Financial Analysis of Health Policy

Financial Analysis of Affordable Health Care Plan in Maryland

The implementation of the Affordable Health Care Plan in Maryland requires comprehensive analysis of the financial aspects of this health policy relative to its health benefits, especially in enhancing health coverage to the low-income individuals and families in this state. The financial analysis process of this health policy requires identifying the most suitable means for addressing financial uncertainties in the process and examining the economic viability and financial aspects of allocation process. These are crucial elements to consider because they affect the economic feasibility of the proposed health policy and helps in determining its suitability in addressing the existing health care issues and concerns.

According to McLaughlin & McLaughlin (2014), there are three major approaches that can be used to handle important uncertainties in the financial analysis of a proposed health policy (p.302). These three approaches are adding a risk premium to the discount rates that are utilized for uncertain segments of the calculations, creating a subjective probability allocation for the uncertain values and implementing the allocation to the modeling process, and investing in more research to lessen uncertainty (McLaughlin & McLaughlin, 2014, p.304). These approaches are crucial towards dealing with significant uncertainties in financial evaluation with regards to costs and benefits of a proposed health care policy.

For the Affordable Health Care Plan in Maryland, the most suitable approach for handling important uncertainties in financial analysis is investing in further research to lessen the uncertainty. This is an important approach in Maryland's Affordable Health Care Plan policy process because it enables policy makers to identify the accurate estimate of cost and the use it in the implementation process. Generally, investing in further research to decrease the uncertainty is an important step in this policy process because of its ability to generate precise estimate of the costs of the proposed policy and utilization of the accurate estimated cost during implementation. In this case, policymakers would engage in refining the estimated costs until they are relatively certain that it is the accurate mean estimate of the cost of the plan and then utilize it in implementation process.

The use of this approach in the Affordable Health Care Plan in Maryland is also fueled by the need to ensure financial stability of the State's health care industry or sector. Based on the current situation, Maryland has a high number of low-income individuals and families that struggle to afford and access health care services. Therefore, health coverage for this population i.e. people with low or moderate incomes has been a major concern in the state's health care industry. As the state's government considers various approaches to address this concern, it is important to ensure that the adopted approach ensures stability of the health sector through expanded coverage. Investing in further research to lessen important financial uncertainties is crucial step in this health policy process because it will help ensure that expenditures are directed towards initiatives that expand coverage and provide benefits to moderate income individuals and families in Maryland.

The other important approach for Affordable Health Care Plan in Maryland is adding a premium to the discount rates utilized for uncertain segments of the calculations. This also helps in ensuring stability of the state's health care system by dealing with the financial uncertainties effectively. In this case, various streams of costs and benefits are modified or changed at varying rates because they are associated with different uncertainties. The adjustments of these varying streams of costs at different rates based on the varying uncertainties linked to them helps in ensuring that the costs of the policy are in line with the expected or desired benefits, which is crucial towards stability.

Economic Viability and Financial Aspects of the Allocation Process

As previously mentioned, financial analysis of a proposed health policy also requires examining economic viability and financial aspects of the allocation process. This is primarily because these factors have considerable impacts on the economic feasibility of a proposed policy alternative. The consideration of economic viability and financial aspects of the allocation process is also important because financial decisions relating to health policies have significant effects on actors and nonfactors. The consideration of economic viability and financial aspects of the allocation process requires examining the costs of the policy, value for money, comparison of the value relative to alternatives under consideration, and methods of payment.

The cost of the Affordable Health Care Plan in Maryland varies depending on various factors including the level of coverage, qualification for a subsidy, age, and the specific area where an individual lives in the state. There are four levels of coverage in this health policy i.e. platinum, gold, silver, and bronze with 90%, 80%, 70%, and 60% of coverage for health care costs respectively. In this case, the lowest monthly premiums have the highest out-of-pocket expenses while the highest monthly premiums have the lowest out-of-pocket expenses for health care costs. The varying factors that influence health coverage make it difficult to determine the exact cost of this health policy. However, the monthly premiums for health coverage based on this policy ranges between $124 and $470 depending on the varying factors of the specific individual.

The Affordable Health Care Plan in Maryland has significant value for money because the proposed policy helps ensure expanded coverage, particularly to low- and middle-income individuals and families within the state. This policy helps in improving coverage to the uninsured and underinsured population in Maryland through establishing coverage provisions across the income spectrum ("How Will the Uninsured in Maryland Fare," 2014). While premiums and out-of-pocket expenses differ depending on level of coverage and other factors, this policy ensures that individuals and families can afford health coverage depending on their specific income spectrum. Therefore, the significant value of this policy relative to its costs is expanded health coverage across the income spectrum through removal of pre-existing conditions and lifetime restrictions on health benefits.