I chose to do my advocacy project on the Accessibility of Health Care Services because I am familiar with health care facilities and am interested in what is in store for them in the future. We also got an inside look at the THOMAS option which was very neat to investigate.
Through this review, I will provide the goal of this objective in Healthy People 2010, progress tables, disparities, opportunities and challenges, and emerging issues.
Goal for Objective 1-1
-Increase the proportion of persons with health insurance.
Target: 100 percent.
Baseline: 83 percent of persons under age 65 years were covered by health insurance in 1997 (age adjusted to the year 2000 standard population).
Target setting method: Total coverage.
Data source: National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), CDC, NCHS.
Goal:
Improve Access to Comprehensive, High-Quality Health Care Services.
The Progress Table
The progress table demonstrated a wide variety of diversities and showed if they met the targets, moved towards the target, or moved away from the target. It was surprising to see that the Asian or Pacific Islanders made progress towards the target or met many of the requirements targets throughout the whole progress table. I was also surprised to see how low the Hispanic/Latino rates represented. Even though they're working towards the target, they're statistics were rather low in each of the categories.
Disparities:
The chart of race and ethnicity represents the White, non Hispanic group as being the dominant among the health issues. They have a high score in receiving health care compared to the other groups. Following them are the Black non Hispanic group.
Along with race and ethnicity comes the Income, Location, and Disability table. The category that exceeds the rest is the Middle/High income group. The "poor" category is definitely the lowest on the scale. This goes to show that money means power.
The final group represented is the Gender and Education table. Females took control in this representation by scoring the highest in each of the categories represented. As the list goes on, you begin to notice the trend in education patterns. It showed that the less educated individuals were, the lower the rates were of health care trends. As we look at these results, it sends the message that the more educated are, the smarter health decisions you make.
Progress Towards Healthy People 2010 Targets
Even though some of these topics did not meet or exceed their targets, efforts were made in each of these instances. Many of the objectives and subobjectives progressed towards their target. Some examples include:
"HHS agencies support programs to measure and improve the quality of care for persons living with asthma and to prevent hospitalization for uncontrolled asthma."
"Progress toward the targets for persons with sources of ongoing care (1-4), persons with a usual primary care provider (1-5), and difficulties or delays in obtaining needed health care (1-6) may in part be attributed to the expansion of HRSA's community health center program across the country. The program now serves approximately 14 million people."
Opportunities and Challenges:
A staggering amount of 18,000 deaths have occurred due to the lack of health care insurance according to the Institute of Medicine. It's very difficult to measure since 45 million people are uninsured. This is a very big issue. If people do not have the resources needed to help assist medical bills, they are going to remain untreated. Long term consequences involve the services of home health, adult day care, assisted living, and nursing home care. There are demands that go along with health care facilities, but have to realize that it creates more challenges in meeting the overall target.
Emerging Issues
Issues such as workforce, insurance, and consumer-directed services are up for discussion. The demand for LTC is up for discussion since the baby boom generation has higher rates for disabilities. With the prices of health care, many people are having a hard time affording the cost of health care the way it is. This may create jobs for people in the health care field, but may use up many of their retirement funds to receive hands on care.
Bill:
H.CON.RES.48
Title: Expressing the sense of Congress that national health care reform should ensure that the health care needs of women and of all individuals in the United States are met.
Sponsor: Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] (introduced 2/11/2009) Cosponsors (37)
Latest Major Action: 2/11/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Recommendation: Vote _____ (indicate yes or no) for H.CON.RES.48 Expressing the sense of Congress that national health care reform should ensure that the health care needs of women and of all individuals in the United States are met.
My Political Representative: Amy Klobuchar
Contact Information:
Washington, DC
302 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
phone: 202-224-3244
fax: 202-228-2186
Email: http://klobuchar.senate.gov/emailamy.cfm
My Thoughts:
I believe that this issue is very important to be debated since many people are uninsured and undergoing serious medical conditions. I feel that since I am interested in nursing in my future, that I am passionate about health care for everybody. I live in a very small community where the nearest health care facility is about 45 minutes away which is not as accessible than in a large city. I found the issue of medical insurance is a very important topic to research. I hope you enjoyed my review!!
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