Health care is a delicacy in the United States in the sense that most hospitals offer high-quality treatment, but the administration refuses to offer high-quality health care to most of its citizens due to the enormous costs associated, forcing citizens to fend for themselves. This has resulted in differences in health delivery since only just a few high earners can manage to pay for pricey health-care services, leaving the poor without access owing to the high cost of the service (Knickman & Kovner, 2015).
Notwithstanding, the government has stepped up its attempts to close the gap, and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was introduced in 2010 in an attempt to cover a bigger percentage of the country’s population. The primary goal of the Act was to share the responsibilities of the government, companies, and people in ensuring that all inhabitants have access to affordable and high-quality health insurance. Even though the immediate extent of this initiative has yet to be realized, comprehensive ACA implementation, surveillance, and analysis of the overall process would substantially reduce health care inequalities and obtain greater health equity.
What effect do socioeconomic determinants of health and health inequality have on healthcare systems, in your opinion?
As per the World Health Organization, one of these indicators is social determinants, which are social determinants that have repercussions on a person’s and populations’ wellbeing, including education, health care access and quality, neighbourhood and built environment, social and community context, financial stability, and so on (CDC, 2021). Health outcomes are impacted by social determinants of health and health inequities, particularly for disadvantaged groups in the United States. Persons impoverished, for illustration, are far less certain to have access to health insurance, culminating in a disease burden as well as an unhealthy society which thus hampers productivity and education. Environmental variables like nutrition, sedentary lifestyle, pollution, and other genetic factors that can make a significant contribution to chronic diseases such as obesity and perhaps other lifestyle diseases wind up costing Americans their lives and livelihoods; most of this adversely affects economic stability, mortality and morbidity rates, and overall population health (CDC, 2021).
How do the seven primary drivers affect my healthcare practice?
Lastly, since out-of-pocket healthcare expenditure is outrageously high in respect to the exorbitant cost of healthcare services, the percentage of folks procrastinate or postpone non-urgent therapy. Obtaining treatment late can aggravate health conditions, prolong diagnosis, lead to negative health outcomes, and generate additional health care costs. Missing health-care appointments is linked to adverse outcomes and an elevated chance of hospitalization.
Throughout my discipline, I experience scenarios during which patients are obligated to follow some life-saving procedures, and they choose to temporarily suspend some of these practices due to high costs attributed with the procedures; this affects the morale of the healthcare practitioners, considering that the majority of patients go without needed medical care citing concerns about fees they would have to handle. One-quarter of individuals who do obtain treatment cannot afford their medical fees. Finally, some of the tools and technologies necessary in health care delivery are excessively expensive for the institution where I work to afford, resulting in inadequate care delivery and ultimately bad patient health outcomes.
References
Knickman, J. R., & Kovner, A. R. (2015). Health care delivery in the united states (11th ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing
Confluence mobile. (n.d.). Confluence. Retrieved November 30, 2021, from https://confluence.hl7.org/plugins/servlet/mobile?contentId=46891893#content/view/46891893
CDC, (2021, September 30). Social determinants of health. https://www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/index.htm
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