Ethics affect all aspects of healthcare. ‘Ethics’ concerns moral rules that apply to a group. Usually, in healthcare, decisions affect various stakeholders. Hence, it is necessary to determine how each group will be impacted and make ethical decisions. Healthcare financing is among the critical issues that affect healthcare. It impacts the quality of care and its accessibility. However, decisions on the issue are usually complicated because they affect competing interests. Therefore, explaining the ethical implications of the various options to the relevant stakeholders is key to ensuring that their decisions benefit all the groups (Béland et al., 2021). Concerning the no-charge and insurance systems of healthcare, the insurance system has more benefits despite the financial costs involved to the people.
Insurance and no-charge systems differ in their cost implications for patients. In insurance systems, payers, usually patients, their guardians, or other payers like employers, cover the costs of premiums. Usually, the payment is given to a government agency like Medicare, Medicaid, or private insurance agencies. Therefore, insurance companies cover the expenses that come because of treatments given to patients (Zhou et al., 2021). For instance, employees and business owners usually need care and can pay out-of-pocket or get coverage. Insurance firms offer pools of funds that can cover their clients’ health needs when needed. Money is paid to the insurance agencies by the government or by employers or beneficiaries periodically. People go for care in no-cost systems, but no insurance or out-of-pocket payment is needed. No-cost systems happen with free care. For instance, the government or well-wishers can provide care to people without seeking payment from payers or beneficiaries (Brandl et al., 2020). However, in both systems, resources are needed to facilitate care.
Giving out too much free care is unsustainable. It leads to organizations exhausting resources and, therefore, being unable to operate. Usually, in facilities, all resources cost the owners. Both services and products are used to provide care (Béland et al., 2021). For instance, companies buy medicines before they are administered to people. Facilities also have to employ staff and get the relevant infrastructure. It is important to remember that someone must pay for everything used in care. Therefore, when facilities offer too much free care, they risk running out of resources and closing down (Béland et al., 2021). They also risk giving poor care quality, especially to those paying for their care. It is important that facilities only offer free care to the few that available resources can enable.
The community should be told the importance of insurance and see it as necessary. Private insurance involves people paying for their premiums individually or through their employers. It enables the healthcare system to collect money that helps pay for the services and buys the needed resources. Therefore, people who can afford it should pay for their insurance to contribute to their well-being (Ekholuenetale & Barrow, 2021). For instance, it enables the providers to get the funds needed to improve their technologies and hire enough staff. It also allows people who could not afford expensive care like cancer treatment to get it through insurance. Getting coverage ensures that one helps make healthcare accessible to all people (Ekholuenetale & Barrow, 2021). It also ensures that the quality meets the required standards. It allows the contribution of money so that when one becomes sick, they do not have to worry about affordability.
In conclusion, healthcare requires resources to operate. It needs staff, technologies, and medicines. Therefore, it needs money to function. In no-cost systems, people get care without being insured or paying out-of-pocket. Insurance systems contribute money periodically to pools so that they do not have to pay when they need care. Private insurance enables the system to contribute resources from people and pay for their care when they need it. Hence, all people who can afford insurance should get health insurance.
References
Béland, D., Marchildon, G. P., Medrano, A., & Rocco, P. (2021). COVID-19, federalism, and health care financing in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 23(2), 143-156. https://doi.org/10.1080/13876988.2020.1848353
Brandl, E. J., Schreiter, S., & Schouler-Ocak, M. (2020). Are trained medical interpreters worth the cost? A review of the current literature on cost and cost-effectiveness. Journal of immigrant and minority health, 22(1), 175-181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-019-00915-4
Ekholuenetale, M., & Barrow, A. (2021). Inequalities in out-of-pocket health expenditure among women of reproductive age: after-effects of national health insurance scheme initiation in Ghana. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association, 96, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42506-020-00064-9
Zhou, S., Huang, T., Li, A., & Wang, Z. (2021). Does universal health insurance coverage reduce unmet healthcare needs in China? Evidence from the National Health Service Survey. International Journal for Equity in Health, 20(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-021-01385-7
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