The government of the USA has the responsibility of ensuring every citizen has access to healthcare. The government has been executing various health care programs for its people through the federal government and still has a significant role (Healthcare Triage, 2014). The government of the USA spends more than any nation in the world on the provision of health to its people but still lags many developed countries on crucial health measures.
There have been many opinions on the federal government’s role in providing health to American citizens. Some leaders argued people have to support the government in providing health to its people. Many citizens have advocated that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure good health for its citizens. Sometimes, the poor residents of the USA remain uninsured, with the private resources being too expensive for them to afford. It thus shows that the federal government’s obligation for health provision is enormous.
Health care is an issue of social justice and a right for the people that the federal government has a responsibility to ensure its delivery to all Americans. A government that is fully accountable for the health of its people enables all citizens to engage actively in the economic, social, and political activities within the society (Muigua, 2021). However, although some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have made efforts to help the less privileged in the USA; there are limitations on the execution of their activities (Raghupathi & Raghupathi, 2018). It makes some citizens eligible for help be left out of these NGOs programs; thus, the government is the most efficient and effective body to meet the health needs of the entire population. Private health facilities are also responsible for providing health access to the citizens, but most are concerned more about making profits than assisting the citizens. Other employers offer insurance covers for their workers, thus playing a part in health provision in the nation.
Universal Health Care (UHC) is concerned about everyone having equal access to health, regardless of their economic and social status. The UHC should not only be focused on disease treatment but also provide some prevention of diseases. Many people worldwide perceive that the USA has full UHC coverage for the health of its people. However, this is not the case in the nation, as not everyone has access to health services. Recently, around 15% of the population was uninsured, which means such people do not have equal access to health (Healthcare Triage, 2014). Some USA residents are too poor to afford any insurance cover, leaving such individuals to face the inequality of health access. Government leaves other poor and unemployed adults out of health programs because they do not have children, thus unfair health access.
It is the role of the federal government to ensure that the citizens of a state have UHC. The federal government should devise a plan that avoids leaving out the marginalized poor individuals of the state because they do not have children. Other adults are below the poverty line, but the government cannot consider them in the insurance plans for such people (Healthcare Triage, 2014). The federal government should pay for everyone’s access to fair health, especially the poor and old members of society who do not have employment to meet the health costs. Employers can also help their employees have a UHC by paying for their insurance plans. It helps reduce the burden that is heaped on the federal government.
The Medicare and Medicaid programs are performing their role in ensuring people’s access to health, but the programs are leaving out some members of society. Medicaid is a state-based program that is supposed to provide poor individuals with their health. It does not mention adults without children at all, and thus in some states, they can not have Medicaid services. The program considers an adult making around $3200 annually too rich for Medicaid (Healthcare Triage, 2014). Most times, the parents have to be extremely poor to be eligible for Medicaid’s service.
The program’s expansion was supposed to cater to everyone below 138% of the poverty line, regardless of whether they have children. However, this has not yet been solved by the expansion of Medicaid (Healthcare Triage, 2014). The court’s decision to make Medicaid optional has caused over five million people not to have this insurance cover. Medicare is a nation-based health insurance program divided into Medicare A, B, C, and D. Medicare A has helped many patients, especially the elderly. Medicare B has helped provide outpatient medical coverage, while Medicare C is run under private hospitals to provide better services. Medicare D offers drug and prescription services to its citizens.
The federal government has a role in ensuring that each state resident has proper access to health, regardless of their status. Cole et al. (2018) comment that the federal government, through Medicaid, ensures even those in rural areas have health access. It is also responsible for ensuring the purchase of various medical equipment and drugs in the hospitals. Ensuring that the hospitals have the latest medical technological equipment is the federal government’s duty. It has to ensure that the government health centers have enough medical personnel to cater to the public’s needs. The federal government sponsors multiple educational health programs used to sensitize the population to healthy practices. It should facilitate the coordination of the health care services in an organized manner to ensure better health delivery to its citizens.
References
Cole, M. B., Wright, B., Wilson, I. B., Galárraga, O., & Trivedi, A. N. (2018). Medicaid Expansion and community health centers: care quality and service use increased for rural patients. Health Affairs, 37(6), 900–907. Web.
Healthcare Triage. (2014). The Healthcare System of the United States. In YouTube. Web.
Muigua, P. D. (2021). Ensuring Healthy Lives and Well-being for All Kenyans. Papers. Web.
Raghupathi, W., & Raghupathi, V. (2018). An empirical study of chronic diseases in the united states: A visual analytics approach to public health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(3), 431. Web.
