Post an explanation of what you believe to be the three most important healthcare financing concerns in the United States today. Be specific and provide examples. Then, explain how these three concerns relate to fundamental economic issues, such as “price,” “supply vs. demand,” etc.
Week Three Discussion
One of our country’s main goals in the medical field has been to make sure that everyone has access to health care. Even though we keep coming up with plans to reach this goal, the cost of doing so is still an issue. The goal of this discussion is to talk about three healthcare finance issues and how they relate to basic economic problems, as well as how they relate to my idea of using PrEP to improve patient care.
Nursing Shortage
The lack of nurses is one of the biggest worries about how to pay for health care, and since Covid-19 caused a public health crisis, it has become even more important. So that organizations can keep up with the health care needs of the population, they need to have enough nurses to care for them. Nursing shortages have been linked to bad outcomes for patients and extra costs for healthcare (Ross, 2022). Also, the costs of hiring and training nurses go up when they don’t stay in their jobs. As a nurse who works in a public health department, we always have trouble finding enough staff, especially nurses. The length of this problem could hurt my idea to use PrEP, an oral antiretroviral drug that lowers a patient’s chances of getting HIV (HIV). Costs of training the nursing staff on this medication schedule are very important for this program to work. Burnout is more common than ever, so depending on how many new nurses are hired, these costs could add up.
Elderly Population
When people worry about how to pay for health care, the costs of care that come with getting older and having multiple chronic conditions are high. Because these patients are more likely to go to the doctor because of their health problems, prices go up to meet supply and demand. Medicare is for older people, but coverage is limited because they have to pay some of the costs. Because of this, deductibles, copayments, and medical visits not covered by insurance go unpaid, and some people don’t get medical care until they have to, which adds to the amount of money spent on healthcare that can’t be kept up (Choi and DiNitto, 2016). Changing to a system that focuses on value instead of volume has been a long-term goal, since an aging population will always have chronic health problems.
Medication Costs
When it comes to paying for health care, the prices of prescription drugs are also a concern. Iacocca and Vallen say that drug prices are now well above the rate of inflation and are still going up (2021). This is scary because people with long-term illnesses who need medication could have to pay a big copayment, depending on how much coverage they have. Prices could change depending on how many different versions of the drug are on the market and whether they are brand-name or generic. Medication costs are a concern when it comes to how to pay for health care, which could make it harder to implement PrEP, depending on how much the medication costs.
References
Choi, N. G., & DiNitto, D. M. (2016). Correlates of worry about health care costs among older
adults. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 37(6), 763-782. https://doi.org/10.1177/0733464816650803
Iacocca, K., & Vallen, B. (2021). Using analytics to gain insights on U. S. prescription drug
prices: An inductive analysis. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 40(4), 538-557.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0743915621993173
Ross, J. (2022). Nursing shortage creating patient safety concerns. Journal of PeriAnesthesia
Nursing, 37(4), 565-567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jopan.2022.05.078
