintain effective and efficient oral health care, such as mouth brushing programs, like brush twice a day or brush after every meal, yet people still get the infections. Therefore, from analyzing the articles from the various websites and the relation to the quality of oral health on the ground, the statistics alarmed to the extent of wishing to find a lasting solution to the imminent oral health crisis and malfunctioning. The bill aims to establish a direct correlation between the health providers and patients, who will help improve the overall health status of the populace.

Background Information

The American Dental Association (ADA) provides the outline of the dental course in the country, reviewing the studies regularly (Barton, 2013). According to the American Dental Association, they report that most people assume that most Americans in the present world enjoy tremendous oral health and are keeping their innate teeth in all their lives. However, this is not true for every person. The association reports that cavities are the most prevalent disease that affects people from childhood to adulthood. The association has the belief that with a better understanding of the intensive academic training and clinical education; that the dentists pass through to attain their qualification in the role of delivering oral health care is essential. The degree to which the disease has severity is key to understanding the essentials of preventing the ill oral health, for every American to benefit from the essentials of good oral health (Barton, 2013).

The American Dental Association article outlined the reasons why oral health of the individual matters using a scientific approach; that related the oral health to the general health conditions. It further went ahead to relate ill oral health to diabetes and heart disease. In response to this revelation, the world health organization (WHO) integrated the challenge of ill oral health into their chronic disease prevention efforts due to the risks to general health associated (Barton, 2013). American Dental Association has the recommendation that the visits to the dental care centers should begin no later than when the child's first birthday reaches. From this point, the dentists have the ability to provide quality guidance to the parents, guardians and children on how to deliver preventive oral health care services. Furthermore, the dentists help in providing diagnostic tools for realizing the infections at the early stages. With such an effective approach to the issue of ill health, the dental care will assist both children and adults to maintain the optimal oral health throughout their possible lifetimes on earth.

Secondly, there is the report from the Journal of Dental Research released in the year 2010. It compared the figures in the reported cases of dental health from the year 1990 to 2010, basing on all issues related to ill oral health (Chattopadhyay, 2011). Such issues include, tooth decay; tooth loose, gum disease and untreated caries among other infections. According to this research, in which over 500 scientists participated, with team members from the United States, UK and Australia, it indicated alarming results. Within the last one decade, the oral health conditions in this report increased by a resounding 20.8%. According to this report, approximately four billion people in the world-nearly half the population of the world- have ill oral health. These cases of ill health are severe as they can lead to inability to eat or sleep at night. In this report, a remarkable 35% of the global inhabitants make up the cases of individuals suffering from untreated condition such as tooth decay and cavities in the permanent teeth. The international team of researchers showed that more concern should go to the protection and prevention against periodontal diseases and untreated caries rather than tooth loss. In all sections of the world, the report raised the need for awareness and community knowledge in response to the ill oral health conditions, as these are factors affecting the overall health of an individual.

Similar to the American report, the Journal of Dental Research indicated the relation between the ill oral health and the overall body health. For instance, as the American Dental Association article indicated that heart disease can result, this report goes further to explain in details (Alliance for Health Reform, 2012). The journal indicates that when bacteria travel from the mouth to the inner lining of the heart, condition of the heart known as endocarditic occurs. This contagion can dent the heart valves and destroy them. Although the condition is treatable by use of antibiotics, severe cases require surgery or result in death. Further, the researchers linked the cardiovascular disease and diabetes to the poor oral health conditions such as tooth decay (Ramseier, & Suvan, 2010). Similarly, endocarditic, an increased amount of the mouth bacteria can find their way into the blood stream, clogging the arteries hence resulting in stroke and other life threatening strokes. The research relates that people suffering from diabetes are at a higher risk of having gum and periodontal disease. These research reports indicate the general connection between overall body health and the related cases of ill oral health.

