Who Should Pay

Who Should Pay
This week you have been examining the U.S. healthcare system’s financing and delivery of services. Consider the issue highlighted in the article “Cancer Drugs Offer Hope, but at a Huge Expense.”Given that we have limited resources, what is the best use of our healthcare dollars? Should expensive treatments be provided to everyone who would benefit from them? If so, who should bear the costs, for instance, should it be third-party insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or the individuals themselves paying out-of-pocket? There are other important facets to this issue. Should resources be used to provide basic services to the greatest number of people, such as through immunization? Should the drugs be rationed in any way, to keep costs down?

Prepare for this Discussion by reflecting on these and other questions that may have come to mind as you read the article. In your posting you will need to take a position about who should pay, and defend it. In support of your position, be sure to refer to relevant policies you have been learning about this week regarding financing and delivery of healthcare services in this country.
Post by Day 4 the following information: (Reminder: Your initial response must be made in a single posting.)
• State your position about who should receive the kind of high-cost cancer drugs described in the article, and how those drugs should be paid for. Make sure to justify your position.
• Based on your readings this week, are there current U.S. healthcare policies that address this issue? Explain where they stand on this issue.
Application: Core Policy Analysis- 2 pages
For this Application, which you will begin this week and complete by the end of next week, you are asked to analyze a core policy about health or healthcare. Examples might include policies on scope of practice for healthcare practitioners or on health insurance for children. After selecting your policy, locate resources to help you understand the specifics of it, including how its programs are organized and financed, how the services are delivered, and, generally, how well the policy has been implemented to date.
Make sure to select a policy on which you can focus in some detail. If you choose to analyze the policy on insurance for poor children, for example, you will soon discover that this policy differs from state to state, so you might wish to focus primarily on your state’s policy. Search Walden Library’s databases to find an article explaining the background on this policy—the journal Health Affairs, for example, frequently publishes summaries on initiatives in child health insurance.
In addition, learn about the pros and cons of this policy by locating opinion statements issued by state or national organizations, such as the American Hospital Association (AHA) or American Medical Association (AMA). Many of these organizations have Web sites in which they not only explain their perspective or opinion on a policy but also have legislative sections with commentary on policy proposals currently under consideration in government.
To analyze this core policy, it is important that you gather this breadth of information. In your paper, you must cite the following:
• At least two articles, Web sites, or other credible and neutral sources providing analysis of this core policy; at least one of these sources must be a peer-reviewed article.
• At least two opinion statements from stakeholders regarding the policy. To find these, consider who the stakeholders would be. AMA, for example, has an important stake in whether or not children are covered by insurance or not, and would be a good source for such a statement. Look also for opinion papers from other professional or special-interest organizations. These might be on Web sites or in journals. At least one of these statements should be from a stakeholder Web site.
After reviewing these materials, write a two to three page paper in which you address the following:
1. Summarize the policy and its main goals. Describe its implications on organization, financing, and delivery of healthcare services in the U.S.
2. Discuss why you think this policy was introduced and any challenges it has faced. For example, has it faced major challenges in being funded or implemented?
3. Summarize the opinions you have read. Based on this and your own understanding of the issue, do you think the policy needs to be changed significantly in order to meet its goals?
4. Include an APA bibliography (in addition to the body of the two to three page paper), with a minimum of the four references, as described above.
Note: This paper is due by Day 7 of Week 4. See the Week 4 Application Assignment area for submission instructions.

4A- 1 page

The documentary film Salud provides an international perspective on one of the most pressing of social issues—access to healthcare.
What did this film show about the Cuban system that helps shed light on the U.S. healthcare system? Prepare for this Discussion by recalling Cuba’s healthcare access and funding policies and comparing and contrasting them with those of the U.S.
Post by Day 4 the following information: (Reminder: Your initial response must be made in a single posting.)
• Compare and contrast the Cuban healthcare system, as seen in the film Salud, with the U.S. system, particularly in terms of quality and access.

•
• In light of this film and your other Learning Resources this week, state your own views on the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. policies on healthcare. What would you change in the U.S. system? Are there pieces in the Cuban healthcare system that you think the U.S. should adapt?

5A- one page
In your media and other Learning Resources this week, you discovered some of the ways in which community health assessment and strategic planning are conducted. You heard Dr. Guerra describe the ways in which San Antonio benefitted from using one particular assessment process, MAPP. But each community presents its own unique assessment challenges and opportunities.
For this Discussion, you will investigate how another organization conducts assessments. Begin by finding out whatever you can through Web searching about your local or state health department’s approach to assessment and strategic planning. Find out also if there are initiatives at the state level to coordinate health assessments from the various communities in the state. If so, are there tools and forms available to do that? (See the Iowa state Web site as an example:http://www.idph.state.ia.us/chnahip/Guide.aspx.)
Then locate and interview someone who has been involved in community health assessment and strategic planning at either a local or state level. To find a person to interview, contact your local health department. Depending on the size of the department, you may wish to ask to interview the director or else ask to be referred to someone who has participated in assessment and strategic planning. If you prefer, you could instead call your state health department; each state should have personnel who deal with coordinating strategic plans from individual counties, and one of these individuals might be a good person to interview.
Your interview may be conducted over the phone or via e-mail, or in person if you prefer. (Note: You must transcribe or summarize your interview and post it.) Prepare your thoughts and questions carefully in advance so you can be succinct in your interview. In your interview, you should ask them questions along these lines, as well as any other questions you think are appropriate to the organization or individual you are working with:
1.
2. How do you assess the needs of your community? How often do you conduct assessments?
3. What use did you make of the assessment data? Did you develop a strategic plan or something similar for your department and/or for the community? Please describe this plan. (For example, how detailed is it? Is it a long-range plan?)
4. What are your thoughts about the assessment process? How well is it working? What are specifc strengths of the process from your perspectives? Any barriers or difficulties to overcome?
PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT 🙂