Health Care Needs Of Uninsured Families example essay topic

I'm writing to you to take a supportive stance in regard to establishing a health insurance program for families lacking medical coverage. Our health care system is inadequate as many unemployed and employed families cannot afford services, and must forgo them which create more problems. To alleviate the epidemic of neglecting our nation's uninsured families, I envisage a family health plan under the auspices of the federal government. I propose a policy that would emulate the Medicaid system, although all families regardless of employment or income status would qualify.

The K EMBA financial credit union states that Medicare recipients must "meet strict financial conditions" and it is "designed to pay for acute medical care-not long-term care" (Kem bra, par. 1). However, a long-term health policy for all uninsured families would eliminate the financial burden associated with high medical costs. So, to eradicate the existing health policies in place, the new family health plan would include full coverage of medical and hospital care, paid parental leave, guaranteed child-day care placement, and child support payments for the single parent. Unfortunately, our current health care policies reveal that the American government lacks a pro-work and pro-family health policy to eliminate the social and economic injustices that are prevalent in this rich nation.

As a result, 'populations at risk's uch as children, women, minority groups, and people with disabilities; whom comprise American families experience many healthcare injustices. In the long run, inaccessibility to the nation's health care system adversely affects society. Overall a healthier nation could lead to more productivity in the labor force as well as enhance the lives of all citizens under this new system. As I advocate for uninsured families, it is imperative to examine some of the causes that lead to differential treatment in the administration of health care. It appears that economic injustice; disparity of the gap between rich and poor continues to grow during President Bush's term, as the "worst job loss record of any president since Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression" (Suppes & Wells, 207). A downward trend in the job market has resulted in a high rate of unemployment as families from lower to middle class rungs are experiencing financial hardships with regard to accessing health services.

"Today, 43.6 million Americans have no health insurance" (Suppes & Wells, 210). So, there is the ever increasing likelihood that Americans will lack health coverage if they are unemployed or employed. However, if citizens are employed and cannot afford to pay the high premiums of insurance they will lower labor force participation and overall will perform poorer on the job because they will experience more frequent episodes of being sick. Conversely, if our nation fails to invest in their citizens the economic productivity of the future will also suffer. Our current policy is paradoxically hurting the nation as children are the futures potential candidates to become entrepreneurs, lawyers, and doctors, however they are continuously neglected. Inequality in various health care systems is depicted in the chart "Measures of Health Systems' Performance" by proving that the infant mortality rate in our nation has "ranked 22 among countries in 1998" and "slipped to 26 by 2000" (Suppes & Wells, 277).

This number indicates that the world's richest health care system is unable to ensure basic services such as prenatal care and immunizations to avoid unnecessary infant deaths. Social injustice prevails as children's poor health status is connected to poorer school attendance, lower school achievement, and possible cognitive and behavioral problems. The progress of children will be halted if another part of the equation is not addressed such as female-headed households. Women-headed families suffer high rates of poverty in the United States, "27.8 percent in 1999" and these families continue to do without medical coverage because women's earnings reveal a huge discrepancy as they earn "only about 72 percent of what men did" (Suppes & Wells, 131).

Our economic system undervalues the role of women as they are paid less, and they must attempt to financially provide to their children based on meager earnings. Using survival strategies to ensure that health care needs are met is not consistent with the long run and this barrier to quality health care foreshadows the current health care crisis of American families. An overhaul of the health care system does not need to be restructured; as there are current policies that exist to guarantee health care services to uninsured families. For instance, financial aid programs for poor people "Medicaid, Family Health Plus and Child Health Plus, which provide free or low-cost care options for, respectively, seniors, adults, couples and children" are a lifeline for many citizens (Tarek, par.

5). In addition, to eradicate the crisis of millions of unemployed and uninsured middle class workers, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) of 1985 was established. This program acts as a lifeline, where the unemployed worker and their family can continue to enjoy health care services by paying insurance premiums (COBRA. com). Therefore the current policies illustrate that sufficient health care for American families is being provided. If we create a universal health care system the societal and economic injustices would continue to persist as there will always be discrimination in regard to who receives more quality healthcare services and ultimately a hierarchical health care system will always persist. As illustrated by Charles Darwin, in his book, Origin of the Species, he explores the ideology that "only the fittest people should survive".

This specific quote addresses the issue of infant mortality, as some infants will be unable to survive because they are unable to compete in this society. If families are insured, there is evidence to prove that "young women once thought it acceptable to bear children out of wedlock" and young women may take advantage this new plan by having more babies (Lowry, par. 9). Also, poverty and unemployment leads one to believe that some individuals are born lazy and enjoy reaping the benefits from a working society. So, the millions of insured citizens would not enjoy being robbed to pay for the health care benefits as the 'populations at risk' can not provide for the resources they need. Although, unmet health expectations may be a common theme as many employed families are uninsured, they have the financial ability to provide for their own health services.

As it stands health maintenance organizations (HMOs) contract with employees to provide health care services for a set monthly fee (Suppes & Wells, 217). Group and individual health insurance policies create an atmosphere where health care plans compete for the business of American citizens. However, unemployed and employed families would not have to take on the burden of seeking the best insurance plan. Under this policy employed families would have their taxes increased, equivalent to the current total of medical expenditures by individuals and every family would be guaranteed equal health service. If a family health policy is implemented, monetary resources could be derived from the jointly funded state and federal program, known as Medicaid. The Medicaid program is a short-term service in which citizens attempt to move off the roles as quickly as possible because being a member of Medicaid is associated with poverty, discrimination, and a decrease in the quality of care.

Candidates interested in long-term care insurance must seek other health care plans, where they have to pay high premiums and co-payments. Long-term care insurance does not require you to reduce your countable assets to qualify. For unemployed families which are in the transition phase of seeking employment they can qualify for the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. However, despite the attractiveness of continuing health insurance coverage while unemployed, (COBRA) has high cost insurance policies and eligibility requirements which limit participation (COBRA. com).

I am challenging the current health care system because I believe we must be optimistic in our values and belief system and have high expectations in regard to the future success of our nation's citizens. If we are to achieve any measure of health care success than we must view Americans families as naturally industrious verses lazy and teach rather than ridicule the young woman giving birth out of wedlock. It is imperative to eradicate the current health care system because everyone should be entitled to universal coverage. In closing, I would like to further express that our current healthcare policy is inadequately addressing the health care needs of uninsured families. I would like to thank-you for taking the time to read my argument and can you please strongly consider the proposed health insurance policy for families lacking medical coverage..