The aim of this journal research was to establish the linking factor of the ill oral health to the general body health. This was with the aim of changing the perspective of people on the overall health and the essentiality of maintaining a clean mouth. The research thus concludes the essence of having quality and effective legislation addressing the aspects of overall oral health of the people.

Additionally, the Canadian Dental Association also relates several issues of the overall body health to the oral health of the individual. In view of the article on the relation "oral health -- good life," the article gives information on the essence of good oral health, indicating some of the illnesses of ill oral health (Chattopadhyay, 2011). In this article, the relation between the ill oral health and the overall health of the body is that the mouth is the ingress to the body. Therefore, an individual with ill oral health is at the highest risk of having infection that affects the whole body system severely. According to this article, it emphasizes the need for dentists-patient relation as the dentists is the only person with the skill, expertise and training to identify and address all the healthcare needs of the person. The report suggests the need to rely on the dentist before making suggestions and decisions on the formula to use to attend to the oral health conditions. This forms a basis of the legislation as it seeks to involve the professionals in the field to help tackle the issues of ill health.

Talking Point

The main purpose of the dental hygiene is to prevent the building up of plaque, the sticky film of bacteria forming on the teeth. Thus, the first point of focus of the legislation is the avoidance of the causative agents of the ill oral health (Rinzler, 2011). According to research by the American dental association, poor oral health hygiene forms the leading cause of ill health in the vast populations suffering from ill oral health. The other leading causes of the ill oral health include, diet and nutrition, exposure to fluorides, tobacco and alcohol usage, injury and other associated medical conditions in order of their prevalence. This indicates that most people do not understand the significance of oral health hygiene. Secondly, the rising intake of tobacco and alcohol in the society is causing challenge to the management of quality oral health. The foods we take in the present world lack most essential minerals necessary for health oral health development. The water and other drinks contain fluorides, which erode the teeth resulting in cavities, among other infections. Therefore, the legislation will focus on the prevention aspect of the causative agents of the ill health present in the society. As the philosophers suggest, prevention surpasses cure in importance; hence, the people need to learn to prevent the causative agents of ill health (Rinzler, 2011). The true picture is that most oral health infections result from the defective preventive measures against the causative agents of ill health.

The coverage of the current regulations relating to the field of Medicare is the second talking point, as it does not sufficiently tackle the requirements of people suffering from ill health. The befit packages offered by the government and the insurers do not fully address the needs of the oral health care facilities. Many people are suffering from the ill health; but they cannot access the quality treatment they require due to preventive measures in the industry. Such preventive measures and aspects preventing the people include the costs of treatment and the related aspects of costs. Therefore, the bill seeks to legislate the incidences of access and affordability of quality and effective oral health services to ensure they identify the conditions in their early stages and address them accordingly. The new legislation seeks to recognize the value of standalone dental plans, which will seek to provide the health care services exclusively.

The third point of contention and discussion is the relation between the aspects of infrastructure and the personnel to handle the issues of ill oral health in the country (Rinzler, 2011). The infrastructure in the country supports and provides for quality oral health. However, the infrastructure remains unexplored, leading to the need for a better approach to addressing the aspects of the ill health. The factors emanating from this fact is the issue of awareness in the part of the people on the essence of good oral health and the utilization and expansion of available structures. The bill also focuses on the issue of the personnel training and qualifications, as well as, the numbers of personnel available to attend to the people. The American population is vast; and requires several dental professionals to handle all the claims of the people sufficiently. Therefore, the bill also has a section of addressing the issues of the course program of dentists and other oral health professionals. This act aims to establish quality service delivery to the deserving American citizens. The quality and essence of good health is incomparable to any other factor in life. Good health is the basis of overall good life; hence, there is the need to establish the infrastructure required to handle the development of the ill oral health in the country.

The Bill Writing

Bill no. 2013/12

Health care reform and oral health

1. The bill proposes that children be integrated into the essential package benefits packages that the state insurance exchanges as established in the patient protection and affordable care act. This includes provisions for patients to seek and access affordable and quality health care for the better services of the people.