Healthcare Advocacy for the Elderly: Community to Policy
This paper examines how healthcare advocates can address healthcare disparities faced by the elderly, a vulnerable population burdened by rising out-of-pocket costs, ageism, and social isolation. Three primary advocacy strategies are discussed: organizing and educating the community, engaging politically to influence legislation, and working directly with seniors to meet their social and healthcare needs. The paper also explores ethical concerns that arise when advocate workers transition from community-based settings to business environments, particularly the risks of losing empathy and person-centered focus. Drawing on deontological ethics and current literature, the paper argues that effective advocacy requires simultaneous engagement at local, national, and political levels.
- Introduction: Healthcare disparities and rising costs burden elderly populations
- How Healthcare Advocates Can Aid the Elderly Population: Community organizing and awareness-raising strategies for advocates
- Getting Politically Engaged: Lobbying legislators and joining advocacy organizations for change
- Working Directly with Seniors: Volunteering and outreach to combat isolation and ageism
- Ethical Concerns in Advocacy: Risks of losing empathy when shifting to business settings
- Conclusion: Multi-level advocacy required across community, policy, and outreach
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper clearly organizes its argument around three actionable advocacy strategies, making it easy to follow and apply practically.
- It integrates peer-reviewed sources to substantiate claims about healthcare cost burdens and advocacy models, lending credibility to each point.
- The ethical concerns section thoughtfully applies deontological ethics to a real-world professional transition, elevating the paper beyond a simple how-to guide.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper effectively uses direct quotation and paraphrase together — quoting Yamada et al. to anchor a statistical claim, then paraphrasing to explain its implications for vulnerable populations. This technique shows how to blend evidence with analysis rather than letting quotations stand alone without interpretation.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a problem statement grounded in literature, then moves through three parallel advocacy strategies (each given its own subsection), followed by a dedicated ethical concerns section. The conclusion reflects on what was covered and reinforces the paper's central argument. This problem–strategy–ethics–reflection structure is well-suited to applied health policy writing at the undergraduate level.
Introduction
Ageism, isolation, and misconceptions about gerontology are all issues that the vulnerable elderly population faces (Brojeni, Ilali, Taraghi & Mousavinasab, 2019). As Yamada et al. (2015) point out, however, healthcare disparity and healthcare inequality among the elderly represent one of the biggest issues because they underlie all the others: if the elderly population does not have sufficient access to care, it is unlikely to be able to battle the effects of ageism, isolation, or ignorance about gerontology. Healthcare costs have doubled since the 1990s (Yamada et al., 2015), and this places an added burden on the elderly population, whose resources are finite. Yamada et al. (2015) put it this way: "as healthcare costs rise, more of the increasing costs are transferred to certain disadvantaged populations, and patients would have to spend a considerable share of their healthcare costs out-of-pocket" (p. 1745). In other words, the cost increases of healthcare are shifted onto vulnerable populations — and too few advocates are speaking up in their defense against this injustice.
While access disparity and unmet needs for vulnerable populations are often the result of complex healthcare policy arrangements, the federal government through the legislative branch could create a more equitable path for the elderly. For example, Congress could pass a law that eliminates the out-of-pocket expenses that elderly persons must pay for care. This paper discusses how healthcare advocates can aid the elderly population and the ethical concerns that should be considered as health advocate workers shift from a community setting to that of a business.
References
Brojeni, S. A., Ilali, E. S., Taraghi, Z., & Mousavinasab, N. (2019). Lifestyle and its related factors in elderly. Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, 6(1), 32.
Community Health Advocates. (2015). Helping New Yorkers get, keep, and use health coverage. Retrieved from: http://www.cssny.org/programs/entry/community-health-advocates
Davoodvand, S., Abbaszadeh, A., & Ahmadi, F. (2016). Patient advocacy from the clinical nurses' viewpoint: A qualitative study. Journal of Medical Ethics & History of Medicine, 9(5), 1–8.
Maryland, M. A., & Gonzalez, R. I. (2012). Patient advocacy in the community and legislative arena. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(1), 2.
Stainton, H. (2016). Horizon to fund new NJ healthcare advocacy organization. News, Issues, and Insight for New Jersey. Retrieved from: http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/16/11/21/horizon-to-fund-new-nj-healthcare-advocacy-organization/
Yamada, T., Chen, C. C., Murata, C., Hirai, H., Ojima, T., & Kondo, K. (2015). Access disparity and health inequality of the elderly: Unmet needs and delayed healthcare. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12(2), 1745–1772.
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