Health care reform is a global and constant issue. Most communities are planning, preparing, implementing, legislating and assessing the health care reform as a policy improvement that is a continuous cycle. Globally, the objectives of health care reform are becoming familiar – controlling the growing costs, improving the quality of health care and increasing access to health care services.
Universal Health Coverage
Universal health care coverage is a health care system which provides financial protection and health care services to every citizen within a country. It provides a package of benefits to everyone with the end goal being providing improved access to health care, reduced cost and improved outcomes of health. However, universal healthcare does not provide coverage for everyone for everything (Pineault, et al., 1993). It only implies that everyone is able to access healthcare. Some universal coverage systems are funded by the government while others are based on what the citizen is required by private health insurance.
Universal coverage is determined by three dimensions; how much of the cost is covered, who is covered and what services are covered (Rittenhouse, et al., 209). The World Health organization describes universal health coverage as a condition in which the citizens have access to health services without incurring any hardship in finances. Universal coverage is a powerful concept Public Health offers because it is delivered in an integrated and comprehensive way. One of the goals with universal coverage is creating a protection system which provides equality of opportunity individuals to enjoy. Most people agree that access to healthcare should be considered as a human right but not as a luxury.
Reduction of Cost
Being medically insured does not necessarily assist him or her get a timely and efficient treatment appointment. It does not also give a guarantee that the patient will afford all the required deductibles before an examination. The goal of healthcare reforms is to offer accessibility at a fair price. Of late, the efforts to controlling the costs of healthcare have taken an approach of top-down. However, due to the diversity in delivery systems, there...
This can especially be done at the community level where there is delivery of care. Therefore, the most effective way of minimizing care costs and improving population health is by supporting and developing community strategies that all stakeholders are involved. This can be done using actionable and accurate data for purposes of changing all care delivery aspects. For reduction of cost to be effectively done, the following will be needed; reduction of drug costs, improvement of fraud control, reduction of administrative...…more informed decisions for more accurate diagnosis and proper treatment options. It also helps in reducing health care costs. EMR software entails a portal used by patients for access to their health information (Phillips, et al., 2010). This becomes more convenient for patients when they will need to get a track of their medical history and medications in the future. If you want to switch doctors especially if you are moving to a new city, it will become easier for your new physician to get access to your medical history. Emergency care will get to improve as responders to emergencies will be able to easily have access to information about a patient with the help of electronic medical records. EMRs will lead to more effective, efficient and timely care hence healthier patients.
Conclusion
Most political parties have never come into an agreement when it comes to health care. All they can agree on is that the current system is unsustainable and ineffective unless some significant changes are made. In any health care system, the key issues are cost, care and access. Insanity can be defined as “doing the same things over and over while expecting different outcomes.” This has been observed to be playing out as the government has continued to increase its role in the health care system. The failed experiment of Obama-Care has illustrated that a one-sized program can never work.
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